Crawfish: From Pest to Party Time

In Louisiana, crayfish is “crawfish.” Don’t ask why. It just is. In other places, it’s “crawdad.”

Crayfish, crawfish, crawdad are words used to describe a family of freshwater decapods that resemble tiny lobsters and are plentiful in Louisiana waterways and sold fresh or frozen.

You don’t cook crayfish just for two people. You cook them for a crowd, especially for a Mardi Gras bash, such as the one being held at Orleans restaurant until Fat Tuesday, Feb. 27, the end of the Mardi Gras season.

The main event at many of these celebrations is an “all you can eat crawfish boil,” which will give you an excellent idea of just what crayfish mean to Louisianians.

Crayfish was socially unaccepted until 1935, when, some experts say, it was offered at the bar in a levee restaurant called Bernard’s near Henderson, La. Before then, crayfish was considered an agricultural pest best consumed at home and never talked about.

Louisianians can’t keep their mitts off a kettle of crayfish put before them. Paul Prudhomme, chef of K-Paul’s in New Orleans, urges anyone who can’t find the seafood in the market to “make friends with a good fish market and create the demand.”

Actually, you can go to a good fish market in Los Angeles and order crayfish, which are available fresh or frozen, when in season. Among the markets selling crayfish are Irvine Ranch Markets and Phil’s Fish & Poultry stores.

If the crayfish is frozen it will usually be sold in five-pound bags. In some markets blanched and “picked” (peeled) crayfish come in one-pound bags and are packed in ice or frozen. You’ll know fresh crayfish if it is sold loose.

Prudhomme, whose cuisine is marked heavily by the use of crawfish, insists that the fish be fresh not frozen, unless freshly frozen. “The oils in the fat, since they freeze poorly, turn rancid quickly and give your crawfish dishes a fishy taste,” he writes in “Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen” (William Morrow & Co.: 1984).

If you purchase live crayfish and blanch and peel them yourself, Prudhomme suggests that you save the orange substance (heptopancreas) found in the head and upper part of the tail. Commonly known as crayfish fat, it adds incredible richness to crawfish dishes and “can often be substituted for some or all of the butter in recipes,” Prudhomme writes in his description of this orange substance.

If you blanch the crayfish or purchase them preblanched, you need only boil them a few seconds, just until they turn red, to avoid overcooking.

In his “Patout’s Cajun Home Cooking,”(Random House: 1986), Alex Patout, owner of Patout’s restaurants in New Orleans and West Los Angeles, explains how a crawfish boil is served:

“This is a big, festive party dish. Good Friday is an important holiday for us, and we always plan this for supper that night, which makes it a lot easier to keep the (Lenten) fast. It’s a delicacy made for sharing--in fact, in Cajun country, boiling crawfish for only two people counts as a venial sin.”

Patout’s began its crayfish season last week with a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday crayfish boil plus daily offerings of crayfish etouffe, a dish in which crayfish is sauteed and served over rice.

At West Los Angeles’ Orleans restaurant, fresh crayfish flown in from Lousiana appears on the menu from late December to May, the crayfish season. While most of the crayfish comes from Louisiana, crayfish aqua-farmed in Santa Barbara is beginning to widen availability, according to Orleans’ owner Jake Ptasznik.

But Mardi Gras is the social high point for crayfish aficionados. That’s when hungry hordes come to Orleans to “pinch the tails and suck the heads,” as a Louisiana expression goes. At Orleans, the crayfish is served as it is in Louisiana, with chile-flavored mayonnaise and cobs of corn and boiled potatoes.

According to Ptasznik, a South African who fell in love with Cajun cuisine and decided in 1985 to create a Cajun restaurant in Los Angeles, Orleans’ Mardi Gras celebration has grown steadily from a three- to an eight-night event.

During crayfish season, tail meat is used to make Cajun popcorn, crayfish tails deep fried in cornmeal batter and served with Sherry sauce. When out of season, restaurants generally use lump crab meat flown from Louisiana to prepare similar dishes.

Here is Orleans’ chef Augustino Contreras’ recipe for boiled crayfish. The cooking water is bursting with the flavor of red pepper, lemon, onions, corn and potato.

Once done, the crayfish can be sprinkled with a mixture of black, white and red pepper and salt for added flavor, as is done at Patout’s, or left plain to served with a garlic-jalapeno mayonnaise, as served at Orleans. Corn and potatoes are served on the side.

