A Cajun Homecoming: Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler…en Portland

Along with fiddleheads, which we shouted out recently, another Spring delicacy showed up locally in the past few weeks. But it’s not local, although it illustrates an interesting connection to Maine foodways, so bear with me.

Harbor Fish has reciprocity agreements with a slew of fish markets nationwide and around the world, I’m not sure the actual mechanics, maybe it’s a proprietary secret. If there is a groundswell of demand, I will look into it. You will notice the fish market regularly features fresh fish from Hawaii, the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Mexico, Blue Crabs from Chesapeake Bay, etc. I describe that lobsters (and Maine bluefin tuna, oysters, scallops, elvers (baby eels), and urchin) travel all over the world via air freight, and other fish markets abroad send their stuff back on the return flights. I’m pretty sure it’s an oversimplification, but essentially true.

We get Redfish from the Gulf, Spanish and King Mackerel, shrimp, and Sheepshead, all of which I have seen on ice in the market’s “edible natural history diorama,” as I like to call it. Having moved to Portland from Texas, I have been a longtime lover of southern culinary expression, especially the booming 1980s staple, Cajun food. My training in French cooking essentially came via Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Cookbook, published in 1984.