29145 Tue May 04 16:09:06 -0700 2004 22 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 122853 I want to do a crawdad boil in a couple weeks for a party I'm having. I've never done one before. Is it crawdad season around here yet? Where can I buy live crawfish in the Bay Area (pref. in SF)? Also, I have seen online stores that will ship live crawdads from Louisiana. I don't mind ordering them this way. Are they better? What are people's recs? Thanks! Tue May 04 16:09:06 -0700 2004 0 babyfork 1 122857 i just ordered 40lbs of crawfish from LA the other day. They were decent sized and all alive. If you choose they pick up at the airport option, they run $3/ lb, about double what you will pay in New Orleans. As far as boiling, just follw the instructions. louisiana crawfish company out of Natchitoches is where I went because they were reasonable and guaranteed that the crawdads would arrive alive. Go for the aiport pickup if you can-very easy. Tue May 04 16:29:56 -0700 2004 122853 0 merrill 2 123584 i just ate crawdads all over new orleans they were all about $3 a pound. so that seems like a pretty good deal to me. Tue May 18 21:11:38 -0700 2004 122857 0 flansy 1 122863 There is a guy at the downtown Oakland Farmer's Market every Friday with live crawfish caught by trap in the Sac River. He conscientiously sells only lively crawfish, culling out the, er, lazy lookin' ones regularly. I can't vouch for the quality as Fridays I am at work and doubt I'd endear myself to my colleauges by filling the fridge with live mudbugs though I am sorely tempted... Link: http://www.urbanvillageonline.com/oldoakland/frmapoakland.html Tue May 04 17:00:35 -0700 2004 122853 0 Pius Avocado III 1 122866 I think there is a wholesaler somewhere near Isleton CA, just off Route 12, toward Locke. I don't think you will find them much cheaper than at the Oakland farmer's mkt. Tue May 04 17:25:11 -0700 2004 122853 0 Jim H. 2 122881 This is the place that has been mentioned on this board before. Hard to forget that URL... Link: http://themasterbaiter.tripod.com/letsswapfishtails/id5.html Tue May 04 18:12:14 -0700 2004 122866 0 nja 1 122869 Crawdads are best served in a Bisque. Here's a recipe and some interesting notes I found on Bohemian SF web site some time ago: Bisque of Crawfish Take thirty crawfish, from which remove the gut containing the gall in the following manner: Take firm hold of the crawfish with the left hand so as to avoid being pinched by its claws; with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand pinch the extreme end of the central fin of the tail, and, with a sudden jerk, the gut will be withdrawn. Mince or cut into small dice a carrot, an onion, one head of celery and a few parsley roots, and to these add a bay leaf, a sprig of thyme, a little minionette pepper and two ounces of butter. Put these ingredients into a stewpan and fry them ten minutes, then throw in the crawfish and pour on them half a bottle of French white wine. Allow this to boil and then add a quart of strong consommé and let all continue boiling for half an hour. Pick out the crawfish and strain the broth through a napkin by pressure into a basin in order to extract all the essence from the vegetables. Pick the shells off twenty-five of the crawfish tails, trim them neatly and set them aside until wanted. Reserve some of the spawn, also half of the body shells with which to make the crawfish butter to finish the soup. This butter is made as follows: Place the shells on a baking sheet in the oven to dry; let the shells cool and then pound them in a mortar with a little lobster coral and four ounces of fresh butter, thoroughly bruising the whole together so as to make a fine paste. Put this in a stewpan and set it over a slow fire to simmer for about five minutes, then rub it through a sieve with considerable pressure into a basin containing ice water. As soon as the colored crawfish butter is become firmly set, through the coldness of the water, take it out and put it into a small basin and set in the refrigerator until wanted. Reverting to the original recipe: Take the remainder of the crawfish and add thereto three anchovies, washed for the purpose, and also the crusts of French rolls, fried to a light brown color in butter. Pound all these thoroughly together and then put them into a stewpan with the broth that has been reserved in a basin, and having warmed the bisque thus prepared rub it through a sieve into a fine puree. Put this puree into a soup pot and finish by incorporating therewith the crawfish butter and season with a little cayenne pepper and the juice of half a lemon. Pour the bisque quite hot into the tureen in which have been placed the crawfish tails, and send to the table. This is not so difficult as it appears when you are reading it and if you wish to have something extra fine take the necessary time and patience and prepare it. Tue May 04 17:37:43 -0700 2004 122853 0 wedgeheadjunkie 2 122875 Mmm. That sounds good! To be honest, though, I love crawfish too much to waste burying it in a bisque. Maybe I'd feel differently if fresh crawfish were easier to get