Snacks for Superbowl

[Rossc]

It isn't a Super Bowl without Chicken Wings...

[homstdr74]

Heck, everybody's talking about brownies lately....there's always Betty Crocker.

[AFRetired]

Crawdads, Gumbo, and other cajun foods for saints fans

[jpw]

Originally Posted by AFRetired

Crawdads, Gumbo, and other cajun foods for saints fans

And even for non saints fans. That sounds good, ummm, Mud bugs!

[firefighter]

Italian Sausage Links with green peppers and onions.
Hot-wings, Pizza and beer!

[charliebird]

HOUMA — Cancel your boil and fire up the grill instead. Local seafood dealers say with repeated bouts of cold weather, this weekend is going to be a bust for crawfish.

“It’s horrible, this weather is the worst we could have had,” said Kyle LeBlanc, owner of Kyle LeBlanc Crawfish Farms in Raceland. “It’s pitiful as far as the quantity available, and it’s nothing but juveniles.”

If you can find them, LeBlanc said, they’re retailing for about $3.50 or more per pound live, and $4.25 or more per pound boiled.

But finding them is the hard part, and the price is climbing ever higher with the scarcity.

“There are crawfish out there, but not even enough to satisfy the demand,” said Stephen Minvielle, crawfish farmer and director of the Louisiana Crawfish Farmers Association.

Severe cold snaps throughout December and January have kept the catches slim and sporadic. When the weather gets cold and water temperature drops, crawfish burrow deep into the mud where fishermen can’t get them.

“It’s kind of like human beings — when it gets nasty and cold and rainy, we go hide in our house,” Minvielle said.

There was a brief warming late last month, leaving crawfish farmers, fishermen and dealers hopeful.

“It was looking decent until Mother Nature threw us a curve ball with the cold snap earlier this week,” Minvielle said.

After that, LeBlanc said, “all of the sudden, yesterday, the catch was way off. Today, with the rain, nobody’s going fishing.”

Most of the crawfish available are probably small juveniles “that don’t have the strength to bury themselves,” LeBlanc said.

With many customers looking to put in big orders to celebrate the Saints Super Bowl and the first weekend of Mardi Gras, the colder weather comes at the worst possible time, Minvielle said.

“With another cold snap expected for Sunday and Monday, it’s like standing in a boxing ring with your hands in your pockets. You just keep getting hit and hit,” Minvielle said.

Crawfish dealers say they’ve been overwhelmed with orders they can’t fill.

“Even with the bad weather my phone is ringing off the hook,” Minvielle said.

“It doesn’t look good. We’re not even taking orders, and we always take orders,” said Arthur Eschete, owner of Sea-Go Seafood in Houma. “Two hundred to 300 sacks ain’t nothing for the Super Bowl.”

But with crawfish in such short supply, the chance of buying them live is slim this weekend. Most sales will likely go to restaurants and boil houses.

“Most people, if they got any, will probably be selling boiled,” LeBlanc said.

It’s hard to tell if conditions will improve for next weekend, Minvielle said. Crawfish farmers and dealers can only hope the weather warms up.

Besides Good Friday, Mardi Gras is one of the biggest times for crawfish sales in south Louisiana, LeBlanc said.

“Next weekend is one of our biggest weekends of the year,” LeBlanc said. “I can only hope it gets better.”

Nikki Buskey can be reached at 857-2205 or nicole.buskey@houmatoday.com.