(photo from Louisiana Crawfish) 
Other than our weekend fishing excursions when we were kids, we also used to catch crawfish in the river. Mom used to go to the market, buy a whole chicken to use as bait. Tie a string around the whole bird, lower it in the river and wait. I don’t remember if we simply used it raw or if she cooked the bird. I’m assuming that since crawfish resemble lobster, lobster are expensive, people who enjoy lobster have fine palates, therefore crawfish must like garlic-lemon roasted chicken.
I’m sure that when we lowered a perfectly brined and cooked bird, we probably caught more crawfish. But what a shame to give up the gorgeous, plump, juicy bird.
So, back to the story. We’d lower the bird in the river, the crawfish would nibble on the chicken, using their little claws to get a good grip and secure their spot on the chicken. Then we’d pull the rope, dragging the chicken + the crawfish dumb enough not to let go to shore. The poor chicken, all mangled and chewed up gets thrown back in over and over again until it becomes an unrecognizable carcass.
Lovely.
I don’t remember how Mom cooked them…probably some Chinese style with ginger and green onions. But now, the only way I’ll eat them is once a year, have them fedex’d to my door from Louisiana Crawfish, live for less than $5 per pound. Shipping is included in the price. My local supermarket has them for $7.99 per pound. Dead. Overcooked. Frozen. Add some corn on cob, red skinned potatoes and throw in some shrimp, clams and mussels … have a Crawfish Boil Party. Or make my orgasmically good Killer Cajun Crawfish. Can I come over for dinner? Oh yeah, and the best part about getting live crawfish is that when you first open the 10 lb box, they all want to escape and are particularly fiesty. Throw a few on the kitchen floor and have a pre-dinner show….a crawfish fight!! hehehe evil laugh!! Check out the rest of my shopping list for this month over at WellFed
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I know them as crayfish, but it’s the same. I love them, simply steamed/boiled. The real, unpretentious taste of fresh seafood. *slurp*
Crawfish! You hit on another “childhood memory” food item for me. We’d spend a day up the mountains of Kokee, catching them with bamboo poles baited with pieces of squid. Such fun, but boy do those buggers give a mean pinch if you don’t watch out!
In Abu Dhabi, UAE, in 1992, we tried explaining shrimp to the waiter at a restaurant where neither the waiter nor the menu spoke English. Because of this, I now know that deep-fried, lightly-battered whole crayfish is actually very tasty. There were three on each of our plates, and there was no meat left when we were done.
Tigerfish- they are also called crawdads. so many different names! do they have crawfish in singapore?
Rowena- we used to get a whole chicken, tie a string around the bird and lower it in the river and pull it up when the crawfish started nibbling. a whole chicken! I’m going to revise the post to include this story now.
LPC-I’ve never tried deep fried. I think I’ll do that when I get my shipment in.
I don’t think can get fresh ones in Singapore. I’ve eaten them before (origin unknown..I shd have asked) from the better buffet spread. I guess they have it shipped from somewhere …my guess is Australia/NZ.
Now I’m in California, I’m so tempted by your recommendation for door-to-door. But I’m so sure my kitchen does not have space for 10lbs worth of live crawfish
… too intimidating
If only you were my neighbor….