Crawfish Boil

Yesterday was our first, hopefully annual, crawfish boil. Not really sure where this idea came from. A couple weeks ago Noah, Steve, and I were left alone at Noah's parents house, while Aimee (Noah's sister, Steve's wife), their kids, and Noah's mom were at a baby shower. I think I walked in on a conversation between Steve and Noah about having a crawfish boil, and with a little encouragement from me (I did after all live in New Orleans for four years!) Steve was online ordering live crawfish and sending out invites.

Inspecting the crawdads.

We ordered 40 lbs. of live crawfish!

Abe pity's the fool.

Lemons and garlic.

The kids had crawfish races before we started cooking.

The winner was unceremoniously thrown into the pot with the rest .

A downpour, complete with hail, started up while we were boiling the crawfish.

Potatoes, corn, and andouille sausage.

My brother-in-law's homemade stir-stick.

Our recipe:

40 lbs. crawfish

2 bags of Louisiana Crawfish Co. Seafood Boil

6 lemons

3-4 heads garlic

20 lbs. small red potatoes (only needed 10-15 lbs.)

20 ears sweet corn 

18 andouille sausages

2 loaves French bread (served on the side)

Turned out pretty good...

Collecting claws.

We were planning on about 20 people, and we did have around 20 adults, but there were at least a dozen kids there as well, so the corn and sausage went quickly. I think only two kids were brave enough to try the crawfish! Next year we'll have to remember to throw in some extra corn and sausages for the kids. 

We really could have used some Abita.

Everything tasted amazing, and the only thing left at the end of it all was some potatoes...we made way too many potatoes!

Noah and I were in charge of the beer, corn, sausage, and potatoes. We sort of dropped the ball by not buying any Louisiana brews, but I think all was forgiven after we opened the two growlers Noah and I picked up at Fitger's in Duluth the previous weekend. We brought their Starfire Pale Ale and Blonde on Blonde. It's appropriate to drink a beer named after a Bob Dylan album at a crawfish boil, right?

Fitger's "Blonde on Blonde"

...and Bananas Foster for desert.

We're already making plans for next year...