Mudbugs

Finally!  The weather was warm, the boys were in town, and the time was right!

This was son#1's birthday weekend and one of the things on his list was crawfish.  In our part of the country you have several choices for dine in, or you can do the home cooking!

On this fine day we decided to go to Mudbugs, off of Old Fannin Road.  Its offset from the road a bit and you sorta have to know where it is.  Its a nice metal building with a gravel parking lot.  Shoulda went in the truck, since that was just about the only thing parked in the lot.  I was tempted to try and throw some gravel with my trusty ole Kia when we left, but I wasn't really sure the Kia could spit those big rocks, pea gravel maybe!

At Mudbugs, like all the other places, you order your bugs by the pound.  With five of us, we decided on ten pounds to start.  We also got the required sides of corn, taters and sausage a la carte.  They also have table food for those that either can't take the heat or just don't partake in the fun.  You can wash it all down with the beverage of your choice, we went with a pitcher of beer, to start.

Proper dress is required, meaning do not wear a white shirt.  Usually by the third or fourth bug you will have dripped something on yourself.

The most common complaints by bug eaters are:  they are too small, not hot enough, or are too mushy.  On this day they were good size and cooked just right!

As we were digging in, it didn't take too long for the pepper to kick in.  As long as you were eating you were fine.  For an extra kicker the corn, taters and sausage are boiled in the same water and they soak up a considerable amount of pepper in the cooking process. If you stop to take a pause or a breather, that pepper would remind you that is was in your mouth!  It didn't take anytime before the first pitcher to be gone!

Before long, we had been threw a whole roll of paper towels and two pitchers of beer.  One of the shack staff came by to clean off the table.  Today's price was $6.50 per pound on the bugs.  I was curious what the live price was.  The guy said they weren't selling them by the sack yet.  They current supply was barely keeping up with the restaurant demand.  With the cold weather we have experienced, the bugs were just now popping out of the ground.  You can drive to south Louisiana to get them, but the fuel costs would kill the table price.

If you've never experienced boiled crawfish, you just don't know what you're missing.  Its best to do it with a crowd.  The pepper and beer tends to get the conversation and stories flowing!