Yes, Texans can make authentic Cajun food, with a few Cajuns watching over them. Our dishes are made from authentic recipes from Louisiana using ingredients like true Cajuns would use include crawfish etouffée, sausage and ham jambalaya, and crawfish pies, red beans and rice and Louisiana meat pies served with jalapeño jelly.
   Other Cajun food offered includes Cajun popcorn shrimp, boudin, fried catfish (with Cajun spices), Cajun fries, Cajun shrimp on a stick, Buzzy's famous Cajun chicken breast on a stick, bread pudding with whiskey sauce, and pecan pralines and pecan tarts.
    The Texas influence won't let go of the kitchen, however, as Kiolbassa sausage on a stick and hot dogs are offered.
   Beer, wine coolers, margaritas, tea, lemonade, bottled water and soft drinks are available to wash it all down.
   The quality of the food is paramount at the festival, so no outside food vendors are used at the festival. The food served at the festival, with the exception of the gumbo in the gumbo cook-off, comes only from the kitchen at the civic center.
   Crawfish is not the only meat used in Cajun food. Ham, sausage, and shrimp make up the main entrée of other dishes served at the festival.
   The starch factor of Cajun food is that almost everything is served over rice. While most American recipes use potatoes, Cajuns use rice. That's because that's what's grown in the swamps and on the prairies in Louisiana.
   Other characteristics of Cajun food are the vegetables: bell pepper, celery, onion and garlic. Add to that spices: cayenne pepper, thyme, Tabasco, basil and bay leaf.
   One misconception about Cajun food is that is highly spiced. The "heat" factor of Cajun food is like any other food -- it depends on how much spice you add. At the festival, the food is not over-spiced. The food is spicy because it's Cajun food, but not so hot that it cannot be enjoyed. Of course, some visitors like their food hot and that's why the bottles of Tabasco sauce are set out.
   Ask any Cajun what's most important about Cajun food, and they'll tell you it's the roux. Roux is flour cooked, or more accurately, simmered in oil. The trick is to brown the flour in the oil without burning the flour. It takes a long time to cook. Even so, it makes up the base of many Cajun foods.
   Crawfish étouffée (pronounced a-to-fee and mean "smothered") is a combination of sautéed Cajun vegetables, and crawfish simmered in roux. The vegetables and crawfish are combined and served over rice.
   Jambalaya is another Cajun favorite and it could be called a "left-over" dish. There's nothing left over about the ham and sausage jambalaya produced at the Cajun Festival, however. Cubes of ham and sausage are mixed with chopped bell pepper and onions and combined with Cajun spices and cooked rice.
   Red beans and rice continues to be a popular dish. Rather than Pinto beans, like a Texan would use, Cajuns (and festival volunteers) use kidney beans, hence red. The beans are spiced and cooked with ham, sausage, celery, bell pepper and onion. That's all served over rice. In Louisiana red beans and rice is usually served on Monday, the traditional wash day. (Cajuns would leave the beans to simmer while they did the wash.)
   Boudin is Cajun rice sausage. It's made like other sausage except it contains rice, vegetables and Cajun spices. Pork is the meat of choice and Engel said they get that from Sulphur, La. It's a light-colored, almost white sausage.
   Crawfish pies are simply crawfish pot pies. It's a pie crust filled with bell pepper, celery, onion, garlic, and crawfish in a roux.
   Louisiana meat pies are like a turnover and are an all-in-one entrée. It is made from cooked meats, vegetables, spices, and gravy all poured onto a rolled-out pie crust and then folded into a half moon and crimped to close. The turnover is served with jalapeño jelly this year.
   Cajun boiled corn on the cob is available: corn on the cob boiled in water with Cajun spices. And of course, it's buttered.
   One of the favorites continues to be fried catfish. The catfish filets are cut a certain way and the breading is seasoned with Louisiana Cajun spices and deep fried. The catfish is served with Cajun-seasoned French Fries.
   For dessert it's bread pudding with whiskey sauce, the typical New Orleans dessert. Though bread pudding is a fairly common dessert in many parts of the country, the dessert offered at the Cajun Festival offers the New Orleans flavor by its use of French bread and raisins, topped with a whiskey sauce instead of a vanilla or lemon sauce. We also serve fabulous pecan pralines and pecan tarts.

Gumbo Cook-off offers samples

   Gumbo is what most people think of first when considering Cajun food. Gumbo is the one food offered at the festival that's not made by festival volunteers. Rather, gumbo is offered by both amateur and professionals cooks in the Great Gumbo Cook-off. The gumbo awards are presented by a panel selected for their knowledge of gumbo. No politicians or media personalities here so the cooks have to make the good stuff.
   Festival-goers can sample gumbo from the cooks in the cook-off. Samples are $2.00 or $1.50 a cup depending on whether it is sea food gumbo or not.

Barbecued and more

   The festival also offers such Texas favorites as Buzzy's famous Barbecued Chicken Breast and Barbecued Shrimp on a Stick, and Kiolbassa Sausage on a Stick.
   Beer, wine margaritas, tea, soft drinks, and the increasingly popular bottle water are available.