All Comments on 'A Block Party'

You ain't a real Looziana boy if ya don't suck the head. As the Radiators (the best rock-and-roll band to come out of New Orleans) famously sang, "suck da head and squeeze the tip." A couple of points: first, most average grocery stores won't carry crawfish in bulk, and if they do they're usually expensive as hell. Better bet is go to a seafood wholesaler. They'll have them in 45-pound sacks and the price is a lot better. Second, invest in a crawfish basket and make sure the pot is big (I'm talking 12-16 gallons). If you try to use a turkey fryer, you'll be there all night. Finally, dump the cooked contents on a table, preferably a picnic table outside or in the garage, covered with newspapers. Oh, and make sure you have plenty of drinks, because you'll work up a big thirst eating mudbugs. Bon appetit!

One day wandering around the left bank I passed a place displaying peeled ready to eat tails, what a find, cost me a fortune though.

As cold as you can get it. And lots of Zydeco. I wish I was there.

Dam girl iffn youda said mudbugs rite off Ida nowed what it was. (G)

We have Baby Kay's Louisiana restaurant here in Phoenix. Last year I took the family for mud bugs and ate up a month and a half's eating out money in one night. Thank you. 5 stars

Mike

Thank you all for the comments!

Anon - I go straight to the source for my crawfish, but here in Texas some of the HEBs will sell them. But you're right, they are so expensive that it's almost not worth it. I also don't suck the heads, personally, but there's almost always someone that want them, so I pull them off and give them to those who like that.

SCOUNDREL - If I had said mudbugs right off the bat no one would have read it. No one that doesn't eat 'em regularly would want to eat something called a mudbug. Gotta ease 'em into it. Kinda like calves fries...

Also, for a small party, a turkey fryer is fine. For our parties, we have two or three 16-gallon pots going. we do put them in an ice chest with some butter and extra seasoning. Or on a table with some butter and extra seasoning. We almost always add sausage and shrimp into the pot, too. If the part is big enough, there's also some fresh fried catfish, onion rings, and more "kid friendly" foods. My daughter will not go near a crawfish or shrimp because I showed her some live ones once and they scared her...

But they have always been 'Crayfish' for me. (sometimes we'd go crazy and call them 'crawdaddies') We even had a project in fourth grade where we got to take care of a bunch of live ones in a kiddie pool (with upturned butter-bins for caves). I still remember when we had to take them out and learn how to tell the sexes apart. The females have these little cresant-shaped slits on their tummies, and the males have a little deformed pair of legs.

I've tried to eat them in buffets, but it never worked out. I gotta try this sometimes.

A true Cajun knows that a washtub full of crawfish is just about right for 4 people. Do have medium sized new potatoes and sweet corn. (Sweet corn here in Texas is often quite seasonal so the frozen corn halves works quite well.)

Very Good article! I would probably add some heads of garlic and fresh mushrooms. Also, some green onion sausage.

Boyd Percy