SPICE EXPERT

‘Cajun food comes from Louisiana. It is a state of two cuisines – Cajun and Creole. The Cajuns are Acadian émigrés, who left Canada when the Brits pushed them out, and the Creoles descendants from intercontinental immigrants – mainly Europe and West Africa. Cajun food is hotter, Creole more complex, and often redder with paprika and tomato. At Plaquemine Lock we boil seafood in seasoned and spiced water, coat chicken and fish in butter and spice and grill it until the spice blackens. The base flavours – black pepper, red pepper, dried herbs and alliums – are a consistent thread that runs through the two cuisines.’ Jacob is chef/publican of Plaquemine Lock (plaqlock.com), a pub in London’s Islington serving authentic Cajun-creole cooking.