Recently we had a throw down kind of a party. We celebrated Kevin's graduation from high school...a major feat!! (not really, we knew he would). We tossed around ideas of going out to ea,t but with 12 kids 15 and under between the 3 of us (mine, sisters, brothers) we
called ourselves officially insane quickly scratched that idea.
Then we thought of little squiggly pinchy red guys....CRAWFISH! Now my husband, eldest daughter and son can eat them some crawfish and they were all over this.
We set the date, ordered the little pinchers ( along with some other scavengers like shrimp!) and got it all ready. Here is a look at how Arkansans do a Crawfish Boil!!
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Set up the boilers. Get the water (and the sweat!) rolling!
Have some kids hanging around asking if it's ready yet...
Pour some of this in the water to make your food sweat-running-nose-dripping-fingers-burning spicy....
Prepare the elegant table cloths and utensils...
Bring out the crawfish and let the children pick them up and scare each other and carry them all over the yard..(truth here, the crawfish were already cooked, only way we could find them on a HOLIDAY weekend. So they were NOT as fun to play with cause no pinchers were working. Note to self, order crawfish for a holiday weekend VERY EARLY!!)
While 2 men work, everyone else runs around looking busy but really just looking for a chair to sit in and wait on the food.
When the food is finished, place it delicately on each plate and serve with a white towel over your arm. OR NOT!!
With Classical Cajun music blaring in the background, CHOW DOWN. In this family there are no piggies waiting on one another. You just grab and pull.
Give the kids a little to make them feel a part of it all and then hide them under the table to eat.
After eating 1/5 of the crawfish, kindly decide to teach the rest how you eat them so quickly.
Grab the head and tail, pull apart, place tale in mouth and rip meat off, turn head and suck out brains and juice, throw down on the table and grab another. Should only take a few second per crawfish.
Make sure honored guest has some food..after all..we wouldn't be doing this except for his graduating from high school. Thanks KEV!!
After stuffing yourself with crawfish, potatoes, corn, sausage, and shrimp, play with your food.
Scare the babies by placing a hollowed out crawfish on your finger and telling them it will bite them.
Watch as said babies don't believe you and shows you her muscles!!!
Sit back and realize that all those shells are YOUR leftovers and that perhaps you are a glutton. Then remember it only happens once in a few years, it is a fish (right?) and the other stuff is veggies (well starch, but who's counting the carbs).
And THAT is how a Crawfish Boil is done RIGHT in Arkansas. I realize people from Louisiana may see this as a small scale sissy kindof operation, but we beggars can't be choosy and take what we can. As a side note, I PERSONALLY do not like crawfish or shrimp, but I LOVE everything else about the boil...the music, the smells, the laid back atmosphere full of the outdoors, visiting, laughing, eating, and family and friends.
thanks for reading,
Reb
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