Keep Calm and Don’t Eat the Straight Ones: Crawfish 101

Crawfish trade under numerous names: crayfish, crawdads, yabbies, crawcrab, nippers, crays, and (this one sounds like fake German) rivierkreeften. But for accuracy’s sake, when it comes to pseudonyms, mudbug is closest to the mark. In my freshman year biology class we dissected crawfish in one of our labs. The following week, we dissected one of those huge grasshoppers that enter your basement and hop around for 30 minutes while you try and kill it with a shoe. Much to my surprise, the crawfish and the grasshopper were intensely similar anatomically. Yet, for whatever reason, people across the Southeastern United States go crazy for crawfish, while grasshopper enthusiasts are clustered mainly in Southeast Asia. As Anthony Bourdain’s discomfort demonstrates, culture is very mysterious. Continue reading →

Cocktail Food: Crawfish Turnovers | Recipe

This recipe is provided by Louisiana Cookin’ Magazine. Cocktail Crawfish Turnovers MAKES 40 TURNOVERS 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/4 cup chopped onions 2 tablespoons chopped green bell peppers 2 tablespoons chopped celery 1 1/2 teaspoons Emeril’s Original Essence 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 3/4 cup whole … Continue reading →

Using Leftovers: Crawfish Salad BLT | Recipe

Believe it or not, sometimes the crawfish boil yields extra crawfish. When asked if we’d like to take some home recently, my husband lamented that most people try to use them for etouffee, but that he just can’t get past the crawfish boil seasoning. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me to use them in an etouffee since some of the beauty of that dish is in the delicate flavors released by the crawfish during the cooking process. Continue reading →

Oversized: The Obesity Problem

According to the Centers for Disease Control, Americans are getting bigger. On average we are taller by one inch today than we were in 1960. That growth is being attributed to better nutrition and access to enough food. However, we are no longer the tallest nation. American colonists averaged about two inches taller than the average European at the middle of the 18th century and by the middle of the 19th century the average American was three inches taller than European counterparts. But in the middle of the 20th century Americans began to lose their lead. Americans seemed to stop growing substantially after the Eisenhower administration. Continue reading →

Crawfish Pasta | Recipe

Courtesy of Angelina’s Zydeco Okra Cookbook by Carolyn Shelton Continue reading →