around here, but until then just give me a big heap, boiled in Old Bay, and I'd die happy! Tue May 04 17:58:34 -0700 2004 122869 0 PegS 1 122870 Here are some local crawfish suppliers: C. J. Pacific International (415) 822-8910 San Francisco, CA Pacific Bait Distributors (916) 684-2522 Elk Grove, CA Crayfish International (209) 794-2755 Thornton, CA Tue May 04 17:50:46 -0700 2004 122853 0 wedgeheadjunkie 2 122910 Just curious, have you ever dealt with any of these suppliers? Tue May 04 20:38:38 -0700 2004 122870 0 RWCFoodie (Karen) 3 122951 No, they were merely found at the top of my Rolodex card listings under the sub-listing for "red claws" -- and nestled in between "cayman islands" and "crazy eights". Wed May 05 10:45:08 -0700 2004 122910 0 wedgeheadjunkie 4 122966 What do you have under "crazy eights"? (vbg) Wed May 05 12:44:07 -0700 2004 122951 0 Melanie Wong 5 123006 Well, I keep a Rolodex list of my Crazy Eight card game playing companions, and have them arranged according to level of skill play. Since the game itself is so simple to play, it encourages players to devise new rules tailored to match the skill level (and moods) of participating players. Crazy Eights is a game that, depending on skill level and number of players, can feature wild cards, changing colors, suits, etc. Because of this, there are lots of opportunities to make the actual game play either faster, easier, harder, sillier, etc. Depending on the situation, then, it is very important to have the right players in the proper game playing setting -- hence the Rolodex of players. Wed May 05 17:57:51 -0700 2004 122966 0 wedgeheadjunkie 6 123012 I see. You have a highly organized system of planned chaos. Have you ever played Fluxx? Wed May 05 18:56:49 -0700 2004 123006 0 Ruth Lafler 7 123075 No, have yet to play Fluxx, and have only heard of it through a fellow Crazy Eights player. Sounds like fun, with keeper cards, limits and goals, etc. The "highly organized system of planned chaos" you mention actual refers more to my modest but hearty garden of iris, gladiolus, lavaterra, primroses, calla lillies, herbs such as lavender and rosemary, growing alongside succulents featuring mostly echevaria at the moment -- definitely a melange of assorted plants juxtaposed in unusual ways, different species of a multitude of varieties resulting in a spray of colors most unexpected. I find this arrangement of distant realities warmly inviting and, oddly, somehow more comforting than the toned-down, homogenous hues and manicured lawns and hedges of, say, an English garden. Thu May 06 10:58:14 -0700 2004 123012 0 wedgeheadjunkie 1 122882 Not enough to eat, but we used to catch crawdads in Cascade Creek in Mill Valley. Got enough to eat once in Tahoe. Tue May 04 18:15:17 -0700 2004 122853 0 Sanna 1 122884 This may not be strictly an answer to your question, but if you like crawdads you should consider going to the Crawdad Festival which is held every year on Father's Day weekend in Isleton (in the Delta.) Their website (the URL for which I hope is attached) says that 22,000 lbs. of crawdads are consumed at the festival each year. There is generally a great mix of Bay Area people - Isleton was one of the original Delta Chinatowns, and has some of that heritage. There is also a very strong Cajun component to the festival. The best known restaurant in town is called "Al the Wop's." One very serious warning: traffic is beyond nightmarish - there is a single road into and out of Isleton, and it can be jammed for a spectacularly long time on the weekend of the festival. You might want to try to come early and stay overnight (or visit the at another time.) Link: http://www.isletoncoc.org/crawdad.html Tue May 04 18:31:54 -0700 2004 122853 0 mcchowhound 2 122887 You are getting your towns confused. Al the Wops and the Chinatown are in Locke. Tue May 04 18:52:04 -0700 2004 122884 0 Alan408 3 122899 Yikes! You're right about Al the Wop's. Isleton was, however, one of the original Chinatowns (along with Locke and Rio Vista), so I'm one for two. Tue May 04 19:38:52 -0700 2004 122887 0 mcchowhound 2 122946 We went to the event a few years ago. The situation was already overattended to a surreal degree. I'm glad I got there (we got an early enuf start so we didn't get trapped), but it is now on my "no way am I going near that!" list, along with the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Wed May 05 04:53:23 -0700 2004 122884 0 Sharuf 1 122886 You should know northern CA crawdad is totally different from the South's crawfish, harder shell, bigger head, less body meat. Tue May 04 18:47:25 -0700 2004 122853 0 soyo 2 2975676 This appears to be a very old thread, but here goes: Is the crawfish seller still going to the Oakland Market on Fridays? Thank You in advance. Tue Sep 25 15:08:13 -0700 2007 122886 130002 Orsondog 1 122937 The seafood markets in the Mission usually stock crawfish. I haven't been in a while so I don't firsthand. The place to check is the market on the east side of Mission between 23rd and 24th, just up the street from the Lucky Pork Store. Wed May 05 01:35:46 -0700 2004 122853 0 blech