What Is Crawfish?

Crawfish are on the build-your-own seafood list by the half pound and the pound, and they are in three of the four ready-made combos. They are also the item people most often skip because they are not sure what to do with them.

They are worth ordering. Here is what they are and how to eat one.

What a crawfish is

A freshwater crustacean that looks like a small lobster and is closely related to one — crayfish, as they are called almost everywhere outside the American South, live in rivers, streams and flooded fields rather than the sea.

The southern Louisiana crawfish industry is largely farmed in rice fields, which is why they are abundant, seasonal and cheap enough to eat by the pound. The name varies by region — crawfish, crayfish, crawdad, mudbug — and all of them mean the same animal.

What they taste like

Sweeter and more mineral than shrimp, with a firmer texture. Because they are small and cooked in seasoned water, they take on far more of the boil seasoning than a larger item does — proportionally more surface for the weight.

That is the argument for including them in a mixed bag. Snow crab and lobster taste mostly of themselves; crawfish taste substantially of whatever seasoning you chose, which makes them the item that tells you what your boil actually tastes like.

How to eat one

This is the part that puts people off, and it takes about three attempts to become automatic:

1. Hold the head in one hand and the tail in the other.
2. Twist and pull — the two come apart cleanly.
3. Peel the first two segments of shell off the tail.
4. Pinch the very end of the tail and pull the meat out in one piece.

That is the whole technique. What you do with the head is a matter of local custom and personal enthusiasm — there is seasoned liquid in it, and sucking it out is traditional in Louisiana and entirely optional everywhere else.

• The meat is all in the tail — a small amount, and worth it
• Expect a pound to yield much less meat than a pound of shrimp
• It is a slow food; that is the point of it, not a flaw
• Napkins. Considerably more than you think

How much to order

Less than instinct suggests, because the shell-to-meat ratio is the worst of anything in the bag. A pound of crawfish is a starter portion rather than a meal, and it takes longer to eat than a pound of anything else.

The sensible approach is a mixed bag — and the build-your-own combo has a two-item minimum, so you are being nudged that way anyway. Crawfish plus shrimp covers both the fast eating and the slow. Our guide to how the boil works covers the seasoning and spice-level choices.

Why they are seasonal, and why that matters less here

Crawfish have a season — broadly spring into early summer in Louisiana, when the farmed ponds and rice fields are producing. Outside it they are harder to get and the ones available tend to be smaller.

That matters less on a boil menu than it would on a specials board, because a build-your-own combo is a list of options rather than a fixed dish. If crawfish are not what you want on a given day, the same bag takes shrimp, snow crab, mussels or lobster tail instead, at the same seasoning and spice level.

It is also a decent argument for the mixed bag generally. A boil built on one item lives or dies on that item; a boil with three or four in it is far more forgiving.

Where they appear on the menu

• Make Your Own Seafood Combo — by the half pound or the pound
• Special Combo A — with snow crab, shrimp, green mussels and sausage
• Crazy Family Catch Combo, small and large — with everything else on the list
• Not on the fried menu — crawfish here are a boil item only

That last point is worth knowing. If you want seafood without the work, the fried side of the menu is where to look — shrimp turns up six different ways and the fish comes battered.

What to drink with a boil

Something cold and plain. A boil is salty, seasoned and usually spicy, and it is eaten slowly with both hands over a long stretch — which makes it one of the few orders here where you will genuinely get through more than one drink.

Order the larger size rather than the small, and get it at the start rather than partway through. Once your hands are in the bag, going back to the counter is not a small undertaking.

The short version

Crawfish are small freshwater crustaceans, sweeter and firmer than shrimp, and they carry boil seasoning better than anything else in the bag. The meat is in the tail: twist, peel two segments, pinch and pull. Order a half pound as part of a mix rather than a pound on its own. On the seafood combo menu.

By the half pound or the pound

In the build-your-own combo, and in three of the four ready-made ones.

Thai Rolled Ice Cream

What to finish a boil with.

Seafood Combos

Build your own, minimum two items.

Explore the Menu Order Online

Frequently asked questions