A Tale of Crawfish Tails

Hi, my name is Crawford the Crawfish, but some folks just call me Mud Bug.

I'd like to tell you about the joy I bring to Crawfish lovers. It's a tale of sacrifice and a sacrifice of tails but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Once me and my siblings on the farm are done growing, we get bundled up in sacks and delivered to restaurants and stores and in my case to some dude that wants me showcased at his party called a "Crawfish Boil".

The dude meets my truck driver at an early morning Saturday delivery stop at a restaurant. Hmmm, I wonder what this day will bring?

We get taken to dude's house where we get to chill out all day on ice. We are so squished together in the sack that some of us reach our claws out as if to say, "help me!" But I'm thinking, "It's cool, calm down." And we all slow way down.

Then Dude's daughter wants to get her picture taken with me before she has to go to work.

Hey, look at us taking a selfie! I can't decide which one of us is cuter.

After a leisurely day on ice, it's time to move to the spa area. We get to soak in wash tubs in fresh water. We start getting lively again. I hear the large pot on the propane burner in the background will be our hot tub soon.

See that dog in the background? We taught him not to mess with us. These claws come in handy.

I can tell this is going to be a fun party. Everyone wants to pose with me.

Hey look, it's Dude:

Interesting apron he's wearing. Pinch Me Peel Me Eat Me, Ha, I wonder what that's all about?

How You Doin'?

This guy's funny too:

Dude is putting on a spread for our party. Looks like some healthy veggies to enjoy after our day at the spa: corn, mushrooms, potatoes, onion, garlic, lemon. Those giant bottles of Cayenne Pepper are really going to spice things up, Hoo-EEE!

Veggies get to go first in the hot tub. Luckily there's a strainer basket in the hot tub in case things heat up too much and we need to be evacuated.

Uh, sorry to interrupt this story, this is Dude's wife. Crawford won't be able to finish his tale, so I'll take over from here.

I can only hope that the little craw-daddies didn't suffer too much when they took their turn in the "hot tub". I hope they met their untimely demise in a relaxed state, enjoying their "spa day".

In tribute to these crazy crustacean creatures, let me share some photos of them being ceremonially dumped on their sacrificial altar to be enjoyed by the mud bug eaters. These were taken at Brother Dude's Crawfish Boil.

And here is Dude, proudly displaying his handiwork.

Time to pop off the head, peel the tail, and pinch the shell to squeeze out the yummy morsel of meat into your mouth. Sucking of the head and claws is optional. Strange that there's no body, just a head, tail, and claws.

I peeled about 15 pounds of leftover crawfish and ended up with this small bowl of peeled tails. The debris filled up the large bucket.

 It was worth it. Fresh Crawfish Etouffee for dinner:

So Crawford, you sacrificed your tail, but you brought joy to our party.