Sacks of crawfish, or crayfish as some call them, are heavy. Each sack weighs between 28 and 35 pounds, depending on who is selling the crawfish.
Some people refer to crawfish as little lobsters. Other terms are mudbug and crawdads. They look like small lobsters and, like lobster, can be cooked by boiling or steaming. Crawfish also have a taste similar to lobster.
Crawfish are crustacean as crabs, shrimp, and lobster but have one vital difference from other shellfish. Crawfish live in freshwater while the other varieties of crustaceans live in salt water. The article below tells you more about crawfish and how to figure out how many sacks you’ll need for dining.
Where You Can Find Crawfish
Around 95 percent of crawfish eaten in the United States comes from one state, Louisiana. However, these little creatures are the choice of foodies all over the world and are popular in Nigeria, Spain, and Sweden.
They can live all over the world too as long as there are freshwater rivers, lakes, and swamps.
Estimating the Sack
Most agree that each sack has around 500 crawfish, depending on the size. This is important to know because this is one item that is sold by the sack rather than the pound unless you are buying only a few from a grocery store.
You will need to know the size of the crawfish you’re buying. That will affect your amount and most selling them will ask. Most crawfish are between 3.5 inches and 7 inches but most sellers will ask you if you want field run, select size, or jumbo.
Field run are those closer to 3 inches and jumbo are those closer to 7 inches. Select size is around 5 inches and that is what comes in most sacks of 500 crawfish.
Feeding the Masses
It may sound like a sack of 35 pounds of crawfish will feed a small army but that isn’t the case. Crawfish don’t have a lot of meat so people tend to eat a lot of them. True Cajun cooks say one sack will feed 12 people or less.
How many each person will eat depends on three things:
- The way you cook it.
- The side fixings you have to go with it. ‘
- How big an appetite your group has.
A dinner where crawfish is the premier item on the table will demand you provide five to seven pounds per person. Those who have a lot of side items can count on three to five pounds for each person to be enough.
How Much Meat Does a Crawfish Have?
Most numbers show that cooked crayfish has around 15 percent tail meat, which is the bulk of the meat. Three pounds of cooked crawfish will give you about 1/2 pound of meat.
Cooking and Serving Crawfish
There are many ways to cook and serve crawfish but the most popular is the crawfish boil.
The Crawfish Boil
Most people cook crawfish in a big pot for a crawfish boil. They throw lots of other things into the boiling pot like andouille sausage, shrimp, ears of corn, chicken, potatoes, carrots, and even broccoli. It all cooks with cajun seasoning, cayenne, salt, and pepper.
Once the pot is done, everything is tossed out onto a newspaper-topped table. People then take their plates and pick through the heap to get what they want.
You will have to peel your crawfish as you must peel shrimp. The tail has the most meat and that is typically what people eat but some Louisiana natives suck the meat out of the head!
Other Ways to Cook Crawfish
Crawfish, like shrimp and crab, can be used in many different recipes. Some Cajun favorites are crawfish pie, crawfish gumbo, and crawfish etouffee. However, you can put crawfish in other types of dishes like Italian fettuccini and Chinese dishes like crawfish won-tons.
Crawfish Season
Crawfish has a long season and can be even longer if there is a wet and warm winter. The traditional season is from February through May, but it can expand to run November through July depending on the weather.
Some seasons are set locally because of weather and when the crawfish breed. Lousiana has crawfish season from January through July while California crawfish hunters set crawfish traps July through October.
