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LENT
U
p until the late 1950s, crawfish was considered a “poor man’s food.”Local
fishermen brought the crawfish from the swampy waters primarily for
consumption by their own families. If there was more than enough for
even the largest of Acadian families, the fishermen peddled the crawfish to
friends and neighbors for mere pennies a pound.
The primary method of preparation at the time (in the early 1900s) was boiling
the freshwater crustaceans to consume during the season of Lent when seafood
predominantly was consumed by South Louisiana Catholics.
According to J. Richard “Dickie” Breaux in his book
How to Simply Cook Cajun
,
“the first establishment to serve crawfish commercially was the Hebert Hotel
in Breaux Bridge in the 1920s.”Guests flocked to the hotel where Mrs. Charles
Hebert, the proprietress, and her two daughters prepared meals for them.
Breaux explains that the sisters gave Mrs. Aline Guidry Champagne of Breaux
Bridge the recipe for what has now become the most famous crawfish dish we
know as étouffée, which means to smother. She cooked the dish for herself,
but soon word spread about this delicious method of cooking crawfish and she
began serving it to her customers.
The story goes that Aline’s father Henry Guidry had a dining facility in
Henderson, La. known as Guidry’s Place at Henderson Landing in St. Martin
Parish. The restaurant had many private dining rooms that seated about 12
people per room.
Breaux claims that the small dining rooms allowed the locals to eat boiled
crawfish in private since they were not accustomed to eating them in front
of strangers. (This was during the oil boom when there were visitors to South
Louisiana who found it odd that people ate “mudbugs.”)
But once the community of Breaux Bridge proclaimed it was the Crawfish
Capital of the World in 1959, the mudbugs became so popular that the LSU
AgCenter developed crawfish agriculture (pond crawfish) to supply the demand.
The “season” for catching crawfish in the wild usually was from January to June,
but raising crawfish in ponds provided another source when the supply in the
Atchafalaya Basin was not available.
Much like gumbo recipes, crawfish étouffée has various methods of preparation,
which each cook proclaims “the best you’ll ever taste.” My mother, whom I
trusted in all things culinary, proclaimed every time she put a pot on the stove
for making étouffée, “If you make a roux, then you have a stew.” So no roux in
her pot. She made what became known in the family as stew-fay because she
added a slurry (a combination of flour and water) that helped to thicken the
mixture.
But hey, that’s
her
recipe, and there is no doubt that the locals engage in many
discussions about this subject, just as they will argue whether jambalaya should
be brown or red (made so by the addition of tomatoes). And that’s a subject for
another day.
Suggested Reading
Louisiana Crawfish, A Succulent History of the Cajun Crustacean
by Sam Irwin
Crawfish Stew-Fay
Makes 4 to 6 servings
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
2
cups chopped yellow onions
1
cup chopped green bell peppers
½ cup chopped celery
2
pounds peeled crawfish tails
1
heaping tablespoon all-purpose flour dissolved in
½ cup water
Salt and cayenne
2
tablespoon chopped green onions
1
tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
Cooked long-grain rice
HOW TO PREP
Heat the butter over medium heat in a large, heavy pot.
Add the onions, bell peppers, and celery, and cook,
stirring, until soft and lightly golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Add
the crawfish and cook, stirring occasionally, until they
begin to throw off a little liquid, about 5 minutes.
Add the water/flour mixture, reduce the heat to medium-
low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture
thickens, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and cayenne.
Remove from the heat. Add the green onions and parsley.
Serve in bowls over rice.
Of course, étouffée is not the only dish to make with
crawfish. Home cooks and cutting edge chefs continue to
put their own spin on traditional recipes and create new
ones.
Crawfish
Season
by
Marcelle Bienvenu