Rice and gravy is a staple of

Louisiana Creole Louisiana Creole is a French-based creole language spoken by fewer than 10,000 people, mostly in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Also known as Kouri-Vini, it is spoken today by people who may racially identify as white, black, mixed, and Native ...

and

Cajun cuisine Cajun cuisine ( , ) is a subset of Louisiana Creole cuisine, Louisiana cooking developed by the Cajuns, itself a Louisianan development incorporating elements of Indigenous cuisine of the Americas, Native American, West African, French cuisine, ...

, made by deglazing a pan to make brown

gravy Gravy is a sauce made from the juices of meats and vegetables that run naturally during cooking and often thickened with thickeners for added texture. The gravy may be further coloured and flavoured with gravy salt (a mix of salt and caramel food ...

, simmering with extra seasonings, and serving over steamed or boiled

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

Preparation

Rice has been a major agricultural export crop in southwest

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

since the late 1800s and has become a staple of local cuisine in dishes such as

boudin Boudin () is a type of sausage found in several French-speaking cultures. The added ingredients vary in French, Luxembourgish, Belgian, Swiss, Québecois, Acadian, Aostan, Louisiana Creole, and Cajun cuisine. Some variations such as boudin ...

gumbo Gumbo () is a stew that is popular among the U.S. Gulf Coast community, the New Orleans stew variation being the official state cuisine of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Gumbo consists primarily of a strongly flavored stock, meat or shellfis ...

and

étouffée Étouffée or etouffee (, ) is a dish found in both Cajun cuisine, Cajun and Louisiana Creole cuisine, Creole cuisine typically served with shellfish over rice. The dish employs a technique known as Smothering (food), smothering, a popular method ...

. Rice and gravy is traditionally made from cheaper cuts of meat and cooked in a cast iron pot for a long time in order to let the tough cuts of meat become tender. Beef, pork, chicken or any other meat can be used in its preparation. Fattier cuts of beef and pork, as well as chicken, squirrel, rabbit, turkey necks, wild pig, and duck lend themselves more easily to the making of the gravy, while

venison Venison refers primarily to the meat of deer (or antelope in South Africa). Venison can be used to refer to any part of the animal, so long as it is edible, including the internal organs. Venison, much like beef or pork, is categorized into spe ...

and leaner cuts of beef and pork are more difficult to make tender, but can be helped by adding andouille sausage or cured pork

tasso TASSO (Two Arm Spectrometer SOlenoid) was a particle detector at the PETRA particle accelerator at the German national laboratory DESY. The TASSO collaboration is best known for having discovered the gluon, the mediator of the strong interaction an ...

to the dish during the browning or

smothering Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are m ...

process. Often the meat is cooked with the

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the US state of Louisiana and surrounding Gulf Coast states. Whi ...

holy trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

, a

mirepoix A mirepoix ( , ) is a mixture of diced vegetables cooked with fat (usually butter) for a long time on low heat without coloring or browning. The ingredients are not sautéed or otherwise hard-cooked, because the intention is to sweeten rather t ...

variant of

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

bell pepper The bell pepper (also known as sweet pepper, paprika, pepper, capsicum or, in some parts of the US midwest, mango) is the fruit of plants in the Grossum Group of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in diff ...

s, and

celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'' Dulce Group or ''Apium graveolens'' var. ''dulce'') is a cultivated plant belonging to the species ''Apium graveolens'' in the family Apiaceae that has been used as a vegetable since ancient times. The original wild ...

in roughly equal quantities, although other vegetables can also be used. Originally a dish favored by farmers and laborers, it is now often served in local

plate lunch The plate lunch () is a Hawaiian meal, roughly analogous to the Southern U.S. meat-and-three or Japanese bento box. The combination of Polynesian, North American and East Asian cuisine arose naturally in Hawaii, and has spread beyond it. Sta ...

houses. ''Raised on Rice and Gravy'', a 2009 documentary film by Conni Castille and Allison Bohl, chronicles the prevalence of the dish at local plate lunch houses and its enduring popularity in

Acadiana Acadiana (; French language, French and Cajun French language, Louisiana French: ''L'Acadiane'' or ''Acadiane''), also known as Cajun Country (Cajun French language, Louisiana French: ''Pays des Cadiens''), is the official name given to the ...

cuisine.

Abbeville Abbeville (; ; ) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu. Geography Location A ...

native Bobby Charles' Rice 'N' Gravy Records is named for the popular dish. Acadian Village in Lafayette is home to the annual "Rice and Gravy Cook-Off" sponsored by the Louisiana Beef Council.

Gallery

File:Smothered pork roast rice and gravy HRoe 2012.jpg, Smothered pork roast rice and gravy File:Garys Hamburger steak with rice and gravy HRoe 2012.jpg, Hamburger steak with rice and gravy

File:Garys Smothered steak rice and gravy HRoe 2012.jpg, Smothered steak rice and gravy plate lunch

References

External links

* * * {{Cuisine of the United States Cajun cuisine Cuisine of New Orleans American rice dishes

Preparation

Gallery

See also

References

External links