Man, Yall making me hungry for the south. One sounds like mamaw's cooking, and the other the good times in Lousiana. I lived in MS, and Arkansas and Louisiana, were right on our boaders.A friend of mine owned a Cajun restaurant, I got all you can eat crawfish whenever I went. She had a large family and they all worked it, since they were all raised in the true bayous, they all knew how to play music and sing. That is all they had to entertain themselves in a ram shackle house they grew up in. Sitting in their restaurant, eating crawfish and jamming to some good ole foot stomping music..now that was living ahhh of course you had to chug it down with a good cold beer.
I don't know if any of you have ever been to a crawfish party.
Boiling the crawdads with LOTS of spice throw in some potatos. Slap some newspapers on the picnic table, lots of buckets for the shells, and a ton of napkins.
I have tried to get Rodger to let me fly some up with some blue crab and have a cajun party, but he said his family wouldn't eat them. Some people just will not try anything new!
alane
__________________
Brain cells come and brain cells go,
but fat cells live forever.
My goody for tonight and it is in the oven now. A huge cheesecake..well it looks like it is going to be thick. I have Never tried to cook a cheesecake before. But, I saw this recipe that sounded extremely good, so I am going to give it a whirl.
Dang thing calls for 5 packages of cream cheese, and 7 eggs!
I will let you all know how it comes out. I promise to tell the truth ....lol
It was a hard recipe for me My kitchen was a mess!
alane
__________________
Brain cells come and brain cells go,
but fat cells live forever.
well, I DID say it looked like it was going to thick. I just checked it, and it is growing and growing. It is a cheesecake monster in my oven. I definately needed a much bigger pan..so for now, back into the oven. But the top and all looked nice brown. It would have looked a lot prettier with a MUCH bigger bowl. It has grown out of the pan and over the sides some.......no joke. It truely is a monster.
Alane
__________________
Brain cells come and brain cells go,
but fat cells live forever.
Hey Alane, you will appreciate these pics! This was from a crawfish boil (we don't call them crawfish parties down here, BTW ) This was about 300 pounds that were done at one time in this awesome contraption these guys made. Very quick and efficient doing it this way. The aroma standing around these things was amazing. Man, I'm getting hungry now!
Those that don't eat boiled crawfish are really missing a great meal. They are out of season right now though.
I have lived in a number of different parts of the country and to me, the food is better down here than anywhere I have lived. Lot of fat (but very happy) people down here though. Ha!
I know, it is a crawfish boil. I just used that term for 'clarification'
Man that looks sooooo good!!!!
ps...we can do a movie on my cheesecake. An updated version of "The Blob"
I just checked it again. They really do mean it, when they say use a springform pan....LMAO!! Oh, I will have to try again (after I buy one of those pans)
__________________
Brain cells come and brain cells go,
but fat cells live forever.
The blob is out of the oven, cooling off.
I used that term party, because I wanted it understood it is more than just cooking dinner. It is a whole lot of fun. Lots of traditions in the south.
I managed the horse barn on a plantation and they had a LOT of catfish ponds. A 200 acre plantation, so you know we had to do a lot of sampling to make sure that ponds fish was 'clear' of mud taste etc... I have eaten catfish everyway possible.
I had to manage the whole barn, but my main charge was her $50,000 dollar dressage horse. I rode dressage back then too, but I had a cheap $5,000 dollar horse..
Any typos going on here.....lol....I am getting a bit tipsy. Rodger got called back to the plant, so I am jamming, and having a few I'm so happy. Oh so happy~
chow for tonight..write back on how to do that crawfish
alane
__________________
Brain cells come and brain cells go,
but fat cells live forever.
I do the same thing except I do boiled shrimp. When we were growing up and being since there were 7 children of us instead of each of us having a birthday party we would just have a great big shrimp boil meal in the month of our birthday. I think I am the only one in the family which keeps u[ the tradition. (I guess it's because all my brothers and sisters are so cheap they don't want to buy the shrimp lol). Anyway, we did go crawdad fishing all the time but we couldn't stomach eating the whole crawdad. We just ate the TAILS!!!
I do the same thing except I do boiled shrimp. When we were growing up and being since there were 7 children of us instead of each of us having a birthday party we would just have a great big shrimp boil meal in the month of our birthday. I think I am the only one in the family which keeps u[ the tradition. (I guess it's because all my brothers and sisters are so cheap they don't want to buy the shrimp lol). Anyway, we did go crawdad fishing all the time but we couldn't stomach eating the whole crawdad. We just ate the TAILS!!!
Well, I don't suck the heads either. I guess I lived up north too long. I am only 75% Cajun, so I had to draw the line somewhere. I have tried it and it and depending on who cooks them, it can be extremely hot, because there is a lot of seasoning in there. You have to almost over season crawfish to get the seasoning to the meat in the tail.
It has almost gotten cheaper to buy them already boiled nowadays. That's how we get them anyway. We have drive through crawfish places where you just drive up tell them how many pounds you want and you are on your way home to eat them in minutes. Hard to beat getting them that way. I used to boil them all the time, but since these drive in places started popping up, it is just simpler to go get them already prepared - and you don't have as big of a mess.
There isn't really that much to it. The secret is seasoning the water to start off with. I use rock salt, lemons, lemon juice, sometimes even oranges, onions, cayenne pepper, crab boil (either liquid or the sacks) - and a stick of butter. The butter helps the tail meat squeeze out when you pinch the tail. Doesn't take long to boil them - only a few minutes until the shells turn red. You don't want to boil them too long, because the they get tough and difficult to peel. If you cook them right, you should be able to pull off the head and just pinch the end of the tail and the meat will pop out. More labor intensive if you over boil them.
After you get them out of the pot, just dump them out on a picnic table on some newspaper and sprinkle them pretty heavily with Tony's Creole Seasoning. The seasoning gets on your fingers and is just an added punch when you eat them.
Don't forget the corn on the cob and the new (red) potatoes. They are really best done before the seasoning is added to the crawfish pot or in a separate pot. You can easily over season them in the crawfish water - primarily with salt. Man, I am getting hungry for crawfish all of a sudden.
ahhh of course you had to chug it down with a good cold beer.
My kitchen was a mess! 
) This was about 300 pounds that were done at one time in this awesome contraption these guys made. Very quick and efficient doing it this way. The aroma standing around these things was amazing. Man, I'm getting hungry now! 
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