Crawfish Boil on Good Friday

[18thVirginia]

In a community as Catholic as New Orleans, Good Friday was a holiday during Civil War times. Clara Solomon noted in her diary, The Civil War Diary of Clara Solomon: Growing Up in New Orleans, 1861-1862, that her school was closed on Good Friday. Adhering to Lenten traditions by eating fish or seafood on Fridays has never been a problem in New Orleans. Eating crawfish dates back to the Native Americans in Louisiana, who harvested crawfish long before the fresh water crustacean came to be associated with Cajun culture.

Although the Cajuns of Louisiana do have a wonderful folktale, that lobsters followed them across land from Acadia to Louisiana, growing smaller and smaller on the way. A crawfish boil has become a Good Friday New Orleans tradition, with newspapers, boilers, and mounds of the creatures rolled out to mark the end of Lent.

http://catholicfoodie.com/easter-and-crawfish-in-new-orleans

 

[18thVirginia]

The Joy of Y'at Catholicism explains the link between crawfish and Good Friday.

In y'at Catholicism, Good Friday is the biggest of the Fridays in Lent. Many businesses are closed, and good y'at Catholics observe the strict prohibition against eating meat on the solemn day by buying, boiling, and eating more crawfish than on any other day of the year. Of course, no seafood markets are closed, and customers line up and wait at the markets for hundreds of pounds of crawfish to be boiled or for trucks to arrive from southwest Louisiana loaded with bags of live crawfish. The demand for crawfish on Good Friday is so great that most seafood markets will not sell to a customer who has not placed an advance order and paid a deposit. Backyard burners are soon roaring with propane fuel under the big pots of water in which the crawfish will be cooked. Washtubs are filled with clean water to purge the live crawfish, that is, to let them gurgle and spit in clean water to get the dirt and debris out before they are thrown live into the boiling cauldrons. It is a fitting dramatic, liturgical pageant: thousands of live crawfish, the sacred totem of the Houma people, are sacrificed through ritual boiling alive on the day that Jesus Christ was put to death to redeem the people of the world.​

http://catholicfoodie.com/easter-and-crawfish-in-new-orleans​

​

Y'at refers to a common dialect in New Orleans, characterized by the phrase "Where y'at?"

 

[Blessmag]

Crawfish boil spice: I used the spice to do a turkey last Thanksgiving. Different flavor for someone in Minnesota.

 

[18thVirginia]

Boiled crawfish have become a popular Good Friday dish, but they're not just a recent innovation. My grandmother's copy of Picayune's Creole Cookbook, copyright 1901, 1906, has this recipe for boiled crawfish:

 

[18thVirginia]

Here's a link to John Folse's crawfish boil recipe. When it comes to seafood, I always go with Folse, who really is from out in Cajunland. Whose Revolution Restaurant in the French Quarter is Wonderful.

http://www.jfolse.com/recipes/seafood/crawfish01.htm


Here's a video with Folse doing a crab boil. Crawfish are done pretty much the same way, except more of them. And with corn, potatoes, onions. And not on Good Friday, but on other days, sausage.

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

I had a Crawfish Boil at my house last month! Delicious, but my wife said the house stinks!

 

[donna]

Great thread. Haven't had crawfish in years.

 

[Waterloo50]

Here's a link to John Folse's crawfish boil recipe. When it comes to seafood, I always go with Folse, who really is from out in Cajunland. Whose Revolution Restaurant in the French Quarter is Wonderful.

http://www.jfolse.com/recipes/seafood/crawfish01.htm


Here's a video with Folse doing a crab boil. Crawfish are done pretty much the same way, except more of them. And with corn, potatoes, onions. And not on Good Friday, but on other days, sausage.

That looks so good.

 

[donna]

Wonderful dish for Good Friday, which is tomorrow.

 

[Belle Montgomery]

I've NEVER had crawfish and would love to try them! I love shellfish-especially lobster! When my son was young he used to go "crawfishing" in local creeks up here in NE Ohio but I doubt they are the same...he never tried eating any of them .. just catch for fun . Are they the same?

 

[Cavalry Charger]

I love the style of eating it shown in the video. Now that's the way to have a feast!

 

[UCVRelics]

We have one planned for Sat. Here is last years

 

[UCVRelics]

We have one planned for Sat. Here is last years
View attachment 303334

 

[donna]

Looks so yummy. Wish we could come.

 

[UCVRelics]

Well come on, we always have room for friends to belly up to the table.

 

[War Horse]

In a community as Catholic as New Orleans, Good Friday was a holiday during Civil War times. Clara Solomon noted in her diary, The Civil War Diary of Clara Solomon: Growing Up in New Orleans, 1861-1862, that her school was closed on Good Friday. Adhering to Lenten traditions by eating fish or seafood on Fridays has never been a problem in New Orleans. Eating crawfish dates back to the Native Americans in Louisiana, who harvested crawfish long before the fresh water crustacean came to be associated with Cajun culture.

Although the Cajuns of Louisiana do have a wonderful folktale, that lobsters followed them across land from Acadia to Louisiana, growing smaller and smaller on the way. A crawfish boil has become a Good Friday New Orleans tradition, with newspapers, boilers, and mounds of the creatures rolled out to mark the end of Lent.

View attachment 132199http://catholicfoodie.com/easter-and-crawfish-in-new-orleans

I'm in

 

[Lubliner]

We have one planned for Sat. Here is last years
View attachment 303334

I now have a perfect understanding of 'smorgasbord'. Thanks,
Lubliner.

 

[Cavalry Charger]

I now have a perfect understanding of 'smorgasbord'. Thanks,
Lubliner.

 

[Steph-GB]

Ooooo never tried crawfish .. well don't think I have .. and double oops we had bangers and mash on good Friday!

 

[alan polk]

Had ours tonight. In addition to the typical potatoes, corn and sausage with the crawfish, we add asparagus, zucchini, eggs and pineapple.