2024 Crawfish Season (or lack thereof)

[BearSchlong 8138]

I don't see anyone stopping you.....but they probably DO go on another sub-board....

There is something weird going on. I can post pics of crawfish, but not a photo of a 5x7 poster of 5 naked chicks laying in a bed with their hands covering each others nipples and bushes.

[TPCJ007 48]

Do it!!

[BearSchlong 8138]

C. Boudreaux makes the best crawfish I've ever had, and the family grew rice and crawfish for generations before they figured out there was way more money in petroleum.

Anyway, the key is that each sack gets steamed - not boiled- that big pot holds no more than 4 inches of water, and the meshed basket sits mostly on top of the water. And it really doesn't matter how you season the water, because a quart of vinegar, a quart of lemon juice, a quart of minced garlic, a pound of butter, and the cajun seasoning dust gets dumped on top of the crawfish right after cooking. Then you shake the cooler every 5 minutes while resting the bugs for 20 minutes before eating.

It's unlike any restaurant crawfish. 11 adults ate 3 sacks and I was so freaking full.

[Brisketexan 105579]

C. Boudreaux makes the best crawfish I've ever had, and the family grew rice and crawfish for generations before they figured out there was way more money in petroleum.

Anyway, the key is that each sack gets steamed - not boiled- that big pot holds no more than 4 inches of water, and the meshed basket sits mostly on top of the water. And it really doesn't matter how you season the water, because a quart of vinegar, a quart of lemon juice, a quart of minced garlic, a pound of butter, and the cajun seasoning dust gets dumped on top of the crawfish right after cooking. Then you shake the cooler every 5 minutes while resting the bugs for 20 minutes before eating.

It's unlike any restaurant crawfish. 11 adults ate 3 sacks and I was so freaking full.

I gotta tell ya…I HATE crawfish cooked that way. The meat is unseasoned. Completely unseasoned. No salty/spicy boiling water gets in there. It’s just seasoning on the outside of the shells. Imagine really liking banana with peanut butter, but you spread the PB on the outside of the peel. It don’t make no sense.

I’ve been eating them boiled in seasoned boil water for fiddy years, ima keep eating em that way.

[billfromlaketravis 11605]

23 minutes ago, BearSchlong said:

C. Boudreaux makes the best crawfish I've ever had, and the family grew rice and crawfish for generations before they figured out there was way more money in petroleum.

Anyway, the key is that each sack gets steamed - not boiled- that big pot holds no more than 4 inches of water, and the meshed basket sits mostly on top of the water. And it really doesn't matter how you season the water, because a quart of vinegar, a quart of lemon juice, a quart of minced garlic, a pound of butter, and the cajun seasoning dust gets dumped on top of the crawfish right after cooking. Then you shake the cooler every 5 minutes while resting the bugs for 20 minutes before eating.

It's unlike any restaurant crawfish. 11 adults ate 3 sacks and I was so freaking full.

My ULL guys would shit their pants if I shared this with them. 

[BearSchlong 8138]

I gotta tell ya…I HATE crawfish cooked that way. The meat is unseasoned. Completely unseasoned. No salty/spicy boiling water gets in there. It’s just seasoning on the outside of the shells. Imagine really liking banana with peanut butter, but you spread the PB on the outside of the peel. It don’t make no sense.

I’ve been eating them boiled in seasoned boil water for fiddy years, ima keep eating em that way.

And I find boiled crawfish chewy, harder to peel, and overflavored. I don't hate them, in fact that's the way I always cooked them before marrying into their clan. And I'll still eat them without complaint anytime I get the chance.

But that was before the enlightenment.

The vinegar and lemon really soak into them during the 20-minute rest and accentuate the crawfish flavor. And they are so tender and almost fall out of the shells. And the claw meat comes out fat and intact.

But Im the same way with all my seafood, I'd rather eat “naked” grilled fish than blackened.

Boiling is easier at scale which is why it's popular for restaurants and events.

[BearSchlong 8138]

My ULL guys would shit their pants if I shared this with them. 

The cook is a ULL grad.

[billfromlaketravis 11605]

11 minutes ago, BearSchlong said:

The cook is a ULL grad.

Oh I’m not questioning you. I believe it. But my ULL guys would probably have a stroke if they were served crawfish like that. 
 

I admire them doing something different. I’ve been to many traditional boils, and it just doesn’t do it for me. I’ll be polite and eat a few pounds.

My favorite place for crawfish is BB’s on White Oak. They use a shit ton of butter, garlic, and Tajin on their external seasoning. I’ll eat 5 pounds without batting an eye. Also they consistently have big mud bugs. 
 

Shoal Creek Saloon in Austin has pretty decent crawfish. Good seasoning but they are tiny compared to many places in Houston. 

