Crawfish Boil!

The one thing about the US that keeps coming to life for us is how similar yet diverse Americans are culturally.  Sure, we watch travel shows and documentaries, and we know that big countries like China and U.S. and Australia would have different lifestyles, customs and cultures depending on which part of the country you are in.

This evening, we were invited to a Crawfish Boil.  Seafood Boil is common to southern Louisiana or Southeast Texas, and typically involves shrimps, crabs and crawfish .    So a Crawfish Boil is about cooking crawfish  (also known as crayfish).  A large pot fitted with a strainer is used and seasonings include cayenne, garlic, onions, potatoes, lemon, salt and corn thrown into the pot.  Our friend Mike had crawfish boil premixes thrown in as well.

Much like a steamboat/hot pot party or a barbecue back home, crawfish boils are about gathering family and friends to share in the food.  We felt blessed that Mike would invite us over to join his close friends and family, like he's done for New Year and also the Superbowl earlier this year.

But crawfish boils need live seafood.  Where would you get them in Midland, Michigan?  You Fedex them in!  Seriously.  $20 is all it takes to fly them overnight from Louisiana to Midland.

The first step involves sorting the live crawfish from the dead ones.  Some wouldn't have survived the flight and these you don't want to eat.

For Mike, that meant emptying the sack full of crawfish onto his driveway and seeing which ones don't crawl no more.  

The ones that were alive, we picked them up and threw them into a box.

If you picked them up by the tail end of their bodies, the pincers can't get at you.  However, their little legs will touch you, and that can be eeeky.

Once they were all sorted, we didn't even bother washing them.  Seafood needs to taste of the sea.  What's a little bit of brine?

Then we took them to the backyard where broth had been bubbling away on the pot which had been sitting on a propane burner.  The crawfish was boiled for a few minutes, the fire was switched off, and then the pot was left standing for a while.  Mike didn't cook the vegetables and the crawfish together but cooked them alternatingly in the pot, i.e. a load of crawfish, then a load of vegetables.

Mike kept us, the 5 first timers, very much engaged in the whole process.  In addition, to picking out crawfish, we were summoned every now and then to whatever he's doing to chip in.  

When the crawfish was done, they were emptied into another ice box.  More spices were shaken over them and the lid was closed to further steam them and let the flavoring really seep into the little stinkers.

In the meantime, we lined a table with newspapers in preparation for the box to be emptied onto it.

Mike's a great guy.  We love him.

I took no more pictures after this.  Too busy eating :oP  

The technique for eating them is the same as eating prawns with heads and shells on.  Pull off the heads, pinch the tail off carefully and try to pull the major vein along the backs of the crawfish with it, peel off the shells and eat.  Each crawfish yields flesh of maybe the width of but half the length of your little finger, however short that may be.  Yes, it's a lot of work for a little bit of meat.  Which is why instead of beer, Mike requested that we bring shrimps instead so that those who (i) find crawfish a bit too exotic; or (ii) want less hassle, won't go hungry.  

But no one ever goes hungry at such gatherings. There's always chips and dips, pulled pork sandwiches, and a table full of dessert.  And Mike, in his own quiet ways, makes everyone feel very much at home.