Comments on: Maque Choux Recipe

By: Tony Moreau

Tony Moreau — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 23:49:51 +0000

Dano,
For a truly wonderful tasting twist, try adding a pound of crawfish and 2 cups of potatos!
Thats how MawMaw Marceaux did it!
Tony

By: tom miller

tom miller — Thu, 24 May 2007 12:23:23 +0000

Have you had Maque Choux over rice? It seems maybe a number of things could be put in this dish to streach it into a one dish meal.

Your a talented man Danno!

Tom

By: Danno

Danno — Sat, 19 May 2007 02:29:30 +0000

Nice point Diane, I did fail to mention the Native American origins, I should kick myself for that one. A quote from the wonderful book “Stir the Pot: The History of Cajun Cuisine”, referring to Maque Choux:

As one would suspect, the dish has Native American origins. Early European explorers noted that Native American tribes residing along the lower Mississippi River consumed a dish known to the French as sagamite: maize stewed in bear oil, succotash, and fried cornmeal.

Thanks for calling me out on that. I meant know disrespect to Native American influence, believe me, just pointing to the Cajun evolution of that influence which is Maque Choux.

My Grandmother also tells me of another almost identical “Fried Corn” recipe that you described which was prepared by her Mother. Thanks for sharing.

By: Dianne

Dianne — Fri, 18 May 2007 16:01:22 +0000

Beautiful photography (as usual) and terrific recipe, also, by now, expected from this site.
One small correction, though, in your history of the dish.
It originated, not with the cajuns, but with southeastern American Indians, (in your neck of the woods, probably Choctaw),long before the arrival of the Acadians. It evolved, modified to taste, by the successive waves of “intruders” settling in an area.
My maternal grandmother, who was a Creek from the hills of northern Alabama (and never got south of Birmingham), made a virtually identical dish she called fried corn and tomatoes (to distinguish it from fried corn). Her fried corn was just fresh sweet corn (prepared by the same 2 - 3 cut and scrape method), bacon or salt pork drippings, a little cream, salt/pepper, and sometimes a little flour, if it didn’t thicken enough for her. It was cooked in a very hot iron skillet, and a browned crust allowed to form under the corn before it was stirred, kinda like scrambling eggs. She and my grandfather (of Creek-English decent) raised, butchered, then salted or smoked all the pork they ate. She maintained (by hand) an almost 2-acre garden in which she grew all their table vegetables and herbs. Like early settlers on the Gulf Coast, if they couldn’t raise it, preserve it, or catch it, they didn’t have it. Necessity can be a mother, but it also produces wonderful stuff like macque choux.
Keep up the great work. You’re really good at what you do, even though a touch historically-impaired.

By: Timothy

Timothy — Mon, 14 May 2007 23:32:23 +0000

Beautiful.

I love cooking this dish–there are so many variations on it and its delicious–I eat it for breakfast when I have leftovers!

One thing you might want to experiment with is making a “dusting’ of a roux–i.e. after browning the meat, dust the butter/oil with some flour and cook it till it is mahogany colored, then add your trinity. I have done this a few times and it adds a nice complexity to the dish.

But then, there is a lot to be said for letting the vegetables do the talking.

Another great post Danno,

Thanks,

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Sun, 13 May 2007 12:27:09 +0000

I’m bookmarking this recipe. Thanks!

By: Laurie

Laurie — Sun, 13 May 2007 01:19:37 +0000

My mom and aunts make delicious maque choux and always use fresh corn. I still love this site and, seriously, your photography is great.