Traditionally, crayfish is served with loaves of crusty French bread on a table covered with plenty of paper. Orleans makes good hot pepper rolls to go with crayfish.

The recipe for Chicken Jambalaya and Andouille is from executive chef Fred Mensinga and sous chef Tom Tassone of the Anaheim Hilton and Towers, which too is celebrating Mardi Gras at their Cafe Oasis through Feb. 28. Pastry chef Dominique Le Marrec carries the Mardi Gras theme through desert with a Southern pecan pie.

We’ve also added Sazerac, reputedly America’s first cocktail and a New Orleans tradition since 1793.

ORLEANS’ CRAYFISH BOIL

2 lemons, quartered

2 onions, quartered

1/4 to 1/2 cup Louisiana hot sauce

1/2 cup lemon juice

Salt

Red pepper flakes

10 to 15 pounds crayfish

2 cups pearl onions

5 pounds tiny new potatoes or corn cobs

Jalapeno-Garlic Mayonnaise

Combine lemons, onions, hot sauce and lemon juice in 10 gallon kettle with 5 gallons water seasoned to taste with salt and red pepper. Bring to boil.

Clean crayfish thoroughly, sprinkle with salt and rinse again.

Place onions, potatoes or corn in heat proof plastic bag (Orleans uses nylon stockings to make removal from pot easier). Add to pot. Cook onions, potatoes and corn until tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove and keep warm.

Return water to boil. Add crayfish, cover and cook 7 minutes or until crayfish turns red. Remove from heat and let stand 3 to 5 minutes without boiling. Do not remove lid.

Remove crayfish with slotted spoon and pile in large bowl. Serve with potatoes, corn, onions and Jalapeno-Garlic Mayonnaise. Makes 6 servings.

Jalapeno-Garlic Mayonnaise

2 egg yolks

3/4 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeno chiles

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

1 tablespoon oil

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon white pepper

1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 cup white vinegar

Beat egg yolks until thick. Add jalapeno chiles and garlic. Add oil in slow stream over yolks, beating constantly at high speed on mixer.

Beat in salt, pepper, hot pepper sauce, parsley, lemon juice and vinegar until slightly thickened to consistency of mayonnaise. Refrigerate. Makes about 2 cups.

HILTON CHICKEN JAMBALAYA AND ANDOUILLE

1/4 cup oil

16 chicken fillets or 3 chicken breast halves, boned and skinned

1 onion, finely chopped

1 green pepper, diced

1/2 cup carrots, diced

2/3 cup chopped celery

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 2/3 cups white rice

Cayenne pepper

6 cups chicken stock or water

Salt or chicken base to taste

10 ounces lean pork andouille (sausage)

Cooked rice

Chopped green onions or chopped parsley

Heat oil in large flame-proof casserole or Dutch oven. Cook chicken pieces over medium heat, turning frequently until lightly browned. Remove chicken pieces and set aside.

Add onion, green pepper, carrots, celery and garlic to skillet and cook until vegetables are translucent, but not brown. Stir in rice, cayenne pepper to taste and stock.

Bring to boil. Add salt or chicken base to taste. Blend in chicken pieces and submerge whole sausage. Cover casserole and simmer 40 minutes.

Place generous portion of rice on each plate. Arrange chicken pieces and 4 slices sausage cut on bias over rice. Sprinkle with green onions. Makes 8 servings.

Note: Sprigs of thyme and bay leaves may be added to enhance flavor. One cup peeled, diced eggplant and peeled, seeded, diced tomatoes also may be added to casserole.

SOUTHERN PECAN PIE

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

3 cups corn syrup

6 eggs

Dash salt

Vanilla

4 to 4 1/2-ounces pecans

1 (8-inch) unbaked pie crust

Combine sugar and cornstarch in bowl. Add corn syrup, eggs, salt and vanilla to taste. Mix until smooth and ingredients are well blended.

Place pecans in pie shell. Place in oven, then pour filling to within 1/4 to 3/8-inch of top of shell. Bake at 340 degrees 40 minutes. Makes 1 (8-inch) pie.

SZERAC

1 dash Pernod (or anise flavored liqueur???)

1 1/2 ounces bourbon

2 dashes sugar syrup

3 dashes bitters

Lemon twist

Swirl Pernod in old fashioned glass until inside of glass is completely coated. Mix bourbon, syrup and bitters in cocktail shaker and strain into coated glass. Add twist of lemon. Makes 1 serving.