Crustacean Carnival

Savor the spice of life and pinch da tail at Slidell’s all-you-can-eat crawfish cook-off

BY ROBERTA CARROW JACKSON

Family life and social life in Louisiana intersect and revolve around food. Nothing illustrates that better than crawfish season. Arrivals of the year’s first sacks of crawfish usually merit an announcement on the evening news, kicking off a feeding frenzy that lasts for months. Though the season can vary a little, supplies are most plentiful (and reliable) from January to June.

At peak season, usually in April, Louisianans celebrate spring with huge crawfish boils, cooking up 30 and 40-pound sacks of the crustaceans in cauldrons of spiced-up boiling water. There’s almost always crab boil involved as well as cayenne pepper, salt and lemons. Different cooks favor varied additions—corn on the cob, potatoes, mushrooms, whole garlic pods and sausage among them. The crawfish et al often are dumped, steaming, into a vessel resembling a small boat, or onto a tall table that has been lined with newspaper and family and friends gather around, standing to feast, drink, laugh and repeat.

Occasionally, visitors are invited to these convivial crawfish boils (or are lucky enough to take part in one at Cajun Encounters swamp tours, which sometimes hosts them for visiting groups). But seafood markets and restaurants get in on the action, too, selling hot boiled crawfish by the pound. (Expect to eat, on average, 3-to-5 pounds each!)

The world’s largest single-day crawfish boil is Slidell’s annual All-You-Can-Eat Crawfish Cook-off, taking place on April 22, and benefiting Hospice Foundation of the South. The feast includes over 40,000 pounds of crawfish and 17,000 pounds of fixings boiled by 60-plus teams, all competing for the title, “Best Crawfish in St. Tammany Parish,” selected by celebrity judges and the teams themselves. Included in your admission is all the crawfish you can eat and three well-known bands entertaining the crowd of over 7,000. Beverages and other food will also be available for purchase.