Categories: Cuisine, Language

We all know that Louisiana has character and flavor.

We all know that the Louisianian is a character himself, with lots of tall tales, stories, farces and in general, just good humor and nature.

Those from Louisiana from elsewhere flip when they see the multiple alternate spellings for names of families and things originating in Latin Louisiana.

Since food is what Louisiana has marketed to tourists, the most, and it’s what the common person knows us for, and we, Louisianians, butcher spellings of our own food products, I figured this little post could help out with correct spellings for commonly misspelled local food products.

bouillon /boo ee yowñ/
This stew is no longer popular, at least among my generation. It’s the Louisiana version of the Brazilian “feijoada” which includes all remaining meat parts thrown into a pot and stewed. Cowboy Stew is what it’s known as in English.

The word bouillon itself comes from the French language and simply means “broth.”

courtbouillon, court bouillon /koor bwee yowñ/
This is a tomato sauce (and roux) based gravy, usually smothered with fish (e.g. catfish, garfish, red, red snapper etc). Some people will simply prepare it with spicy Louisiana Creole sausage and salted pork meat. For the latter case, it’s commonly known as Tomato Gravy. All served over a bed of rice, of course.

The origin of the word is from French language and means “short or small broth.”

étouffée /ay too fay/
This dish is our now famous smothered crawfish tails. Up until fairly recently, most people had no name for this, others simply called it Crawfish Stew or simply Krévis, as it’s pronounced in Louisiana Creole language.

Now this is a tricky one, since virtually all food in Louisiana is smothered. It is tricky because the word “smothered” in French language is “étouffé.” However in French, our the spelling of our adjectives reflect the gender of the noun preceding it. In this case, crawfish “écrevisse” is feminine (une écrevisse), and so there must be an additional E at the end of the word – étouffée. The same rule applies if the crawfish were substituted for shrimp – shrimp is feminine in French as well “une chevrette.”

fricassé, fricassée /fdee kah say/
Fricassé is stewed or fried meat (usually chicken).

The word originates from French language and means roughly “to break apart and fry,” likely a combination of the verbs frire and casser.

If the meat being added is masculine, the dish should be spelled with one E at the end (e.g. chicken fricassé). If the meat is feminine, then there are two Es at the end (e.g. hen fricassée – hen = une poule).

Gombo zèb /goñ boh zehb/
This is a version of gumbo that is with green vegetables (e.g. mustard greens, collards etc).

The origin of the word gombo is from a number of West African languages from the Bantu group meaning Okra. Zèb is the Louisiana Creole language word for herbs. So together, it means “Okra herbs,” even though in Louisiana, the word for Louisiana Creole and Louisiana French is “gombo févi” and “gombo” alone, is the famous stew. So, gombo zèb means Herbed stew, in this case.

merliton, mirliton /meh lee towñ, mee lee towñ/
This is a vegetable that resembles a pear … kind of. It’s commonly known in the English-speaking world as a Vegetable Pear or Alligator Pear, actually. In Louisiana, we use a word, which I believe originates in Arawak or a West African language, since Louisiana and Haiti are the only two regions in the world that call this vegetable a “merliton.”

Now, because no one really knows the origin of the name used in Louisiana languages, nor in Haitian Creole or Haitian French, it allows for much legroom with respect to its pronunciation and spelling.

What is known is that the vegetable itself originates in Central and South America and is there called “chayote” in Spanish and “xuxu/chuchu” in Brazilian Portuguese.

pinmaï /pañ mah eee/
Pinmaï is cornbread baked in a cast iron pot and served with milk and sprinkled whole granulated sugar on top. It’s a great stuffer when food is running short.

There’s another version of pinmaï, which consists of cornmeal niblets fried in a little cooking oil in a cast iron pot. It’s also eaten with milk and sugar.

The origin of the word pinmaï is from the Louisiana Creole language and in which it literally means cornbread. It is also spelled “pain de maïs” in Louisiana French (the S is silent in Louisiana French).

sauce piquante /sos pee kawnt/
The Louisiana sauce piquante is virtually the same as the Tomato Gravy or Courtbouillon above. It is smothered tomatoes served with either chicken chunks, or spiced Louisiana sausage and salted pork meat.

The word origin is from the French language and means “spicy sauce.” The E in the final position of piquante must be present and voiced, as “sauce” is feminine in French.

Zoréykoshon /zoh day koh showñ/
This was a favorite of mine growing up as a kid. It’s a doughnut with Stein’s cane syrup and pecans shaped in the form of a pig’s ear.

The origin of the word is from the Louisiana Creole language and it literally means “pig ears.” It is also known as “oreilles de cochon” in Louisiana French and “Pig’s Ear Doughnuts” in Louisiana English.