Difference Between Shrimp Etouffee and Shrimp Creole

Shrimp Etouffee vs Shrimp Creole

If you are nitpicky in your food selection then perhaps you better try something out of the blue. Shrimp etouffee and shrimp creole are two shrimp preparations that many would like to land their tongues on. These are sumptuous sea food dishes enjoyed by many. But for those who don’t know about them then you need not worry. You may have seen or heard of the name of the dish somewhere else but not really associate the two because you haven’t tasted them yet. It’s fairly easy to prepare them actually.

The shrimp etouffee is actually one of the many preparations for a standard etouffee dish. For many, they say that crawfish is the ideal ingredient for an etoufee. For the rest however, shrimp often does the trick. Etouffee is a French word; when translated would mean smothered. In shrimp etouffee, you’ll see shrimp pieces served on top of rice. Moreover, it has a spicier taste which is largely attributed to the addition of cayenned pepper. It is also very saucy as it is made up of a very thick but light roux (a thickening agent made by combining butter and wheat flour) as its base. Most etouffee also possesses an orange color with brown streaks.

On the contrary, shrimp creole is a relative of shrimp etouffee. It is a dish containing many similarities with the latter. Its main difference however may be evident in the ingredient used as its base ‘“ tomatoes. Like the etouffee, shrimps will be seen over a rice preparation. Nevertheless, this dish has a thinner sauce than the ordinary etouffee. Creoles often are a lot redder in terms of color.

The most basic ingredients used for a shrimp etoufee includes rice, peppers, shrimps, celery, the roux and green onions while its creole counterpart makes use of okra, peppers, tomatoes, rice and shrimps of course.

Overall, both dishes are served over rice. Both etouffee and creole can use other see foods as its main ingredients. Nevertheless, even though they seem to have a gravy like sauce these dishes are not made to appear like a stew or soup.

1. Shrimp etouffee has a more gravy-like sauce (thicker) compared to the thinner sauce in shrimp creole.
2. Shrimp etouffee looks orange to brown in color while shrimp creole is a lot redder.
3. Shrimp creole often adds tomatoes as its base while etouffee uses a roux for its base.
4. Generally, shrimp etouffee is a lot spicier than shrimp creole.

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