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Let les bon temps roll!

Photo by JADEN HAIR

Scott Hair, husband of Tribune food columnist Jaden Hair, empties a canister of crawfish made during a boil at their home.

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By JADEN HAIR

Tribune correspondent

Published: April 17, 2009

Our annual Steamy Kitchen crawfish boil was extra special this year. The kids were finally old enough to understand the humor of getting a box delivered to your door; opening the box with 10 pounds of live, angry suckers wiggling, clawing and climbing all over each other; and watching me give the crawfish a good rinse without getting snapped.

Ten pounds is a lot of crawfish, and along with potatoes, corn and sausages, it easily fed nine big-eatin' adults. I order from the 25-year-old family-run Louisiana Crawfish Co. (www.lacrawfish.com) and it's cheaper than you might think. Ten pounds for $52! That price includes overnight delivery, crawfish boil seasoning, Creole seasoning to shake on at the table, and even bibs and party necklaces! It's a steal!

How to eat crawfish

I'm sure you've heard of the pinch-the-tail-suck-the-head method of eating crawfish. Personally, I think you're wasting time with the latter part; most of the fat stays on the crawfish tail if you open them right. But if you get a kick out of doing it that way, then go for it.

After you boil the crawfish, take one in your hand and rip the head off. The yellow-orange stuff is the rich fat and my favorite part. Use your fingers to peel off the first rung of the tail. Use your other hand to pinch the very last rung of the tail - where the meat connects. Now grab the meat and pull. The crawfish meat should slide out clean and easy.

There's an extra step that I do: Along the back of the meat, you'll see a black "vein" similar to what you see in shrimp. I always like to remove that part before eating. It's really easy; the black "vein" is thick and just peels away. You and I know it's not really a vein, but all these pretty words make being a carnivore so much more pleasant.

CRAWFISH BOIL

3 heads of garlic, cut in half

3 stalks of celery

3 onions, cut in half

1-pound bag of crawfish-boil seasoning

5 ears of corn

2 pounds of small red potatoes

2 pounds of cooked smoked sausage, sliced

10 pounds of live crawfish, rinsed well

Note: You'll need a HUGE pot. We use our turkey fryer pot. If the largest you have is a standard 8- to 12-quart pot, have a couple of pots going at the same time. Use one pot for the vegetables and the other for the crawfish.

Fill the pot with water, then add the garlic, celery, onion and as much of the spicy crawfish boil seasoning as you want. Bring to a boil. Add the potatoes and boil until almost fork tender. Drop in the corn and sausage. Cook 5 minutes. Remove potatoes, corn and sausage, keeping the water in the pot.

Bring pot back to a boil and add crawfish (with smaller pots, you'll have to do this in batches). When the water returns to a boil, turn off the heat and let the crawfish soak and cook in the hot water for 5 minutes. Remove the crawfish, leaving the water in the pot for the next batch. Eat.

For more food adventures, visit Jaden's Web site at www.steamykitchen.com.

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