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Crawfish Suck The Head Pinch The Tails

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How To Eat Crawfish Suck the Head Pinch the Tails

It’s almost Mardi Gras time, and we can’t think of a way we like to celebrate better than a big old crawfish boil (or crayfish, or crawdads, or mudbugs, or whatever you call them). These tiny, freshwater crustaceans are basically tiny lobsters, but that doesn’t stop them from perplexing people from outside Fat Tuesday’s homeland year after year.

The truth is, getting the best, meatiest part of the crawfish is simple. And yes, sucking the head really does matter, and no, that doesn’t mean you are eating crawfish brains (first of all, you’re sort of sucking the body, not really the head and second of all, crawfish brains are about the size of a pin-head so you would absolutely not know if you …show more content…

This step is really more of a lifestyle choice than a step. It begins as mere human curiosity. It concerns the matter of head, and the desire to suck it. Generally speaking, those who try it once or twice and enjoy it, will continually engage in the act; fiendishly so. While the recurrent sound of slurping may be distracting to those who don't partake, those in the know completely understand the …show more content…

Along with the juices, there is a yellow substance, or the "fat" which is the most prized. Hardcore Cajuns actually pinch the head a little as they suck, to savor every last drop. Cajuns being Cajuns and not astacologists (crawfish biologists), called it fat at some point in time. This very rich and super flavorful "fat" is really the hepatopancreatic tissue, which functions as the primary energy storage organ within the crawfish.

If you have eaten crawfish before, but they were not from Louisiana, you have not tasted the fat. Chinese crawfish tailmeat, the most commercially available crawfish product in the U.S., is rinsed free of fat prior to cryovac packaging. This extends the shelf life of the crawfish, as extended contact with the fat will cause the meat to spoil faster.

Commercially packaged Louisiana crawfish tails are almost always sold in their fresh form, and contain this vibrant orange-yellow fat. In addition to adding visual appeal, the fat contributes to the unmistakable richness of the meat, similar to the rich flavor profiles found in shrimp and

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