Native American Cooking Demonstration with Grayhawk Perkins

Maque Choux

Maque Choux is a traditional Cajun dish of Louisiana. It is an blend of Creole and American with Indian cultural influence, and the name is derived from the French interpretation of the Native American name. Maque Choux means imitation cabbage.

Recipe

1. 1. Cut up and dice onions and bell peppers. Grayhawk uses, for the meat version, the whole green pepper and half the red and yellow. If doing vegetarian, use all three entire peppers. Pour cans of corn into their own bowl—preserve the corn liquid in its own bowl. It will be used later.
   2. Oil a large pan (any oil is fine—Grayhawk uses olive oil). Place onions and bell peppers in the pan and then set heat to medium. Add spices to taste, such as cayenne pepper, salt or black pepper.
   3. While vegetables heat on the skillet, cut up sausage. Grayhawk recommends tasso, if available, but smoked sausage works well and was also used in this recipe.
   4. Increase heat to medium high and begin stirring vegetables. If you have tasso, add the ingredient and mix with the vegetables as they cook. Cook vegetables for around 5 minutes and then add to pot.
   5. Add smoked sausage to pan and cook until browned, approximately 5 minutes on medium-high.
   6. Re-add vegetables (and tasso) to pan to cook with the sausage. Mix together for approximately 5 minutes, letting the vegetables and meat absorb each other’s flavors. After 5 minutes, lower heat back to medium and let it simmer.
   7. Pour corn liquid into the pot to act as the base of the recipe. Add half of your canned corn to the pan, letting it mix and simmer with the meat and vegetables. Add the rest of the corn into the pot and stir two or three times and then let simmer.
   8. Take pot of corn and corn liquid and put on medium high heat. Add cream of corn to pot and mix. Then add whole tomatoes, with their juice, to the pot and mix. Mix in can of tomato paste until it is well combined.
   9. Add the contents of the pan into the pot. Stir to combine, and then add a cup of water to water down the thickness of the maque choux.
   10. Raise the temperature to boiling, and once it boils, lower it to a medium heat for about 20 minutes. After it has cooked for 20 minutes, set the heat to low (around a 3 on a stovetop oven gauge) and let it simmer for around 2½ hours. The longer it simmers the better it is. The dish also makes excellent leftovers.
2. Enjoy!