First of all, crawfish is a party food. You eat it outside because it stinks and can get pretty messy, even for an expert eater. You also want to have some beer with it. The video got some stuff right and some stuff wrong. Eating flat tails won't kill you, but if you eat enough of them, it can make you sick. Like lots of different shelled seafood, crawfish release a toxin when they die. That's why you cook them alive. Also, a good crawfish cook will purge the crawfish first in a tub of salt water. This causes them to puke and crap all of what they've eaten out of their system (and gives them a little bit better taste IMO). The 'vein' the guy refers to is the intestine. Pull this off. The yellow 'stuff' is crawfish crap. If there's yellow 'stuff' in the intestine, that's partially digested food. This means that whoever cooked the crawfish didn't purge them properly. I see this more at restaurants than at home cookouts. It's safe to eat, but kind of gross. Sucking the head of the crawfish is optional. If you do decide to suck the head, give it a little squeeze and crack it as you're sucking. You'll get more juice this way (and that was officially the gayest thing I've ever posted anywhere). Hope all of that helps. I've been eating crawfish a couple of times a year since I was a kid and even knowing the disgusting details doesn't make it less delicious.
Heh heh. This is funny. I wear a bib. When you learn to eat them properly (efficiently), boredom will NOT be an issue. It'll be about how much your stomach can hold. If they are done right, you won't need to add anything. Ideally, your fingers will get sore and your hands will burn from the seasoning on the crawfish. And don't forget the corn and potatoes. They will give your mouth a couple of short breaks from the crawfish. It's hard for me to eat 5-6 lbs of the bugs without chomping down some corn and potatoes along the way. Lastly, give em up until February. Hopefully we'll have a much better crawfish season than this year. Have an experienced buddy take you to a good restaurant and enjoy.
Thanks for the helpful suggestions. What other restaurants are out there that have crawfish? I thought Ragin Cajun was supposed to be up there. I went there and ordered a gumbo, not knowing it's a soup.. and I was like wth is this? Then I looked around and EVERYBODY was eating crawfish. So I went up to the guy and was like "yeah lemme get those shrimps that everyone is eating" and he just chuckled to himself cus I said shrimp. That bastaaard!
chuck them in the freezer so they fall asleep. less cruel them than putting them in boiling water when they're alive and kicking.
See, what you gotta do is just go to a crawfish boil. And with how many transplanted Catholics from Louisiana are in Houston, they SHOULD be easy to find around Lent. Or... When we do our next one, come over. You got the crawfish, the corn, the potatoes, and the cheddar biscuits we always make. Damn, now I'm getting hungry.
Because when you get 1 lb. of crawfish, you get about .00002 oz. of meat. lol. I love crawfish, but I eat about a pound and I'm done. That's a lotta effort for little meat. Still tastes great, though.
Magnolia Bar and Grill has an excellent plate full of whole crawfish when they're in season. http://www.magnolia-grill.com.
Hmm I can't wait for the "season" because I'm leaving town by the end of this month. I wasn't aware that there are seasons for a particular sea food.. but it makes sense. I'm sure Magnolia B&G probably still has pretty good crawfish now, right? Also my friend told me he just got back from this Asian buffet by 45/College Ave. It's like $8 to get in and he said there's crawfish there, pretty good. Anyone heard of this place?
There is no way an Asian buffet is going to have good crawfish. The vast majority of Cajun places don't have good crawfish. Hell, the vast majority of asian buffet's don't even have good asian food, how in the hell are they going to get crawfish right.
I've been told by a cajun co-worker that crawfish are in season in any month that has an R in it, but I'd recommend that you call ahead to Magnolia before you go there and make sure they're serving it. I'd have to say that Magnolia has the best boiled crawfish I've ever eaten (and I've had Ragin' Cajun).
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As I said earlier, go to Hong Kong Mall and stop by Crawfish & Beignets. They're crawfish are head and shoulders above Ragin Cajun.
Louisiana and Texas crawfish come from marshes and swamps, fool! http://www.crawfish.org/pages/history.html anyways, that yellow stuff is the fat, and its the good stuff crawfish etoufee or bisque is good if you dont like just eating the meat
I believe it starts around the end of January or the beginning of February and ends in the start of summer, June-ish.
I love crawfish...But isn't it out of season? There is a crawfish festival (I think it's still going on) in breauxbridge, La and it's f'n awesome...
