Kicking It Up a Notch: Attending a Louisiana Culinary School

Cajun cuisine, with its roots in rural French-Acadian and Southern culture, is country-style food, yielding dishes such as jambalaya or crawfish étouffée. Unique to New Orleans, crawfish étouffée features a savory sauce and crawfish over a plate of steaming rice. Similar to a gumbo, an étouffée has comparable seasonings but is made with blonde roux, a traditional thickening agent that adds a slightly different flavor.

Creole food is the marriage of New Orleans' French, Spanish and African heritage and originated from its city folk. You'll taste rich sauces, local herbs, red ripe tomatoes and the freshest local seafood in Creole dishes such as gumbo, shrimp creole, grits and grillades, and redfish courtbouillion.

Gumbo, a traditional Creole food, is one of the best examples of New Orleans' multicultural dishes. A type of stew served over rice, its distinctive dark roux is seasoned with sassafras and bay leaves, which were introduced to settlers by Native Americans. Another key ingredient (and contribution of the West African slaves), okra, seasons and thickens the soup stock. As Louisiana culinary school students will learn, every New Orleanian has a special gumbo recipe calling for seafood, chicken, ham or andouille sausage. And every restaurant in the city offers some type of gumbo.

Beignets, a New Orleans dessert specialty, comes from the French-Creole colonists of the 18th century. The pastry is a simple square of yeast dough fried golden brown and covered with mounds of powdered sugar. Café Du Monde, located on Jackson Square, may be the most iconic place in New Orleans where you'll find these, served hot and perfectly paired with café au lait or chocolate milk.

Louisiana chefs carry on a proud tradition of preserving the Cajun and Creole culinary arts in Louisiana for generations to come. As the city of New Orleans continues to rebuild, restaurant and hospitality positions will follow. The National Restaurant Association predicts that 25,100 new restaurant jobs will be created in Louisiana by 2019.

Here's a list of average salaries for chefs in Louisiana:

Louisiana culinary school students have many great examples to follow. Outstanding New Orleans chefs have brought national attention to the culinary arts in Louisiana.

Chef Prudhomme, restaurateur and award-winning celebrity chef, was a key contributor to bringing Cajun cooking to national fame. He is famous for his signature blackened redfish dish, created in his famous K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen in the French Quarter. His own line of Magic Seasoning Blends brings his famous Cajun seasonings to cooks throughout the world. His special "Gumbo Ya-Ya" can't be missed, as well as the Turducken, a boned turkey stuffed with a boned duck which is stuffed in turn by a boned chicken and filled with a delectable stuffing.

Chef Emeril Lagasse has revitalized Creole cooking through his Food Network TV shows. As a young man he followed his dream and attended the College of Culinary Arts at the Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island. He honed his culinary skills with training in France and work in New York, Boston and Philadelphia. After working for seven and a half years as the Executive Chef for the legendary Commander's Palace, Lagasse opened his first restaurant. Now with restaurants in New Orleans, Las Vegas, Florida, Philadelphia and Mississippi, his media work and other products, Chef Lagasse generates an estimated $150 million in revenue a year.

Chefs like Prudhomme and Lagasse continue to provide inspiration for Louisiana culinary school students dedicated to showcasing the proud and unique traditions of the culinary arts in Louisiana.

Begin an exciting culinary career today by browsing All Culinary Schools' directory to find the culinary school that's right you!

_{Source: Salary data from Indeed.com 2010}