Cajun Crawfish Pie
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Crawfish
Crawfish are fascinating creatures. One of my earliest memories was playing around with them. We used to gather a bunch of the little suckers and watch them battle. They never really battled very well, but we sure had fun cheering for ours. We also used to catch a few crawfish and build a home for them in the little swimming pool. We would set them up with everything that they could possibly need (grass, dirt, some sardines from the kitchen), but they would never make it past a few days. I would beg my mom to tell me why someone would keep stealing our crawfish. To this date, I still don't know whether their dead little bodies were cleaned out by my mom, or if they really managed to escape on their own. We didn't really care though. Whenever those little friendly crawfish had moved on, there were always a million more to catch just down the road from our house.
As an adult, I am still fascinated with crawfish (or mud bugs, crayfish, or whatever else you Yankees call them). At every boil, I always spend a few minutes just watching them. Their claws are so huge and evil looking, but they just look so nice for some strange reason. I don't know if it's true or not, but I swear that they know what's going on. I'm probably wrong about that, but maybe not.
We decided to ask ourselves a bunch of questions about our little friends when creating this site. We knew most of the answers, but we learned a few things along the way. We sure hope that you do too. Here is what we want to explore with you:
- What are crawfish? Doesn't this just seem like a good place to start? Unless you really know what they are, it's not worth talking about the little bugs that swim backwards. We'll give some scientific details about them, and explain how they grow by shedding their shells (molting).
- Where do crawfish live? We were a bit surprised with a few facts that we learned with this one. Growing up in South Louisiana as a kid, we had assumed that they must live in everyone's backyard. Believe it or not, they don't! We also assumed that they always lived in water. Without giving away all the fun, there is an interesting twist to this answer as well.
- What do crawfish eat? Do you think that they like Pizza Shack or Burger Queen? Well, maybe they do, but I don't think that they can afford it.
- How to catch crawfish. Sure, you can catch them with a string and a hot dog like we did when we were kids, but there actually is a bit of science to catching our little friends efficiently. The designs of crawfish traps is genius to me, and the variety in them shows the true Cajun spirit.
- Crawfish farming. It's probably hard for a lot of you to believe, but farmers actually farm crawfish in South Louisiana. They usually rotate crawfish with their rice, and our little red friends do really well in the shallow, nutrient rich water.
- Louisiana crawfish. Did you know that those sneaky Chinese (and their greedy American business partners) try to sneak Chinese crawfish in as Louisiana crawfish? They do. Trust me when I tell you that Louisiana crawfish are superior.
- Chinese crawfish. This is where we explain how the sneaky people try to pass their junk off as a Louisiana product, and how they use slave labor to dump their trash on our markets. Stay away from these trash crawfish!
- Live crawfish. Did you know that crawfish are alive? (joke) Actually, in this section we explain how crawfish are kept alive in sacks to be transported around the world for boils, and how much the live version usually costs. We throw in a few other interesting facts as well.
- Frozen crawfish. Yes, our little red friends come in the frozen variety as well. While the live version is always better, you just can't get fresh Louisiana crawfish year round.
- Crawfish boil. This is probably one of the greatest things that you could ever do if you come down to Louisiana. We love to throw a boil, and they have a tendency to last a very long time. You will have so much fun!
- Bonus crawfish recipes. We gave you a bunch of great Cajun recipes in other sections, but we had to save a few for this one. Take a look at this page. You will be glad that you did it.
- Crawfish pets. Would you believe that some folks make pets out of our little bugs? I'm talking about adults now. Well, they do, and they pay a lot of money for them!
- Crawfish Festival. If you ever decide to visit us for just one festival, this is the one you need to come to. Forget Mardi Gras! The Crawfish festival in Breaux Bridge, LA is the best!
- Crawfish Capitol. I don't want to give this one away here, just in case you don't already know the answer. Yes, you will have to look for yourself!
- Crawfish trivia. We found all of the weirdest, strangest, and most obscure facts about crawfish and threw them into this page. Do you already know about all of them? I bet you don't!
We sure hope that you enjoy this little section about crawfish. If you have any questions that we haven't answered here, or you would like to make a friendly suggestion, will you email us? We would LOVE to hear from you. Enjoy!
P.S. Do you know that people have come up with some really strange names for crawfish? We don't use these dumb names in Baton Rouge Louisiana, but they do make us laugh.