You would not believe how peeved I was last year that I missed crawfish season here in Austin, Texas.
Well, as peeved as you can be about leaving the country for a year – but still – you get my point.
Every year there is a small window (March – June) where crawfish boils are abundant and your belly full of spice and beer. While I get that it is culturally Southern, I still am surprised with the amount of people that have yet to try this Cajun delicacy.
Picture this:
You and 9 friends pitch in to buy 20-30 lbs of crawfish. On the day of delivery, you go to the store and pick up a bag of LIVE crawfish ready to be boiled and eaten. These babies had been delivered straight from the lakes of Louisiana and I’m so glad that we live in such a mixed cultural place.
Enter the massive boiling pot. Put in the spices (I like it SPICY!), potatoes, corn, and if you want to be extra fancy, mushrooms and let them simmer. When the time is right you throw your mudbugs into the pot.
No, they don’t scream. It is the air escaping from the shells. No, I don’t feel bad. I’m a meat eater and I have a relationship with my food and the cooking process (which is probably why I love market pictures). Top of the food chain, baby!
When all is said and done, the broth is drained (or saved for more crawfish to be boiled) and your goods delivered to the table – most often with butcher paper and some napkins. Expect to get dirty. Look forward to hearing your neighbor slurping the head (think back to our Tiesto’s post about savoring the essence of the langostinos!).
Serve with a nicely chilled keg and you have a beautiful afternoon awaiting for you and your friends (sorry vegetarians!).
-OR-
You can be lazy like I was this past year and go to a restaurant.
Either way you win.
Have you tried crawfish/crayfish/mudbugs? What do you think about food you have to work to get into (i.e. crabs, lobster, shrimp)?
love lobster, crawfish, crab legs, etc. the work getting to the meat is part of the experience for me.
Nope, I haven’t tried crawfish, but now I want to. I visited Austin and my hosts didn’t even suggest this. I feel robbed.
I’ve never tried crawfish but love seafood, so I’m sure I’d love them too! But can I not call them mudbugs? I prefer to think of them as tiny lobsters and not giant bugs.
I like the work as well! It makes the reward even more… rewarding?
That is a damn shame! Were you here during that time period! If you happen to be here during that time and we are, WE will take you lol! 😛
If you are a seafood fan then you will definitely LOVE crawfish.
…but they DO look like bugs!
I think it was late May, so it should have been during that time frame. I will be back…
Can’t WAIT to get some mudbugs! Being New Orleans born they are practically a Cajun National Dish!
I’ve got some good suggestions on where to go!
I can imagine! I LOVE this time of the year!
Yum – suck the heads!
I want some crawfish. Seattle does great seafood, but only the northern kind…
Oh man, I’ve never heard someone sound so excited about slurping brains! NOMNOMNOM