I myself have never eaten Craw-fish before. (Crayfish, Crawdads, mudbugs etc.)
Apparently this is a common creature used in Cajun or Creole dishes. When I was a kid I used to catch these little guys in streams with a piece of long grass, but always let them go. I mean, the fun was catching them, not eating them! A few years ago I remember my buddy was telling me his grandmother was having a craw-fish bake. This sounded nuts to me, almost as foreign as eating bugs. I told him at the time that his grandma was nuts, why would she eat those bug-like things? I know now that Lobsters and Shrimp are no better, but growing up with them as just being a "bug" for us kids to catch I never even knew this was a common food! Thanks to petty Television shows such as Cajun Pawn stars, I saw that one guy was pawning a vintage $15,000 Gibson guitar so he could buy a new motor for his craw-fish boat. My first thought was like "what the heck"? I knew about the Louisiana Shrimping business, but not the Craw Daddy bug eating business!
Maybe I've been living under a rock. I've looked up pictures of cooked craw-fish tails and they appear to be the same texture and color as mini-lobster tails, which is not what cooked shrimp look like. I'm now guessing that they probably taste great, considering that they look so much like lobster and have a similar color when cooked.
Do any of you guys eat these, are are they better or worse than shrimp or lobster? From sight alone, I would guess that it tastes more close to that of lobster than shrimp?
If this is such a booming business in Louisiana, why is it not a common dish in other American states?
Crawfish tails:
(http://www.howtocookfish.info/recipes/crustaceans/crayfish/craw-fish-tail-meat.jpg)
Crawfish Gumbo
(http://www.robincajunfood.com/mm5/graphics/lg/crawfish_gumbo.jpg)
Crawfish Jambalaya:
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fKIf78YEuaU/T6bXSuVjHeI/AAAAAAAAMWM/hL-Het5gZMo/s320/crawfish-tasso-jambalaya.jpg)
Looks like it has the color and texture of Lobster to me?
What do you think?
In Sweden we eat a lot of crayfish once a year on the so-called "Kräftpremiären". "Kräftpremiären" is the first or second wednesday every August and then we have "Kräftskiva". This year it's the 8th of August.
On a "Kräftskiva" there is cooked crayfish (of course) with cheese, bread, butter and a lot of alcohol ("Snaps"). It's a Swedish tradition you have together with family and friends just like "Midsommar" (Midsummer).
Quote from: Da Bear on July 17, 2012, 10:10:29 pm
In Sweden we eat a lot of crayfish once a year on the so-called "Kräftpremiären". "Kräftpremiären" is the first or second wednesday every August and then we have "Kräftskiva". This year it's the 8th of August.
On a "Kräftskiva" there is cooked crayfish (of course) with cheese, bread, butter and a lot of alcohol ("Snaps"). It's a Swedish tradition you have together with family and friends just like "Midsommar" (Midsummer).
Cool history. Can you say what it tastes like in comparison to shrimp or lobster? I believe everything tastes better with a little bread, butter and alcohol! :)
Do you enjoy the taste or is it just a "meh, maybe just on the holiday" type of thing?
Hard to explain the taste, but definitely it tastes more than shrimp. It's quite good actually, but since I'm not a big fan of shellfish I'm happy with just one crayfish :D The claws have the most and best taste if you ask me (It's fun to crack them open to :P ).
Quote from: Da Bear on July 17, 2012, 10:28:31 pm
Hard to explain the taste, but definitely it tastes more than shrimp. It's quite good actually, but since I'm not a big fan of shellfish I'm happy with just one crayfish :D The claws have the most and best taste if you ask me (It's fun to crack them open to :P ).
Wow, I would have never guessed that people crack those tiny claws.
I am aware that people "suck" the heads on crawfish, but most likely that is for the same reason that professional chefs prefer to cook whole shrimp with head intact to gain all the fatty juices.
I'm a bit surprised that the only response has been a chap from Sweden, I didn't even know Crawfish were native in that territory!
Post Merge: July 17, 2012, 11:37:58 pm
Crazy youtube video for a crawfish boil. 3 beer soak, y'all! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_Hx-ItU4r8
We called them crawdads, I used to always catch them in streams in Iowa. We'd boil them or fry them.
Quote from: lobdale on July 18, 2012, 12:25:50 am
We called them crawdads, I used to always catch them in streams in Iowa. We'd boil them or fry them.
Called them crawdads when I was younger here too.
So you like the taste? What do you compare it to?
Whatever it is, it looks reach on protein :) lobster? i think it's a same family :)
I've caught crawdads in my youth as well, but never considered eating them. I've seen people sucking the juices from the head and that seems kinda gross to me, but I would try something made with the tails. I've never had lobster, but shrimp is awesome.
Quote from: lobdale on July 18, 2012, 12:25:50 am
We called them crawdads, I used to always catch them in streams in Iowa. We'd boil them or fry them.
How'd you get all the way from Iowa to Japan? Just asking, I'm an Iowan myself. :)
Wow...awesome food and also delicious food. i have already eaten this food.
Yeah it is! It's not as luxury as lobster but it's better than many types of shrimps. The claws is my favourite too and they are not that tiny, there's as much meat in them as in the tail part.
Quote from: GohanX on July 18, 2012, 09:38:53 am
I've seen people sucking the juices from the head and that seems kinda gross to me
The head tastes bad you should suck from the tail but it's actually just broth you suck. Then you crack up the tail kind of like a shrimp and the claws and eat it.
In my hometown we had a yearly festival at the end of summer when the whole town was fishing crawfish in the lake all night and the next evening you boil them and throw a big party with family and friends (Kräftskiva).
in soviet russia crawfish fishing is prohibited. But nobody cares. Everybody eats boiled crawfish and not once. :pacman:
I've had them once in Jambalaya. There was so much flavor and spice in the stuff, though, I don't know that I could've told you what they specifically tasted like. They aren't a huge cultural food around my areas in the Midwest, so I don't have many opportunities to partake, either.
This years crawfish fishing festival was a bit disappointing with only catching 30 crawfishes. Our family drew a bad spot in the lottery were one small pier was the only place that could be used for throwing out the traps. Fishing spots are drawn in a lottery and you can't use boats during the festival.
I guess we should be happy though, some people apparently got only about 5 and not everyone that enters gets a spot at all. Also we got a few real big ones.
Yup, tasted like shrimp to me, or Tiger Prawn. I guess you could think of it as baby lobster, nothing to worry about. Nice with mild and milky cheese.
Yeah! I love that kind of food, but i never ate lobster or such delicatesse, i ate crabs and shrimps and crab sticks - awesome!