Crawfish, crayfish, mudbugs or crawdaddies – call them what you will, it’s time to eat them. As spring heats up, so does the crawfish catch, and now is the best time for buying and boiling the critters.
I was prompted to write this article after a recent Sunday stop at Petty’s BBQ, on the corner of Miss. Highway 12 and Jackson. What was initially meant to be a casual stop for grub quickly turned into a serendipitous afternoon of live music, lovely weather, good friends and most importantly, crawfish.
The tent slinging crawditties on Miss. Highway 12 is called the Crawfish Hole. The crawfish tent seems to have recently popped up next to Petty’s and, for all intents and purposes, seems to have brought an impromptu party with it (trust me, this is a good thing). The Crawfish Hole, in my two brief visits anyway, seems to come as close as a commercial venue can to embodying the spirit of a good, raucous crawfish boil – food, music, cold brews, companionship and a celebration of the season.
After the experience, I began thinking more about the tradition of the crawfish boil, and I asked a friend and fellow crustacean enthusiast about the crawfish season and what it meant to him and his family, who, I should say, are natives of New Orleans. My friend, Casey Odom, a graduate student in anthropology at Mississippi State University said big crawfish boils are a traditional springtime event, nearly as ubiquitous as seersucker, spring showers or fresh flowers.
“Easter weekend is a big time to do crawfish because they come into season around this time every year. In fact, (my family and I) actually had a crawfish boil over Easter break,” he said.
He stressed the communal and seasonal importance of the tradition.
“It’s a good time to catch up, get together with family and friends and watch a ball game,” he said.
In essence, the little guys embody nearly everything that is important to foodies, chefs and the growing food movement today: they are a local/regional specialty, they are seasonal and they bring people together.
But while crawfish are the current cause célèbre of southern food, that was not always the case. In the early part of the 20th century, crawfish was seen by many as a pejorative symbol of ill-mannered Cajun culture. In essence, the crawfish was often thought of as a food for the poor or underpriveledged. Its detractors thought crawfish unfit for anyone other than those that fit the harmful stereotype found on shows like “Swamp People.”
Thankfully, as celebrity chefs like Paul Prudhomme, Emeril Lagasse and others began espousing the culinary traditions of Louisiana and the surrounding bayous, crawfish has become much more popular. As crawfish has become more culturally accepted, and gradually moved into the limelight, it has spread across cooking genres and across the country.
Today there are a multitude of ways to prepare crawfish in both traditional Cajun or Creole ways, and a number of other ethnic approaches. And while there is a seemingly endless variety of ways to enjoy crawfish year-round, be it étouffée, gumbo, po boys or “jambalaya and crawfish pie” (as Hank Williams sings), now is the time for backyard crawfish boils. So grab your friends, grab some crawfish, go outside and celebrate. You’ve made it through another winter and almost through another semester. Suck the head, pinch the tail and carry on.