Cajun Trinity: Celery, Green Peppers and Onions

While gumbo and jambalaya dishes are distinguishable in their cultural origin — one is Creole, the other is Cajun — both dishes are thick, one-pot meals meant to serve a crowd. Gumbo and Jambalaya make use of the classic Louisiana cuisine "holy trinity" — a combination of chopped onions, green peppers, and celery — that forms the backbone of flavor that distinguishes many traditional New Orleans dishes. The meals are often thickened with a roux, a combination of a fat and flour that is cooked to a varying degree of brownness depending on the dish. However, Cajun and Creole dishes may also be thickened with file powder, made from ground sassafras leaves, or okra, a vegetable of African origin used throughout the southern United States.