This Louisiana traditional feast uses live crawfish ("crawdads," "mudbugs," "river roaches") available from local seafood retailers along the Gulf Coast. They come with claws snapping in a mesh bag. Must refrigerate if not used that day.

Equipment:

1) One large pot; preferred method is to use a 7-8 gallon stainless steel pot over an outdoor propane-fired "Cajun cooker;" the pot should contain a basket for removing the solid contents between "boils."
2) Large table; old newspapers for serving (no utensils required); plenty of sturdy trashbags for shell.

Setting: The backyard is best for all phases of a "boil" including cooking and eating.

Ingredients:

1) crawfish
2) small potatoes, cleaned but unpeeled
3) small onions, peeled
4) hot pepper, largest bottle available (Cayenne is best)
5) salt, 1-2 pounds per pot

(Fresh crusty bread of the French persuasion is nice; and of course, PLENTY OF BEER)

Procedure:

1) PURCHASE between 3-10 lbs crawfish per person (Experienced crawfish eaters require more);
2) PURGE the crawdads by submerging under cool fresh water in a tub in the backyard. This causes the river roaches to barf, turning the water brown and sandy. Repeat 2-3 times until water is clear. (Mudbugs will vary in their stomach contents.). Discard any dead crawfish (if they're not moving, they're dead);
3) BOIL 4-5 gallons tap water (or as much as you can);
4) ADD salt (lots and lots, at least a pound/3 gallons) and HOT PEPPER (a ton);
5) ADD POTATOES AND ONIONS; cook ten minutes or until slightly softened;
6) ADD CRAWFISH;
7) COOK approx 10 minutes, allowing to return to boil. Crawfish will float to top and be bright red;
8) Remove basket and DUMP the whole mess out on newspaper; tell guests "boil's ready"
9) Repeat the "boil" while drinking beer. This will take the whole afternoon/evening.

(NOTE: proportions of potatoes/onions/crawfish should be approx 1:1:5 by weight; it's mostly about the crawfish, although some find the onions the best part.)

For instructions on eating, and further details, the following excerpt from THE BLOOD NOTES OF PETER MALLOW should suffice:


“How do you eat these things?” Brenda asked.

“Break the tail away from the body, like this, and the meat juts at you. Stick it in your mouth and pinch the tip of the tail. The meat should come right out.”

She looked square at me with a crawfish tail dangling between her teeth. I’ve taught this to a dozen women, I thought, but she is the best, absolutely the best.

“Like thishh?”

“Perfect.”

“Hmm! S’good.”

“As an optional maneuver, you can ‘suck the head.’ You’ve got this left-over ‘head’ end in your hand, see? Just suck out the thoraco-abdominal contents, like this.”

Women always cringe at this part, then they run out to buy a T-shirt emblazoned with a fire-engine red, cartoon crawfish exclaiming, “I SUCK THE HEADS.”

“It’s quite delicious!” Brenda said, her lips dripping orange-yellow juice.