‘Hot Boudin, cold coush coush Come on, Tigers, Push, push, push!’
-Faithful Tiger Fans
Every culture has its favorite comfort foods, and while we’ve covered most of the Cajun staples here, we haven’t talked about the most important meal of the day – breakfast. When it comes to breakfast, move aside Wheaties, because coush coush is the Cajun breakfast of champions.
Nothing hits the spot better on a cold winter morning than a warm bowl of coush-coush. A simple dish made with inexpensive ingredients, coush coush was a breakfast staple back before the days of the cereal aisle. It is prepared by pouring a mixture of cornmeal, salt, baking powder, and milk into a hot skillet greased with vegetable oil, lard, or bacon drippings. A dark crust is allowed to form before the mixture is stirred, giving coush coush its signature crunchiness. The final mixture is served like cereal with milk and sugar, or as a stand alone dish with cane sugar drizzled (or poured in my case) over it. The result is a warm satisfying meal that’s sweet and chocked full of nice crispy bites.
Unlike other Cajun staples like gumbo, jambalaya, and etoufée, coush coush is a dying tradition. The last time I recall eating it was as a young boy sleeping over at my grandmother’s house. Loaded with fat, coush coush isn’t exactly a healthy breakfast option, but that’s never hurt the popularity of boudin and cracklins. I attribute the decline of coush coush’s popularity to competition. Cajuns have the same breakfast choices that the rest of this country has, whether it’s choosing one of the many fast and convenient options from the breakfast aisle, or hitting the McDonalds drive through for coffee and an egg McMuffin. In today’s fast paced world, people just don’t have the time to spend 30 minutes cooking breakfast. That’s a shame, because coush coush is a dish that deserves its place in Cajun culture, and shouldn’t be allowed to die out.
Next time you’re about to cook a big Sunday morning breakfast, consider giving coush coush a try instead of pancakes, for old times sake.
Coush Coush (From www.wafb.com)
Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Yields: 6 Servings
Ingredients:
2 cups yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 and 1/2 tsps salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 and 1/2 cups milk
Method:
In a 12-inch cast iron skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. In a large mixing bowl, combine cornmeal, salt, baking powder and milk. Using a wire whisk, blend ingredients until well incorporated. When oil is hot, pour in cornmeal mixture. Do not stir. Allow a crust to form. Once formed, stir well and lower heat to simmer. Cover and cook approximately 15 minutes, stirring often. Serve with milk and sugar or with hot coffee milk as cereal.
I never had it with sugar. I didn’t even know people did that until I read “Cajun Foodways”. My grandmaw would just fry it up and put it in milk, nothing added.
I need the sugar in it. I actually made the coush coush shown in the photo this weekend, since I couldn’t find a single decent photo online. It was good, but I think I’ll try bacon grease instead of vegetable oil next time. I think the mixture of sweet and salty will be good.
I’m hungry.
My grandparents used to eat this all the time. I don’t think they eat it very much anymore.
Man, when we had cornbread for lunch at school, every kid opened their milk cartons and threw the cornbread right in there.
That is good stuff.
I think the key is the black iron pot. Nobody has these anymore. Every Cajun seems to have his own system for seasoning his black iron pot so tht nothing sticks to it. And to clean it, they wipe it out with a paper towel. Never use soap and water on it. A Cajun will take hours to season his black iron pot. Without the black iron, coush coush is not the same.
I went out and bought a black iron pot this weekend. The only one I could find was from the Emeril line of cookware. It came preseasoned, so I didn’t have to do much to get it ready for cooking, other than giving it a good scrubbing to get the wax coating off, and wipe it down with some oil. I love my Calphalon pots, but when I have to brown or grill something, it’s hard to beat black iron.
Made me hungry! Haven’t had it in a while,but we use to eat this at least once a week while I was growing up…..looked just like the picture,didn’t put anything on it though…only milk….my parents liked to put cracklins in it….
Thanks for the good memory!!!!!(might have to make some now)
I haven’t been up there in awhile, but I’m pretty sure that Sandoz Hardware store in Opelousas sells the iron pots of which you speak. It’s better to inherit your cast iron (pre-seasoned with years of family lovin’) because it takes at least a few months of frequent use to get them TRULY well-seasoned.
Aww you linked me! I had no clue I was worthy of being a link; I’m so honored
And for the record, my dad was a chef, I was raised in Louisiana, and I’ve NEVER heard of coush coush. Don’t hold it against me!
I mean aside from the LSU chant, which, I never quite understood, and now it makes more sense.
I’ve never had it cooked like that but we always had cornbread or cornbread muffins around for just that. Not much better than a bowl of hot, crunchy cornbread with cold milk and sugar on top.
i haven’t had coush coush in so long. God, I miss eating that for breakfast at my grandma’s.
My great grandmother and my grandmother used to make this. We would eat It for breakfast with coffee milk. I need a coffee pot now that I think about this. Although grandma told me to make It where you continue to stir until It becomes as It Is known to me where It Is good but hard to swallow. Haha. I do like this Idea as well. As any Cajun dish everyone has their way of doing things..Certainly Is true In these so called or possibly because It’s usually New Orleans style Cajun places In Milwaukee…Since I never lived In New Orleans and was from around Ville Platte Eunice area I know our Cajun was a bit different not creole. It’s rather Interesting though.
I remember as a child my mother would pull out the black pot and add hog lord,cormeal,and water and we thought we had died and gone to heaven eating coush coush. What a pleasant suprise reading we weren’t the only ones.My mother was from Kaplan and my father was from New Iberia.
Wow…I just took a walk down memory lane! My momma made this all the time and yes, in a large black pot. Nothing like it served hot, covered in cold milk and Steen’s sugar cane syrup. But be carefully, it always made me choked if I ate it too fast. lol
I too am from New Iberia.
I checked with parents, aunts, and uncles, water was used not milk and no baking powder or any other levening. Eaten like cereal and milk, sometimes sweetened with Steens, usually sugar and sometimes a shot of coffee in milk for flavor. This was tradition in Vermilion Parish.
Never had this. Dunno why. Maybe my mom didn’t like it. Tho my grandma and her sisters didn’t make it either (at least not when I was there). They were from Iota … moved to Beaumont.
What we did have — and still one of my favorite comfort foods — was eggs scrambled in bacon grease with green onions and leftover rice. With hot biscuits slathered in butter and my grandma’s fresh fig preserves. Yum!
But I can see where coush coush smothered in Steen’s would hit the spot too.
As a kid, my mama cooked rice with scrambled eggs and a little onion in butter or bacon grease for breakfast many times. A favorite dish and I cook it occasionally with leftover rice from the night before. Grew up in the little pocket of Cajuns/French speakers in Ascension Parish. Mama also loved leftover cornbread and milk but didn’t make coush-coush.
Being from the Washington / Lebeau, we ate coush coush each night with milk and homemade fig preserves. Grandmother never stirred the pot though, from what I remember, she heated the grease and baked it in the oven in a black pot, sliced it like a pie as soon as she took it out. I also remember always having some in the icebox for a snack.