New Orleans Creole sauce, often referred to as “red gravy,” is a flavorful, spicy tomato-based sauce that has become a hallmark of Creole cuisine, reflecting the rich cultural tapestry of New Orleans. The sauce’s history is deeply intertwined with the city’s colonial past and its diverse population, which includes African, French, Spanish, and Caribbean influences. While many groups use this sauce, it is a staple in many African-American households.
Key Ingredients
Creole sauce typically includes the “holy trinity” of Creole cooking: onions, bell peppers, and celery. These vegetables form the base of many Creole dishes. Tomatoes, garlic, and various spices such as cayenne pepper, thyme, and bay leaves are also essential.
The sauce often includes a roux (a mixture of flour and fat) to thicken it, a technique borrowed from French cuisine. But, you can also just use butter. Okra is another common thickener. And for heat, cayenne pepper sauce can be added. But this is optional.
Diasporic Connections
Haitian Creole sauce and New Orleans Creole sauce share a deep-rooted connection through the historical and cultural exchanges between Haiti and New Orleans. Both regions experienced significant French colonial influence, which heavily shaped their culinary traditions.
After the Haitian Revolution in the early 19th century, many Haitian refugees, including free people of color, fled to New Orleans, bringing with them their culinary practices and flavors. This migration further enriched New Orleans’ Creole cuisine, leading to similarities between the two sauces.
This sauce is typically tomato-based and enriched with a mixture of aromatic vegetables and spices, such as onions, bell peppers, garlic, thyme, and parsley. But this sauce will sometimes include cloves, ginger, and Scotch bonnet peppers, which are not common in the New Orleans sauce.
Mojito Isleño, hailing from Puerto Rico, is similar to New Orleans Creole Sauce as well. It typically features tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, garlic, olives, capers, and a splash of vinegar, creating a tangy and savory complement to seafood dishes. Whereas the New Orleans version relies on the tomato for acid, Mojito Isleño is a bit more acidic because of the vinegar and pickled vegetables.
Basic New Orleans Creole Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 green bell peppers, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp oregano
2 bay leaves
5 cloves garlic, minced
4 – 14 oz cans chopped tomatoes
4 tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
This recipe will make a half-gallon of sauce. That’s enough to use for tonight’s dinner and freeze the rest.
Feel free to salt as you go. I usually add salt after the vegetables have sauteed for a while. Then, I’ll add a bit more as it simmers.
This is a basic recipe you can use as a template. Feel free to add other ingredients that you like. Onion powder, garlic powder, shrimp powder, clam juice, and saffron would all be nice additions.
- Add oil to the pot until hot.
- Saute onion, peppers, and celery until fragrant, 5 minutes
- Add spices and cook until you can smell them, 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Add tomatoes and bring to a boil.
- Reduce and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Melt in butter before serving.
How to use Creole Sauce
- The classic is shrimp and grits. Add a dollop of this to your grits and grilled shrimp.
- Mix it into stewed black-eyed peas with charred pickled octopus and parsley.
- Buttery mashed potatoes, poached game hen (or chicken), and this creole sauce.
- Simmer a dozen lamb meatballs in this sauce for a comforting meal.
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