Good Friday Crawfish Boil

Good Friday turned out to be a beautiful day!  We got off work shortly after lunch and I made it home by 2 pm.  Good Friday is traditionally a time to reflect on the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for you and for me.  It is also a time when families get together and enjoy each others' company.  Growing up, we'd always have a fish fry.

Russ organized our Good Friday meal by obtaining a sack of crawfish from Benjamin's friend, Tanner.  Louisiana crawfish farmers are really having a tough time.  Restaurants that serve them are closed.  It is really a shame.  The price that crawfish farmers are getting right now are very low.  Usually after Good Friday the live price per pound plummets, but the prices have been dropping for a long time now due to the virus shutdown.  We certainly hope all that ends quickly.

We got the sack of crawfish and washed them off.  The size of the crawfish was nice!

Crawfish are not heeding the call to social distancing

Russ, Benjamin, and Tanner opened the valve on the propane bottle and started the fire.  They dumped the bag of seasoning in the water and stirred.  The roar of the propane jet and the smell of crawfish seasoning always brings back great memories of many crawfish boils we've had in the backyard from my childhood to the present.  To the boiling water, whole garlic, corn on the cob, and potatoes were added and allowed to boil in the seasoned water for a bit.

Pinchers gonna get ya if you aren't careful

Once the water came to a rolling boil, the live crawfish were added to the pot and the lid was put on top.  The water gradually came to a rolling boil again, and then the fire was cut off.  The crawfish were allowed to sit in the seasoned water for 15-18 minutes.  Then, the basket full of boiled crawfish was pulled from the pot and ceremonially poured atop a newspaper covered table.

We asked God's blessings on our feast and stood around the table and began peeling and eating.  We had some good cocktail sauce made up by mixing ketchup, horseradish and lemon.  Great for dipping!

The 35 pound sack of crawfish was quickly devoured.  When we thought our bellies were going to pop, we stopped eating and began to peel the remaining crawfish for tail meat. 

We had a pound and a half of peeled crawfish tail meat that Tricia used the next day.  First, for breakfast we had crawfish and scrambled eggs.  Yum!  Then for supper Tricia took the remaining tails and made a delicious crawfish etouffee.  Great weather, great food, and great family time.