Memorial Day & Crawfish, An American Tradition?

Memorial Day brings with it many things. 1) A three day weekend! 2) Time to remember the brave troops who have laid down their lives for us. 3) The unofficial start to summer. 4) Cookouts! Few things get me as excited during the summer months than a great gathering of friends and family with some brews and great eats. This years gathering was no exception. We like to trade in those buns and condiments for a prized Gulfport crustacean, the crawfish! Hosted by my cousin and her husband, this is one of my most anticipated events each year.

What goes into such a ‘cookout’ you may ask. Well allow me to guide you through the bounty that is a Crawfish Boil. To appease a massive crowd we start by offsetting some hunger with other offerings such as pulled pork, baked beans, mac & potato salad, a garden salad, as well as various chips, dips, cheese & crackers, and various sweets. For me, besides the buffalo chicken dip, the prize of the day is the crawdaddies themselves (and the mushrooms, but ill get to that later).

It all starts with the stock. In a large pot, much like a turkey fryer, you start with water. From here you build this glorious liquor. First you add in some heaping scoops of Zatarain’s Pro Boil seasoning to give it all those herbs and spice you want. If I had to describe the flavor of the mix, I would say it is similar to Old Bay but with much more heat and a few other herbs. Next comes some citrus in the form of freshly sliced and squeezed lemons. Then, you let it cook and marry and get all sorts of delicious.

Over the next few hours pots upon pots of amazing food will be pouring out of this liquid and enhancing it with the residual flavors of the items boiled inside. Time to start the cooking. First we drop in the whole heads of garlic. The husks around these cloves become soft and easy to tear away. What you are left with is a soft, and flavor packed clove. Since garlic is a strong flavor all on its own it is hard to detect what it has absorbed from the spicy boil mix, but there is a lingering background note of heat that gets you a few seconds later. It wouldn’t be a boil if there weren’t any taters right? So small russet (salt potato size) potatoes go into the creole hot tub as well. Next go the ears of corn. These nibbly nibbets take on so much of the Pro Boil flavor. Caution to those eating the corn for the first time. You may want to keep a damp cloth near by as it will light your lips on fire as you eat it! The corn absorbs so much of the spice from the cooking liquid that it is a real surprise once you bite into it. Surprisingly, this sensation entices you to keep on eating, and thus, I grab another cobb.

Time to hearty up the pot. The next item to walk the plank is sweet Gianelli sausage links. This could be any type of sausage you’d like, because you can never go wrong with sausage. Not even an Apple & Fennel Chicken variety. The sausage itself is plenty seasoned and flavorful so the links don’t pick up as much of the spice as you’d expect. Nonetheless, they are still dang delish when they come out. Now is when the pot really starts to get enjoyable with the addition of some fungi. Haha, get it? Fun-Guy! (Horrible puns are the best!) Whole button mushrooms swan dive into the the phenomenally percolating pot. The biology behind these mushrooms allows for them to soak up an exuberant amount of flavor. Once you bite into one they explode, like the classic fruit snack gushers in your mouth. These are by far the spiciest and best hidden treat of the boil. I feel confident in saying I consumed at least 40% of the10 lbs of mushrooms cooked that day, with no shame to boot.

To keep this Bayou Bash rocking it is finally time for the main attractions. For variety, and for those who may not enjoy crawfish, we toss in some shrimp to cook and take on all the great flavors. Once done, just simply peel, eat, peel, eat, peel, eat, etc. until people stare at you with eyes of judgement.

Now for the pièce de résistance, the crawfish! Shipped in alive and fresh directly from the Louisiana Crawfish Company in Alexandria, Louisiana they only cook for about 2-5 minutes. All of the other pot occupants have been simmering away to become tender and delicious but you don’t want to overcook these guys.  After those few minutes of cooking you shut off the heat and add a bag of ice is to shock them. They then sit in the liquor for what is called ‘Soak Time’ allowing for as much flavor to soak in as possible. Speaking of liquor, did I mention that we also add a good amount of Jack Daniel’s Whiskey at this time to the pot? No, how silly of me. We add a good amount of Jack Daniel’s Whiskey to the pot! Why? Because it’s American, and we can!

Once everything is primed for the plucking they are removed from the bucket, drained, and then dumped onto a large communal table for everyone to gather ‘round and enjoy. Eating them can be a challenge to some, but not I. Having mastered the skills over the years I can hang with the best of them. First one must remove the tail from the rest of the body, much like you would a lobster. Then you remove the first shell segment of the tail with your finger. Next, pinch the bottom of the tail and remove the meat, whether it be with your fingers or teeth. I prefer the teeth method as it removes a step to allow for more rapid consumption. Now all that is left is to keep on eating until they are all gone, or self loathing sets in. I can assume you one comes well before the other, but I will leave which a mystery.

Keep on Munching!