First of all I would like to welcome you back to our little blog here at Crawfish.com and apologize for Boudreaux’s atrocious grammar. We left it that way because it’s a little funny, but please don’t think we are all as uneducated as our Crawfish farming friend. I have a B.A. in English Literature for Heaven’s sake.
The crawfish boil is a time honored tradition in South Louisiana and for the life of me I cannot remember not knowing what one was. In Louisiana the crawfish boil is as natural and frequent an occurrence as the backyard cookout except for the fact that the crawfish boil can only take place from about January through July, during crawfish season. Seafood Restaurants sell crawfish during the season in 3-5 pound portions and many bars have all you can eat crawfish boils once a week for a set price.But the best crawfish boils are backyard gatherings with friends and family.
Many of my friends have annual crawfish boils that correspond with holidays and festivals. My favorite is Bacchus Sunday, the Sunday before Mardi Gras.We wake up early in the morning tap the keg, set up the “Crawfish Tables,” (which will be explained a little later on) and start gathering supplies for the boil which generally starts at about 11am. It’s always a great time because during Mardi Gras it’s hard to get to see everyone who is in town for Fat Tuesday. Between parades and late night sessions on Bourbon Street, The Maple Leaf, Tipitina’s, The Howlin’ Wolf, and all the clubs on Frenchman people tend to get lost. But when there is a crawfish boil involved everyone seems to drag themselves out of bed well in advance of the parades starting to get a bit of Louisiana sustenance.
The Bacchus Sunday Crawfish Boil lasts until the shortly before the parade rolls and generally includes lots of laughs, family and friends from far and wide and lots of Crawfish and beer. I’ve run into friends there that I haven’t seen in years and made new friends over cold beers. Come to think of it that’s kinda how all crawfish boils go. Now that the season has started I can’t wait to get to the first one of the year but it wasn’t on Bacchus Sunday because Fat Tuesday was so early.
You may want to know what it is that makes a crawfish boil successful and its really simple. The first thing is obviously the crawfish, the seasonings and don’t forget the other things to throw in the boil like corn on the cob, potatoes, sausage (hot dogs work too), broccoli, artichokes, and mushrooms all taste great after being boiled with the crawfish. You’re also going to need plenty of cold beer. Besides that you really just need to invite your friends and family to enjoy the afternoon with.
There are plenty of things that make crawfish boils easier to pull off although not all are necessary. You are going to need a thirty gallon pot and basket along with stand and butane burner as well as the aforementioned seasonings. You will also need tables to dump the crawfish onto when they are done. In many places the tables are simply picnic tables covered with newspaper for easy clean-up. However, some real pros have plywood with holes cut in either end which strategically go over garbage cans (the cans also form the legs of table. This is the easiest clean-up imaginable but you gotta be careful not to dump the good crawfish down the hole when pouring them out onto the table.
Also necessary is something to stir the pot with small paddles work well and are common place around south Louisiana. Finally the boiling water needs to drain back into the pot when the crawfish are pulled and two 2×4’s placed under the raised basket work well (holding that sucker till it drains can be a bit difficult and I really don’t recommend it, think severe burns).
That’s pretty much the basics but as a good gumbo everyone has their own style, just please don’t season the crawfish after they come out of the pot something about that is just plain wrong.
