In the Bayou City Crawfish are King!

Growing up in Houston, Texas we spent countless hours exploring the farms, lakes, streams and bayous in and around this great city. On some of our explorations we found lakes, streams, tanks and bayous brimming with crawfish or as we used to call them, crawdads. We used to spend many hours catching 50 to 100 crawdads big enough to eat. It did not take long before we recognized the potential of a seine. With a seine we could catch a meal in short order.

My mother would boil up our crawfish very much in the same way we had crab boils. We were always proud of the fact we provided a meal for the family.

Over the last 30 years crawfish have caught on here in Texas in a big way. We used to trap and seine our catch for free. These days crawfish are big business. Prices per pound rival that of lobster. Folks in Dallas are even in the mix. Competition has become fierce in the quest for a sack of crawfish. Typically, my family attends several boils per season. On special occasions we host our own crawfish boils. The last boil we attended was 3,000 pounds of crawfish trucked in from Houma, Louisiana. But don’t kid yourself. Southeast Texas produces a huge portion of the crawfish consumed in Louisiana during Mardi Gras. Prices always come down after the Mardi Gras feast.

Crawfish are great to eat. I like them boiled, steamed, sautéed and fried. Crawfish etouffe, sauce piquant, as a topping for a salad, cooked in omelets, crawfish gumbo and bisque are just a few ways we like our crawfish. Restaurants draw huge crowds and charge a premium per pound. It is nice not having to do all the clean up and the price is justified. Whether you call them mud bugs, crawdads or crawfish, the flavor is just as sweet!