Was in a Mexican grocery store in Washington State yesterday and was surprised to see boiled crawfish sitting on ice behind the fish counter. Have never seen crawfish in any supermarket here before, so bought 2.5 pounds at 4 bucks a pound. Not until I got them home did I see a label saying they were from China. And then I was crushed to find they were rubbery and utterly bland. Could only eat 9. So bad I didnt even bother to save the tails to cook in another dish. But at least I can possibly lay claim to being the first cajun in the US to eat Chinese crawfish. How can it be cheaper to import crawfish from China than Louisiana? Those of you in Southern Louisiana, be grateful the next time you sit in front of a big pile of crawdads.
They freeze it. It's why they are rubbery and bland. Frozen peeled tails from China are in all of our stores. Most local deli and restaurant etoufees are made with Chinese shrimp, sadly.
Say it aint so. You've blown my mind. Times have changed. Ordered a pound of frozen tails from an online Cajun store. Will pull out the freezer to see if they are from China. Better not be.
You'll be shocked at how much of the frozen crawfish is chinese. You have to really dig and look for the Louisiana stuff and it's almost twice as expensive. The chinese have gotten wise too and name their products stuff like "Boudreaux's Crawfish", and "Bayou Crawfish" and other stuff to make it seem like it's from LA. My wife won't let me buy the chinese stuff because she's convinced they raise them in fields of sewage. And maybe they do, hell I don't know. As far as boiled crawfish, that's surprising and probably doesn't happen much in LA.
Most of the time, when I eat crawfish in a restaurant, I break out in hives. It's gotta be something to do with what they feed those crawfish in China. I'm a fairly accurate foreign crawfish detector. When we go and pick up a couple of sacks locally and boil 'em in the back yard, I don't have any issues. So I always have to ask where the crawfish are from if I'm not sure.
Yes, you have to make sure you buy La tails even in La. The Chinese tails are washed and free of the fat that gives them so much flavor. You can just look at the packs of frozen tails and easily tell the difference.
