Crawfish in Baton Rouge

A crawfish danced on the table.

Each crawfish makes one bite.

Dancing with crawfish in Baton Rouge

by Pamela O'Meara

Two red-shelled crawfish danced on the table
at Boutin's Cajun Restaurant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The larger one stood on its back legs and waved its front legs in the air. The smaller one rolled onto its back and waved all legs. Then they met their fate in a pot of boiling water.

Out came the server with large dishes piled high with cooked crawfish. The server said to twist off the tail, crack the shell and squeeze out one bite of delicious meat.

Baton Rouge is a big oil town located on the Mississippi River 157 miles north of the Gulf Coast, Every day of my visit, I ate crawfish, served plain or grilled over salad greens or in an etouffee (gravy) served over rice or poached eggs. The area is famous for its delicious Cajun food, music and history.

Crawfish live in the freshwater swamps and marshes of southern Louisiana and
many are harvested from the Atchafalaya Basin, one of the largest swamps in
the U.S. They are also farmed in rice paddies. After the rice is harvested
and the water cools down in the winter, the crawfish rise from the mud and
can be caught. February to May is the height of the season, and crawfish
boils are popular with locals then.

At McGee's landing overlooking Atchafalaya Basin, we ate lunch in a large
windowed room overlooking the swamp. I ordered a salad topped with grilled
crawfish, continuing to focus on the specialty of the area.

Crawfish etouffee served over rice.

Dinner at Randol's Cajun Restaurant in Lafayette included a big dish of crawfish for an appetizer and a traditional Cajun meal of crawfish etouffee over rice with sweet potato pecan pie for dessert. The restaurant raises its own crawfish and crabs.

Wherever you go, the crawfish are tasty in season.

Photos by Pamela O'Meara
 

For more information on great places for crawfish, go to http://www.lafayettetravel.com
or http://visitbatonrouge.com