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Live and Local: Mudbugs in Texas?
By Bill Conrad -- I'm Just a Bill
When I read my colleague Emily Hill's story about the Cajun festival in Celina www.scntx.com/articles/2013/03/15/news_update/1348.txt, I was excited. Not necessarily for the Zydeco music, but more for the food.
Living in North Texas it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find live crawfish for sale. If you do find them, or if you choose to get them flown in from our neighbor to the east, they are quite expensive.
Luckily for me, I already had my fair share of crawfish this year when I visited my brother in Baton Rouge last month. If you've never been to Louisiana, they treat crawfish boils like Texans treat backyard barbecues. When the pot goes on, people seem to simply show up from around the neighborhood, ready to eat the hot and spicy crustaceans, as well as the corn, garlic and potatoes that accompany the star of the show.
I've been a fan of crawfish for many years, but I still learned a lot from my most recent trip to Louisiana.
The 70 pounds of crawfish were cooked by Fred Sutherland, my brother's girlfriend's father, and a lifelong Louisianan. From his handmade crawfish paddle to the blend of seasonings and the special way he got the crawfish to suck in flavor from the water after they were done cooking (don't ask, I've been sworn to secrecy, and I don't want to have my next trip on his boat in the Atchafalaya Basin be one way), you got the feeling he knew his way around a pot of crawfish.
The thing about Fred's crawfish was that when I ate the first one I thought to myself, "This is not that spicy." No one else seemed concerned so I kept quiet and quickly learned I was mistaken. While one crawfish didn't set your mouth on fire, the level of heat and spice built up over time and eventually my mouth was burning and my sinuses were running.
Good stuff!
One tip that I did pick up that I don't think Fred would mind me sharing is the best way to get all of the crawfish residue, spice and odor off your hands. A crawfish boil is no place for wet wipes. Instead, simply cut a lemon in half and drop it in a bowl of water. When your hands are dirty put them in the bowl, rub them with the lemon and, voila, clean hands.
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