The French word etouffee (e´touffer) literally translates to "smother" in English. In cooking terms, to smother means to "steam food slowly in a tightly closed vessel with minimal liquid. Thus you have the basics of etouffee. This dish works equally well with other seafood and proteins, such as crawfish or even chicken! As with all of the recipes we share, we'd really like you to make this your own by trying different things... even substituting some of your local ingredient