New Orleans is an amazing city that has a lot to offer residents. Not only does the city throw some fantastic celebrations and festivals, the Big Easy also has an amazing culture that is deep-rooted into the local area. One of the best parts about this culture is its amazing cuisine and the unique dishes that it serves up. If you’re someone who just closed on one of the New Orleans houses for sale, then you can expect to be eating good (though be careful! This could make you have more of a dad bod) for the considerable future. New Orleans is the perfect blend of cuisines, incorporating parts of the American South and French culture into a primarily seafood diet. So if you’re in New Orleans and looking for some great food then what are your options? Let’s take a look.
Gumbo
If you’re at all familiar with New Orleans cuisine, then you’ve definitely already heard of gumbo. Gumbo is about as New Orleans as it gets, and is often considered the city’s signature dish. The dish involves a thick stew over rice, often involving plenty of seafood or meat. The thing that makes gumbo so good is that there are so many ways to make it, and each New Orleans household seems to have their own family recipe. In addition many high quality New Orleans restaurants serve gumbo on their menu, providing visitors with plenty of opportunities to try the dish. Gumbo is an amazing dish that can be prepared many different ways, so you may want to try many different variations in order to fully appreciate the scope of the dish. That being said, a bowl of gumbo is quintessential New Orleans, so you definitely should try some when in the Big Easy.
Beignets
No meal is complete without some kind of dessert, which is exactly where beignets come into play. Beignets are a French dish, heavily leaning into the French heritage of the colonists that initially settled the Louisiana area. The dish is similar to a doughnut, although not exactly the same. A beignet is fried dough that is covered with lots of powdered sugar, usually served hot. Beignets are often thought of as being chewier than doughnuts, meaning that the two dishes have different textures even though they are made similarly. Beignets are the perfect option to go with when visiting New Orleans, as they are different enough to be new but still similar enough to a popular dish. As a result, beignets are great for people that are looking to try something a little different but don’t want to push the envelope too much.
Crawfish Etouffee
Due to its location on the Gulf of Mexico, the seafood industry is extremely prominent in New Orleans and Louisiana as a whole, and that prominence spills over into the local cuisine. One of the best local seafood dishes is crawfish etouffee, another dish that resembles a stew. On a surface level, you might think that crawfish etouffee is similar to gumbo, but there are a few stark differences. First gumbo can be made with a variety of meats that aren’t crawfish. In addition, etouffee usually has a much lighter color and sweeter flavor than gumbo has. Crawfish etouffee is a fantastic New Orleans dish, and if you ever find yourself in the Big Easy, you should go out of your way to try it.
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