21 Comments
User's avatar
Traci's avatar

I worked with a doctor years ago....a Texan and proud....who insisted that "roux" pronounced roo was properly pronounced "rux" with a Texas drawl added. I loved that man.

Dale Flowers's avatar

I know that the Frogs are language purists and can cringe when the Quebecoise or Cajuns speak. I suppose all high school French teachers cringe too. Mr. Manina taught French and Latin at my Catholic high school in New Orleans. He was a stickler for E-nun-see-a-shun in his classes. I took Latin. Was OK at translating but butchered the spoken word. He was less critical of us Latin students than his French students. Some of our Cajun classmates took French for an easy "A". What a surprise for them. It weren't easy. Me? I never had the inclination to learn French and the few friends I had that did take French hated it and stuck to "Mercy Buckets", "Monsewer" and "Volleyball beer?" So, yeah, Traci, "rux" or "roo-ex" for the win. :)

Traci's avatar

We had a choice between French, German and Spanish in HS. Spoke enough Spanish to get by...so opted for German. Too bad I don't remember much of it now...

Dale Flowers's avatar

I remember very little of the Latin, but it seems to have helped in other ways with parsing and in making spoken and written English more facile.

Traci's avatar

Agree! Also took Latin in HS, although it wasn't billed as a language study. It was listed as English studies.

Dale Flowers's avatar

Both of my daughters took Latin in high school. The eldest went on to become fluent in Portuguese and Spanish. I remain monolingual but can mostly understand a Southern drawl.

Kristin's avatar

LOL! I almost failed high school French because, even though I spoke the language fluently, I knew no grammar and I have a Quebecoise accent that you can cut with a knife.

A friend once invited me to go skiing with him and his wife, and he invited a French guy to join us. I introduced myself politely, in French. He looked at me disdainfully, and said (in French), "You are Canadian." (French has a form of "you" that is used to convey superiority in a relationship, and that's what he used.)

PFC Billy's avatar

All are dead who ever wrote it

All are dead who ever spoke it

All will die who ever learn it

Blessed death, they surely earned it

Denton Salle's avatar

I heard the term "Holy Trinity" thirty years ago in New Orleans. 1 cup each.

C. S. P. Schofield's avatar

As noted before I will have to recuse myself from consumption of Bell Peppers. For some reason I seem to be able to deal with other peppers just fine - though please excuse me from Carolina Reapers and other weapons grade peppers. The necessity of celery strikes me as like the necessity of Cilantro in Mexican or Tex/Mex cooking. You may not like it as a primary flavor but if it isn’t there as an undertone, something is missing.

I used Roux a good deal before my lady’s gluten and dairy problems became acute. Yeah, if you haven’t burned one, you haven’t been trying enough. The instructions I had told me to keep stirring on heat until it turned the color of peanut butter. Mine kept jumping from pale to burnt, but with practice I got the feel for it, and BOY is it worth the practice!

Sean M.O'Brien's avatar

I often substitute jalapeño peppers for bells, myself.

Leon Jester's avatar

I use them in addition to a mire-poix/trinity, and generally I use serranos.

Kristin's avatar

I thought I was the only one in the world who has trouble with sweet peppers! Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone.

Leon Jester's avatar

I've only heard it referred to as a "trinity," FWIW my mother was born in Biloxi and grew up in Mobile. At the time, there was a very large Creole population there. Also, I tend to dice my celery very thinly and grate my carrots. Bell peppers are diced medium-fine. A personal peeve: da intarwebs has it wrong, jambalaya has HAM in it. Jambon = ham. Cheers!

Ian's avatar
8hEdited

Counter-peeve:

"Jambalaya" from Southern French dialect "jambalaia", meaning "mish-mash", and often referencing rice pilaf -- a dish involving rice cooked in stock or broth with spices and protein.

Revchuck's avatar

Here in south Louisiana, jambalaya is usually made with whatever leftover meat is on hand. Otherwise, I've most often had it with sausage. It's popular as a post-bike race or running race meal.

PFC Billy's avatar

@Leon Jester

You can make good jambalaya with whatever you shot, found dead by the roadside, crawled out of the bayou and was slow enough to catch or generally had left over from yesterday...

If I'm making from the store, ham and chicken both.

Larry B Lambert's avatar

The peppery distinctiveness of celery, without large chunks of fiber in the mix, is most important to the outcome.

Kristin's avatar

Tres bien, Ian, mais les Acadiens n'ont jamais eu des poivrons. Leur saison de culture etait trop courte. Beaucoup de celeri est requis!

Je sais, parce que ma mere, elle etait Quebecoise de Sept Iles.

PFC Billy's avatar

For some Louisiana dishes, I will put half the onions in and caramelize JUST THOSE before adding the rest of onions, celery, bell peppers & just sweating the rest of veges as you describe (creole sauce in particular).

It was called "Cajun trinity" over 40 years ago when I was being taught how to cook such things by a crazy Greek guy who got invalided out of the Coast Guard at the naval hospital down there, then hung around cheffing at Antoine's...

https://youtu.be/SycgViWySeE?si=wKaP2RPN0MGpRV--

Fox Fier's avatar

My then-future grandmother in law was horrified I had no idea what she was talking about for either a roux or a "mirror what?"

This was quickly solved by her actually talking to me, and my lighting up with "Oh! You mean a sauce starter and the veggie base! Yeah, I know those, although I'm horrible with cheese sauces."

(Admirable lady literally had spare copies of *Who’s Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make a Roux* to press on anyone who slowed down too much. I was a pleasant shock to her.)