“One dog goes one way, the other dog goes the other way, and this guy is sayin’, ‘Whadda ya want from me?'”
-Goodfellas

Hello loyal readers, hello world, hello Monday. Before we get going too far, let me first apologize for the content slow down at the Whats Up Brock empire. Sometimes life, work, or writers block gets the better of any of us and we slow down a bit. I wouldn’t necessarily say I have suffered from writers block or have nothing to say, but from time to time I look back at some of my writing trends and I add up the “Fucks, Politics, Religion or Vagina” posts and think maybe I should take a nap and come back with something fresh. I Don’t want to post just to post just to post. I believe in the have something to say, then say it but don’t bore people and be repetitive. Or something like that. Who needs rules when you’re at the top of the food chain?

Speaking of food chain. This past Friday I was fortunate to meet up with some close friends and start a new annual tradition. Good low country crawfish boil.

I have had crawfish many times in the past via restaurants here and there over the years. To really enjoy crawfish as much as any self respecting Louisiana Cajun you need to cook a metric shit ton of ’em, and sit around eating them outside in the company of friends. We did this and it was excellent. 

I had brought this idea up to a good friend of mine this past fall. Crawfish season is in the spring, and that for anyone not living within driving distance to Louisiana can go online and buy and have shipped overnight live fresh crawfish to their door.

I was literally a day away from putting in an online order to Louisiana to have 30lbs of fresh crawfish shipped in. Now you may be thinking 30lbs of crawfish is a lot. How much does that cost and who are you feeding? Believe it or not 30lbs of crawfish shipped to your door isn’t terribly expensive at about $160. Furthermore 30lbs of crawfish isn’t a lot in regards to amount one has to eat. 30lbs is actually the smallest amount you should buy. Specifically 30lbs of crawfish is enough to feed about 10-12 people or 2 Cajuns as my friend Allen and I proved.

But….

We didn’t ship these in overnight. The day before I was going to order them, my friend Allen, knew some folks that were driving up to Louisiana for a vacay and he gave them a cooler and some cash and viola we had 30lbs of live crawfish at our door for less then half the cost of having them flown via FedEx. 30lbs of crawfish $60. Oh and before I forget, live fresh crawfish will live about 4-5 days no problem in a cooler. So if you live within a days drive of Louisiana and you know someone going that way in the spring time, give them a cooler and some cash, you wont regret it.

There are many ways to cook crawfish. Steamed, boiled, you name it. Some add potatoes, corn, onion, garlic, lemon, sausage, spice packs. We elected to do a traditional boil, or a modified traditional boil. Some will add the sausage and vegetables in with the crawfish while they cook but we elected to boil the crawfish first, remove to a cooler then cook the potatoes, corn, sausage alone in the water. The reason is the sausage will render off the fat  and grease while it cooks and this way you don’t get all your crawfish oily and greasy. At least that was our reasoning and it worked out well.

When all is said and done, you get some friends together around a table, lay down some newspaper, then pile up the cooked goodness in the center of the table and go to town. Theres the whole pinch the tail, suck the head thing and I have to tell you its glorious. 

Now what you see on the table here was the first pile of about five, ten of us together went through. Well let me rephrase that. This was the first pile that ten of us ate, then there was about four more piles of about this size that Allen and I went through with shit eating grins and pure culinary bliss.

Everyone enjoyed the crawfish some more then others. Its a lot of work for a little succulent tail meat. However its camaraderie around the table with friends that is the main ingredient being shared and enjoyed the most.

We all sat down and enjoyed the first heap of crawfish. Some ate the corn and potatoes and sausage, I think I tried some sausage. After that first heap, Allen and I looked at each other saw that everyone else happily tried some and then we got down to business with a five gallon bucket between us for the shells and we wiped out about about 25 of the 30lbs between us. Really 30lbs of crawfish isn’t a lot. There is only about a bite of tail meat and juice in the body region. The rest gets thrown away. I wasn’t even full. Well actually I was happily full but not “oh god, I pigged out and ate too much full.” Online when ordering crawfish sites will state normal people will eat about 2lbs each but figure about 10lbs for a Cajun. Allen and I proved this is true as we passed the Cajun mark and happily headed into Troy Landry “shoot ’em” territory.

Allen and I pretty much committed this activity to a once a year tradition and depending on who we invite next time, we’ll pretty much ensure the two of us will easily eat 15lbs each and then we’ll add more for any other guests. Its a good time and an easy way to get folks together around a table for good food.

There was cake, pie, brownies / blondies, pulled pork there too, and I tried a bit of each, but I will have to be honest this inaugural event was about the almighty crustaceans.

If you like shrimp, lobster, or other assorted seafood I venture a guess you’ll love crawfish.

Let ‘er rip tater chips.