In North Carolina and West Virginia, you can find crawfish along creek beds and river banks. My kids think they’re fun to watch.
When we moved here, I was excited about the possibility of having crawfish boils for dinner. We had shrimp boils at my grandparents growing up. There is nothing like having a table lined with newspaper, picking over food and having great conversations with family and friends.
When crawfish season arrived in February, we kept trying to go to Little Dooey’s, which we hear has amazing crawfish. We always arrived in time to see sold out written in big bold letters on their menu sign.
TBT Butcher Shop & Seafood Express, now located on University Drive in Starkville in the shopping center across the street from the library, had some already-cooked and live crawfish for sale this past weekend. Since I’d never been to the shop, I thought it would be a great excuse to stop by and satisfy my crawfish-boil craving.
After I put everything together in a bowl so our dogs wouldn’t steal anything off the table, my youngest child reminded me that he doesn’t eat fish. Before grabbing leftover pizza from the fridge and going back to his video-gaming playing, he pointed to the crawfish and declared, “Those things have eyes and are looking at me. I’m not touching that stuff.”
He is missing out. Crawfish can look scary, but it tastes great.
In Starkville, I’ve heard Rosey Baby’s and Brewski’s, the gas station near Starkville High School, are other decent places to get crawfish. In Columbus, Huck’s Place and the food truck Kum & Geaux Creole offer crawfish.
If you know of other places, let me know via email at nlayton@cdispatch.com .
Since I have to get creative with my crawfish, the recipes here include a crawfish boil recipe and a few recipes that help deal with leftovers.
CRAWFISH BOIL
Ingredients
2 heads garlic, unpeeled
5 bay leaves
2 (3 ounce) packages dry crab boil
1 tablespoon liquid shrimp and crab boil seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
3 large oranges, halved
3 large lemons, halved
15 red potatoes, washed
30 pieces corn on the cob (half pieces)
2 large onions, sliced
50 live crawfish, rinsed
Directions
■ Fill a large pot about 1/3 full with water. Add the bay leaves, dry and liquid crab boil seasonings, garlic, salt, pepper, oranges, lemons and potatoes. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes.
■ Stir in the corn and onions and cook for 15 minutes. Add the crawfish, return mixture to boil, then simmer until the crawfish shells turn bright red and the tails pull out easily, about 5 minutes. Test for doneness by peeling a crawfish. Crawfish become tough when overcooked.
■ Drain well. Serve crawfish hot, spread over a picnic table covered with newspapers.
CRAWFISH ÉTOUFFÉE
Ingredients
3 cups long grain white rice
6 cups water
¾ cup butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 pound crawfish tails
2 tablespoons canned tomato sauce
1 cup water, or as needed
6 green onions, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 ½ tablespoons Cajun seasoning, or to taste
Directions
■ Combine the rice and 6 cups of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until rice is tender and water has been absorbed.
■ While the rice is cooking, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion; saute until transparent. Stir in the garlic, and cook for a minute. Stir in the flour until well blended. Gradually stir in the tomato sauce and remaining water, then add the crawfish tails and bring to a simmer. Add the green onions and season with salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes over low heat, until the crawfish is cooked but not tough. Serve over hot cooked rice.
■ Tip: Shrimp can be substituted for crawfish.
CRAWFISH MACQUECHOU
Ingredients
8 ears fresh corn, husked
¼ cup butter
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 pound frozen peeled crawfish tails, thawed
3 green onions, sliced
1 ½ teaspoons granulated sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
Directions
■ Using a sharp knife, cut corn kernels from the cob into a large bowl. Into the same bowl, scrape the cobs with the dull side of the knife to release any juice left in the cob. Set aside.
■ In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and tomatoes. Cook and stir until the onion is tender, about 10 minutes.
■ Add the corn, crawfish, green onions, sugar, cayenne and optional salt and pepper. Cook and stir until corn is tender, about 10 minutes.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
