This is for those of you that have NEVER eaten crawfish or even know what they look like. Some people call them mudbugs, crawdads... but we call them crawfish!

here's Mike adding more water to the pot...

my dad... (he was so tickled knowing that I was going to put this on a world wide forum - lol)

and of coarse you cant have crawfish without beer!!!

I'm from the North so I have no idea what this tastes like. I'll have to try it some day if I get a chance to travel. What does it taste like? Anybody? Anybody?

(phew, last one)

...and here's Marcus and my sister eating!

Kelly,

Taste like spicy lobster.... at least thats what 'they' say - Ive never had lobster!

No head sucking here...eww. I do like lobster though, but have never been able to get past the heads on crawfish. Yuck. The ones you eat are crawfish, the ones that run around in the backwoods creeks in NC are crawdads. You can't eat crawdads, but you can eat crawfish. I have also seen it written crayfish, same thing?

Great pics Paula! Ya'll had a mess o dem bugs, huh? We had 20lbs of Oysters tonight, me, DH and his brother. Yum, steamed on the grill, put on a Saltine and add a little Texas Pete Cocktail Sauce, yummy! You'd think I could handle crawfish if I can eat Oysters. ??? Good family fun for both of us tonight!

Hey Kelly, here's what I know...very similar to Lobster, like Paula said, but smaller and very messy to crack and eat. The crawfish are boiled in hot spices (cayenne pepper, and others) and apparently the spices will boil into the heads of these things and collect there, making the head part extra spicey! So you are supposed to tear off the heads and suck out the brains, then chase it with cold beer. It's apparently very yummy and I should be brave and try it, but the antennea (sp?) are hard for me to get past. Whaddya thing about that?!! Would you try it?

I'm with Kathy on the head sucking cause there are eyeballs to reckon with, aren't there? Are you eating the eyeballs?

ok kathy...this is Mike... the crawfish in N.C. are very similar to the ones in La.

Yes you can eat them...the difference is that N.C. crawfish live in fresh water streams and live a basiclly a mundane life. Louisiana crawfish are a little different in that they are grown... yes grown for the purpose of consumption. Rice farmers use crawfish as a second crop. During the winter and early spring,the farmers flood their fields and the crawfish come out of the mud where they live during the rice season.

The farmers set out traps and catch dem bugs, Den they sell dem bugs, then we boil dem bugs, then we eat dem bugs. WOOO WEEE " cest ce bon" . The La crayfish have more flavor than their northern cousins because they live in the mud. Ok, suckin heads...

You don"t really suck the heads for the brains, and the antennas dont even come into play. When you break off the tail you suck from the body cavity that has all the juice and flavor - no brains come out! But you only have to do this depending on how much beer you have consumed! This redneck Carolina boy don't suck no heads. Ok, I hope that I have explained the finer points of eating crawfish.

This thread is turning me green. :sick Not too sure about eating these. They sound yucky, but I'd be willing to try them once. I'll try anything once. No head sucking from this girlie though! Yecht!!!

I think they're a lot like eating steamed crabs, which are done pretty much the same way as crawfish, lots of old bay seasoning, which makes your lips burn. We have crab pickins here, spread out the newspaper and get to picking and lickin.

When we were in Lousianna last month they had crawfish on the buffet. Eating them is like eating crabs, takes skill and patience or a person could starve to death.

lol, Pat - You are right! But Ive found that crabs are alot messier and too much work for so little meat. What's really fun is that we go 'crabbing' down here and catch our own crabs to eat.

But If I were to choose a favorite in all the boiled seafoods, I would probably say shrimp is my first choice.

Ok-we love Crawdads here in SD. And yes they live in the mud, but when the guys go and get them they put them in fresh water for a week or so to clean them out!! I can't wait until it warms up here enough for the guys to go get some. They are awesome!! And no head sucking here!! We just break off the tail and eat them. Of course the kids have to play with some of them and have crawdad fights before they get cooked! It fun for all when we do them here!

you know, after Kathy's reply, Im getting kinda nervous about this thread...

If everyone is getting sick over it - Ill delete it, ok?

NOOOO! This is awesome cool fun! no deleting fun stuff!

I forgot Mike is from NC, so he knows all about the backcreek NC crawdads...I'm sure they are technically edible, but I would much rather have the raised kind for eating. Okay, next chance I get I'll try one, I promise. I am reassured that even Mike doesn't suck heads. Whew! these conversation get trashy when there's too much beer involved, if you can imagine!

NO! don't delete it Paula! Too much fun.

I've eaten crawdads once, and they were yummy. Fresh creek Water type. We caught them ourselves and had a great time with that too.

ooooh bbq oysters! I like adding a little white wine to them in addition to the hot pepper sauce!