Have you ever wondered whether there were other options aside from lobsters or crabs? In case you get tired of the taste of crabs and lobsters and want a new alternative. Eating crawfish is another variety of edible dishes that can be cooked in a variety of ways. Crawfish are freshwater animals that look like lobsters, except they’re smaller in size. If this is your first time hearing about crawfish, you might ask, “What does crawfish taste like?” or “How do you eat crawfish?”
All these questions are totally understandable, since crawfish is not as widely available as other dishes like shrimps or crabs, and wondering about whether they taste good or not is a common question that most people will have.
Knowing and reading up on what crawfish looks, tastes, and smells like might be helpful information. For people wanting to try cooking up dishes with crawfish in it.
1. What does crawfish taste like?
Seafood or creatures that live under water have a very distinct flavor to them. They are very different from other types of meat like chicken, beef, or pork. Possibly due to the fact that their living environment is very different. The difference in taste is very obvious when comparing dishes like fried chicken and baked fish. Since chicken is known to be more plain and more susceptible to absorbing whatever ingredients are added to it. While fish or seafood in general will still taste good, but in a different way. Seafood are known to have a sort of “fishy” taste. Wherein eating it reminds you of the saltiness of the sea.
Most people think that because crawfish looks similar to lobsters or crabs that they taste exactly the same. They may be surprised to find out that crawfish without any added ingredients to them have a very mild taste. Because they have a different body as compared to crabs, and are a bit bigger. They have a lot more meat once cooked and cracked open. A good way to describe the taste of crawfish for those who have never had the chance to taste them. Is that they taste like a combination of both crab and shrimp. Crawfish are a lot denser than crabs. They don’t have meat that is as tough as the meat of cooked shrimp.
2. What do crawfish smell like?
Though crawfish are entirely different from the animals that are most likened to them, they do taste good. Because of their mild taste, they can taste as good as whatever sauce is added to them. But what does crawfish smell like? The smell of crawfish really depends also on the spices added to a crawfish boiling pot. If a lot of spices are added, then the crawfish will leave a lasting smell of spices on your hands if you use them to peel the skin off when eating them.
3. How do you eat crawfish?
Eating techniques are sometimes very essential when it comes to complicated food like crabs and shrimps. Certain types of food require peeling or de-boning, such as fish, and eating a dish like crawfish is no different. How do you eat crawfish? Crawfish are known to have a body similar to lobsters, which means that they are not as easy to eat as cut-up chicken or beef served in slabs of meat.
There is, of course, no limit as to the number of ways you might want to eat crawfish, but for the most part, since most of the meat present in a crawfish is located near its tail, it is eaten by pinching its tail off, and then squeezing out the meat through the end that has been cut open and eating it without the shell. The shell is then tossed aside since that part of the crawfish is not edible – at least when the crawfish is cooked in boiling water.
For beginners, cracking a crawfish open might be similar to eating shrimp, since shrimp is also covered by an outer layer with meat inside. But since crawfish have softer meat as compared to shrimp, squeezing out its meat is probably easier than squeezing out the meat of shrimp.
4. How to cook crawfish?
Being able to cook a dish to taste perfection is something that everyone wants to achieve in the kitchen. Be it a simple recipe, or a complicated one, coming up with the best combination of spices and meat is every home cook’s dream. Cooking crawfish is no different when it comes to finding out whether certain techniques work or not. How to cook crawfish, you might ask?
Since crawfish have a rock solid outer shell, cooking them requires the use of good ol’ pot of hot boiling water. Of course, one may opt to cook these babies with only the use of water, but that wouldn’t be any fun without the spices. Some cook crawfish by adding things such as lemon pepper seasoning, smoked sausage, red potatoes and every other additive you can think of that goes well with its mild shrimp slash crabby taste.
It oil boils down to the cook’s and the consumers’ preferences. Whether they like crawfish in a buttered-garlic sauce, or in a hot and spicy mix, cooking crawfish is open to whatever you imagine tastes good with it.
Conclusion
A lot of questions are asked with regards to food as unique as crawfish. Sometimes, you might wonder, what does crawfish taste like? And someone might also ask, what does crawfish smell like? Being curious about a certain dish and the different aspects that it entails are always answerable with a referral to similar dishes. Comparing crawfish to other dishes like crabs and shrimps gives you a better idea of what to expect when you finally decide to get your hands on a bunch of them and boil them according to your heart’s desire.
Eating crawfish might even be an event in itself for some, and getting that much desired meat by finding the right technique in opening a crawfish piece might be most satisfying thing you ever decide to try. Who knows? Maybe you might even toss away those common dishes of crabs and shrimps having found out that the taste of crawfish has been everything you’ve been searching for.
Check my articles on what does an Octopus and Lobster taste like.
