Looking for some Cajun blackened heat and seasoning? Blackening produces a black, peppery crust, which helps sear in all the flavor and juices, the spices used are commonly referred to as blackened spice or blackening seasoning. We also like to use this seasoning on the grill.

Many people mistakenly believe that blackening is a classic Cajun technique or recipe, like jambalaya, gumbo or etouffee, but that's not accurate. Chef Paul Prudhomme of K-Paul’s fame in New Orleans created and perfected the blackening process, which was originally meant as a fish recipe. Today blackening seasoning is used to treat all kinds of food, including shrimp, steak, chicken, pork and even vegetables.

The blackening does not come from the spices, but from the butter charring in the pan. The butter will char as soon as it hits the pan, creating the seared crust that keeps the meat or vegetables from drying out. If you do decide to blacken you should use a solid cast-iron skillet as any other pan might create a hazard or be ruined by leaving it on such high heat with nothing in it.

The History of Blackened Seasoning

In the 1980s Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme, who was raised by his sharecropper parents on a farm near Opelousas, in Louisiana's Acadian region, single handedly put Cajun cuisine on the national radar as he launched a nationwide culinary tour of the US. Everywhere that he introduced his innovative Cajun dishes thousands of people would wait in line just to get a taste. 

Chef Paul is also considered the father of blackening. He cut his teeth working at numerous New Orleans area restaurants including a stint running the kitchen at the world famous Commander's Palace. Before he arrived they were considered a Creole style restaurant, but Paul was Cajun through and through and he morphed Commander's menu to be more in line with his Cajun tastes. Commander's is where he first concocted blackening on a lark late one night after the restaurant had closed.

Paul told his broiler cook at the time to “Throw butter on a piece of fish, season it and throw it on the stove.' He did that. When he brought me the fish, I tasted it and thought it was the best thing I ever tasted in my entire life.” Ella, the matriarch of Brennan's at the time wasn't a huge fan of the dish and while she allowed Prudhomme to put it on the menu he had to call it "grilled redfish".

Paul open his first restaurant, K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen in 1979 with K Hinrichs, a waitress he  worked with earlier in his career at Maison Dupuy. In March of 1980 he was cooking this dish on a cast-iron skillet and the first night they served it to 30 or 40 people. Within days the restaurant was consistently full and in a few weeks there were long waiting lines and they were all clamoring for this "new blackened redfish". Soon the restaurant had to put a limit of only one per table so it became more of an appetizer so that all of the table’s guests could enjoy it. 

In 1983 from mid-July to mid-August Prudhomme and K closed the restaurant and went to San Francisco for the month with his whole staff. They set up their kitchen in a local nightclub and hoped to served 30-40 people a night with a variety of freshly prepared blackened dishes -- redfish, lamb chops and prime rib. The first night there was a line of people as far as they could see from one of the upstairs windows. They had to limit dinners to 350 people a night, 5 nights a week. The month was a smashing success. In '85 he again did a stint like this in NY and he was instantly popular with everyone from the mayor, local congressman and a full onslaught of New York's A-list celebrities, all who wanted to taste these blackened dishes. 

The Secrets to Blackening

To seal in the juices of the meat by forming a spicy crust you need to use lots of heat, which produces lots of smoke, this is where home chefs typically falter as they stop short of perfecting this cooking method as smoke fills the kitchen (and the smoke detector is probably going off, the dogs are barking and the kids are looking for the fire extinguisher). You don’t have to blacken to enjoy so don’t be intimidated.

Experienced home chefs place their iron skillet on the grill outside with the heat on high for at least 30 minutes. The skillet gets very hot but not white hot. Here are a couple of tips:

Keep your food cool as butter or oil sticks better
Keep your filets about ½” thick
Make enough butter and spice mixture to evenly coat all your fillets
Dredge your meat in the butter and spices and place immediately into the hot skillet
Cook, uncovered, until the underside looks charred, about 2 minutes. Turn the fillets over and again pour 1 teaspoon of butter on top; cook until done, about 2 minutes more

For best results use 1-2 tablespoons of blacken seasoning per cup of butter.

Two of our favorite recipes using Blackened Seasoning are Blackened Chicken and Cajun Salmon Pasta.

What's in It

Hand blended from paprika, garlic, yellow mustard, onion, black pepper, oregano, cumin, cayenne, thyme, bay leaves and celery seed.

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Nutritional Information
Serving Size 1 Teaspoon, Amount Per Serving: Calories 6.5, Fat Cal. 1.8, Total Fat 0.3 (0% DV), Sat. Fat 0g (0% DV), Trans Fat 0g (0% DV), Cholest. 0mg (0% DV), Sodium 0.7g (0% DV), Total Carb. 1.1g (0% DV), Dietary Fiber 0.6g (2% DV), Sugars 0.2g, Protein 0.3g (0%DV), Vitamin A (10.2% DV), Vitamin C (1.6% DV), Calcium (1.0% DV), Iron (2.9% DV), Percent Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.