How to Throw a Louisiana Crawfish Boil (Even If You're Landlocked)

When Tony and Abby Sharamitaro helped throw a church fundraiser, they wanted to offer more than just brats and burgers on the grill. They settled on a Louisiana crawfish boil. The only problem: The Sharamitaros lived a day's drive from fresh Gulf seafood. So the morning of the party, while they were preparing their crawfish boil appetizers, a friend drove to the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and picked up 75 pounds of live crawfish. It had just arrived by special order in the cargo hold of a Southwest Airlines flight, packed into a nondescript white Styrofoam cooler.

The Sharamitaros — who aren't chefs, just serious seafood enthusiasts — ordered their crawfish online from Louisiana Crawfish Co., which helped create an industry around shipping live Gulf shellfish. Owner David McGraw said it all started in 1985 when a college buddy moved to the East Coast. McGraw owned a crawfish farm at the time, and the friend, missing Louisiana cuisine, asked him to ship a few pounds. Overnight shipping was still pretty rare, so it took McGraw months to figure out how to mail live crawfish.

McGraw said his shipping business blew up when the Internet came along. Then came Katrina. "Louisiana moved out of Louisiana after the storm," said McGraw. "All these transplants, they had moved all over. They started ordering crawfish, and they exposed people to their culture." Since Katrina, McGraw said his business has grown by 20-30% each year, and dozens of other companies have begun shipping live crawfish.

Here are six essential tips for throwing a crawfish boil like a true Louisianan.

1. Order live crawfish

Lots of suppliers will ship crawfish, and even many supermarkets carry them frozen or de-thawed. But for the true experience, order them live and shipped that day. In part that's because those squirming, snapping crawfish add to the excitement of the event. But it's also because live crawfish guarantee they're fresh. "The only way you can guarantee a crawfish hasn't been dead a long time is if it's still alive," said McGraw.

2. Head to the airport

Most companies that ship crawfish will guarantee next-day delivery to your door. That's certainly the most convenient way to begin your boil. It's also the most expensive, and there's some uncertainty about whether your bounty will get hung up at the local shipping center. Instead, ask for airport delivery. It'll require you to head to the cargo arrival terminal, but if you care about food, there are few things more fun than a special shipment of still-snapping seafood arriving just for you and your friends by plane.

3. Prep the sides

In Louisiana, crawfish boils are usually spread out on long picnic tables covered in newspaper, with only an occasional side that hasn't been boiled with the seafood. If you're entertaining vegetarians or non-shellfish eaters, consider bowls of red beans and rice, gumbo, or jambalaya. You'll also want dips, which typically include hot sauce, cocktail sauce, and the star sauce for any boil, remoulade.

4. Get out the gear

If you don't have a seafood boiler, that contraption you used to fry a turkey that one year will work. Be sure it has a built-in colander. Boiling shellfish is messy, so set up outside, away from anything flammable. Allow for a clear path to the paper-lined table, because you'll be dripping steaming water along the way. To eight quarts of boiling water, add a premade boil, like Zatarain's or Old Bay, or about four ounces of homemade Cajun spice mix.

5. Boil the garden

Standard crawfish boils include andouille sausage, onions, potatoes, and corn, boiled 10 minutes before adding the crawfish, which cook for another three. Also excellent boiled with the crawfish: cauliflower, artichokes, whole garlic cloves, asparagus, peppers, mushrooms, and any other veg that boils well.

6. Prepare to pair

The Sharamitaros served their crawfish with a Cajun lemonade made slightly spicy with hot sauce. For wine, go with a white on the sweeter side. Beer works well, especially something with some bite, like an American pale or Belgian farmhouse ale.