regional food

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:01 AM -0800 3/28/02, A. Maberry wrote:
>On Thu, 28 Mar 2002, James A. Landau wrote:
>>
>>  "blackened" and possibly other terms from Cajun cuisine, which may have
>>  become widespread in the last 20 years
>
>Was this invented by Paul Prudhomme or did he just popularize it?
>
Apparently the former (although I won't be terribly surprised if
Barry or someone else can antedate this.  There are no earlier cites
on Nexis, but then an explosion through the early to mid 1980's.  (I
also searched "blackened redfish", which in my recall was the
ur-Cajun recipe of this type.

Technically, blackened fish doesn't meet the "within the last 20
years" criterion.
====================
The New York Times
April 22, 1981, Wednesday, Late City Final Edition

  SECTION: Section C; Page 1, Column 3; Living Desk
  HEADLINE: FRENCH CHEF, NEW ORLEANS STYLE

  BYLINE: By CRAIG CLAIBORNE

  DATELINE: EAST HAMPTON, L.I.

  PAUL PRUDHOMME is that rarity in the world of food:
  a celebrated, internationally known chef who just happens to have
been born in the United States. With his wife Kay Hinrich, Mr.
Prudhomme is the owner of K. Paul's
  Louisiana Kitchen, which in just two years has be-come one of the
most popular eating places in New Orleans. Mr. Prudhomme came to New
York recently to prepare
  Cajun and Creole foods, his specialties, for an assembly of more
than 150 French chefs who were on a 10-day visit to America. He made
jambalaya, chicken gumbo,
  crawfish bisque and an etouffee of crawfish, all as part of an
all-American feast. He also visited my kitchen to demonstrate
numerous Louisiana specialties, including the
  jambalaya and chicken gumbo, dirty rice (also known as rice
dressing), red beans with rice and his own invention, a specialty of
specialties, blackened redfish.