Cajun Crawfish Pie
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Crawfish Boil
We finally hit a subject that I really like to talk about! If I don't love a crawfish boil, I don't know who does! You may not believe this little story, but I will swear that it's the truth. I even had a few witnesses, but I'm not so sure that they were really aware of their surroundings very well after a full day of food and drinks. We had a huge crawfish boil a number of years ago. Everyone met on the farm that's just outside of Crowley, Louisiana. This is one of those places that you would not believe existed unless you grew up on it. We were way out in the middle of nowhere. We had the bayou on one side of us, and there was nothing but crawfish and rice in every other direction. We were all huddles up underneath the big oak tree, with a dozen or so trucks circled around it. Somebody had a tape player going with some songs that nobody could understand. We had a boiler burning, untold sacks of crawfish laying around it, and half a dozen ice chests filled with beverages. To make an even longer story short, we sat around and ate our boiled crawfish all day long. I mean we ate, and ate, and ate, and ate.... We even kept on eating them when the sun started settling and the mosquitoes came out like demonic blood suckers. I have never in my life been to a crawfish boil that lasted this long. When all was said and done, can you take a guess at how many pounds of crawfish I ate? If you are interested, I will leave the answer at the bottom of this page.
We've already talked about a great boiled crawfish recipe elsewhere, so I just want to share the experience of a boil here. The above story is fairly typical, but they usually don't last this long. A crawfish boil is a family event though. It is very common for large families and friends to gather in Louisiana for a boil. We like to sit around and talk, eat a lot of the little lobsters, have a cob of spicy corn or two, bite into a few baby red potatoes, and guzzle as many beverages as we can. It's just a good excuse for everyone to get together and have a bit of fun.
The basic process of having a crawfish boil is fairly simple. You need a pot to cook them in, a burner to heat them up, a tub to purge them in, some Cajun seasoning, a bit of corn and potatoes, a table to lay them out on, a few chairs to kick back in, and maybe a cd player to help the atmosphere (it wouldn't hurt anything to play a classical Cajun song or two). Some people like to have special dips and seasonings to soak their crawfish meat in. My wife loves to dip hers in melted butter. My brother loves to dip his in Thousand Island. My brother-in-law enjoys a blend of mayo and hot sauce. My little ones soak their in ketchup for some reason. As for myself, I enjoy crawfish straight out of the pot, with nothing else on them.
For some strange reason, some people like their crawfish to be very mild. Personally, and I believe correctly, I think that they were designed to be little carriers of nuclear heat. I have never tasted a crawfish at a boil that was too spicy. The way that we normally do it is to start the first batch off for the sissies. After we get that weak batch over with, the pots become hotter and hotter. When we finally boil that last pot, they have normally become perfect to me.
For another strange reason that I totally don't get, some people don't like to suck the head. I know this sounds a bit weird, but they think that sucking a crawfish's head is gross. Believe me when I tell you that our little red friends' powers are in their heads. That's where all of the fat and seasoning is. If you enjoy the taste of a crawfish, you have just got to suck the heads the next time you go to a boil!
The answer to the question at the beginning of this page is 40 pounds. Believe it or not, I ate 40 pounds of crawfish at one sitting.