[WhatTheBuck 28837]

9 hours ago, BearSchlong said:

the family grew rice and crawfish for generations

Is the family Vietnamese?

[BearSchlong 8138]

?????

Well, no. But my wife’s mom, grandparents, and great-grandparents didn't speak English at home. They spoke French, which came in handy in France in 1944 when pops was killing Nazis.

[Storm the Field 5305]

Finally getting to eat some crawfish for the first time in the year of our Lord 2024. Buddy of mine having a small boil tomorrow. Our mutual supplier that drives a refrigerated truck over from LA on the weekends is down to $3.75 for large mix. Still high, but comfortably in the realm of "tolerable" and there's usually very little dead loss or undersized mudbugs in his sacks.

Edited April 12 by Storm the Field

[utee94 15883]

12 minutes ago, Storm the Field said:

Finally getting to eat some crawfish for the first time in the year of our Lord 2024. Buddy of mine having a small boil tomorrow. Our mutual supplier that drives a refrigerated truck over from LA on the weekends is down to $3.75 for large mix. Still high, but comfortably in the realm of "tolerable" and there's usually very little dead loss or undersized mudbugs in his sacks.

Man $3.75 seems like an absolute steal for THIS season, enjoy!

None of my friends that normally do boils are having them this year, for obvious reasons I suppose.  So II've hit up restaurants several times this season, paying outrageous sums, but don't care, had crawfish. 

[Lat22 4051]

23 hours ago, utee94 said:

So II've hit up restaurants several times this season, paying outrageous sums, but don't care, had crawfish. 

Exactly. I only eat them a few times a year and I don’t care what they cost. I’m talking to you, little man at the bar at the Cajun Greek giving me all sorts of grief about the cost. I don’t care. Had crawfish. 

Edited April 13 by Lat22

[billfromlaketravis 11605]

My department had a boil a couple weeks back. The molting/dead loss thing is for real, every other mudbug was rubbery. The seasoning was dialed in so I’ll give them credit for that. They mysteriously ran out of sausage very early in the boil. 
 

I’ll go to BB’s for lunch in early May and  call it a season. 

[immamac 43568]

Yeah just not worth it. 

[4th&Five 41704]

Wife’s company had a boil today. Free is me. 

[billfromlaketravis 11605]

5 hours ago, immamac said:

Yeah just not worth it. 

We have some hardcore Lafayette guys at the top of my department. I think my company is just patronizing them at this point. A few thousand bucks to retain some key guys is nothing to them. 
 

Anybody that has worked with Louisiana natives will tell you they talk about 2 things: food and how the officials have it out for LSU. 

[Etexhorn13 3054]

2 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

We have some hardcore Lafayette guys at the top of my department. I think my company is just patronizing them at this point. A few thousand bucks to retain some key guys is nothing to them. 
 

Anybody that has worked with Louisiana natives will tell you they talk about 2 things: food and how the officials have it out for LSU. 

I am surprised your Lafayette guys don’t hate the shit out of LSU. Obviously not true Ragin Cajuns

[Redneck Mutha 8056]

Our HEB had their boilers out and selling crawfish for $10/lb and head off shrimp for $12/lb this weekend.  Back of the napkin math, if we wanted 1.5 lbs of meat, I figured that might be 8lbs ($80) of crawfish or 2 pounds ($24) of shrimp?

We ended up doing about 1.5 lbs of Costco filets for $30.

[billfromlaketravis 11605]

Just got back from a damn good boil at church. Nice big mudbugs, well seasoned with all the fixings, shrimp, cold beer, and most importantly air conditioned. 

[CHIEF 5098]

CHIEF Jr.'s old boat fixin' boss is having a boil this Saturday. Eight sacks, two kegs. His oldest is graduating HS, so this is the party. CHIEF Jr. is orchestrating the whole ordeal, getting paid, and all the mudbugs we can eat. I plan on doing the least amount of work possible, time to pass the torch and act puzzled. Shells are gonna be thick, and peeling will be a bitch.

CHIEF 

Edited May 24 by CHIEF
thicc shelz

[utee94 15883]

We just did a boil at our house this past Sunday, a couple sacks and the bugs were finally really BIG, and not tough to peel.  Fantastic way to close out the season.

[billfromlaketravis 11605]

20 hours ago, CHIEF said:

CHIEF Jr.'s old boat fixin' boss is having a boil this Saturday. Eight sacks, two kegs. His oldest is graduating HS, so this is the party. CHIEF Jr. is orchestrating the whole ordeal, getting paid, and all the mudbugs we can eat. I plan on doing the least amount of work possible, time to pass the torch and act puzzled. Shells are gonna be thick, and peeling will be a bitch.

CHIEF 

We did turtle soup, a personal favorite of mine, and crawfish for my high school graduation. Good times. It was cheap AF because it was a long ass time ago.