Louisiana Culinary Schools & Institutes

Learn to Cook Local Cuisine at a Louisiana Culinary School

When you think of Louisiana cuisine, the words "Creole" and "Cajun" quickly come to mind. The Creole cooking you'll taste in local restaurants, full of peppers, citrus juice marinades, beans and rice, will inevitably influence the chances you take while learning to cook in your culinary classes. Who can forget Louisiana's famous gumbo, a classic stew filled with stock, meat or shellfish and a variety of vegetables like celery, bell peppers and onions? With an African plant called "okingumbo" as a key ingredient, it's no doubt that Louisiana cuisine blends flavors from all over the world into its local cuisine. To learn to cook local Louisiana Creole cuisine, you must understand the various cultures that have influenced its existence. French, Spanish, Portuguese, African, Caribbean and Indian cultures can all be found throughout this type of famous Louisiana cooking. If you're eager to become a chef who can blend tastes from around the world, New Orleans will certainly expose you to a wide variety of flavors, as the city where chef Emeril Lagasse opened his first Cajun-inspired restaurant. With Cajun cooking, known as a rustic cuisine, you will learn to cook using three pots simultaneously: one pot for the main dish, one pot for the main vegetable and one pot for the grain dish. Whether you're boiling, deep frying, or braising, keep in mind that smoked meat lies at the heart of Cajun cooking. In Louisiana, you're sure to be exposed to a variety of new and spicy traditions. This may differ from the type of cooking you're used to, so attending culinary school in a place like Louisiana could really turn up the heat on your culinary career.