One dish, blackened redfish, became a national craze. Mr. Prudhomme dipped redfish fillets in butter, dusted them with cayenne pepper and a mix of dried herbs, and seared them in a red-hot iron skillet until a black crust formed. The dish became so popular that the redfish population in the Gulf of Mexico came under threat.

For those familiar with the Creole cooking of New Orleans, enshrined in classic restaurants like Galatoire’s and Antoine’s, Cajun cuisine came as a revelation. Mr. Prudhomme, as its ambassador, and the author of the best-selling 1984 cookbook “Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen,” rode the wave to become one of the first American superstar chefs.

A bear of a man — at one point he weighed more than 500 pounds — with an outsize smile, a wraparound beard and a hearty manner, Mr. Prudhomme was often mistaken for the actor Dom DeLuise. His natural exuberance and Falstaffian presence made him a walking advertisement for the joys of Cajun cuisine. “Cajun makes you happy,” he told People in 1985. “It’s emotional. You can’t eat a plate of Cajun food and not have good thoughts.”

Paul Prudhomme was born on July 13, 1940, on his family’s farm near Opelousas, La., the youngest of 13 children. His parents were sharecroppers, and the family was poor.

Image Mr. Prudhomme published many cookbooks in his career. Credit... William Morrow Cookbooks

By the time he was 7, when his sisters had left home, he began helping his mother in the kitchen.

“I remember when I was about 9 years old, I heard of a cousin that worked in a New Orleans hotel,” he told The Chicago Tribune in 1986. “This is 1949, and he made $150 a week; it seemed like an awesome amount of money to cook. I mean, to be a cook, which was fun, and to get paid that much money and be all dressed in white just seemed like a wonderful thing.”