Crawfish Bisque

Diane and Carolyn in kitchen

Audrey "Toots" peeling crawfish and saving the fat.

Jamie and Will stuffing heads

Carolyn and Diane stuffing heads

Stuffing heads

Tray of stuffed crawfish heads


Butter Roux

Crawfish Bisque w/ stuffed heads

Making and eating crawfish bisque, when I was growing up, has always been a special event for our family. Because of the work involved in preparing and stuffing the heads, eating crawfish bisque was reserved for restaurants. When I was growing up there were plenty of restaurants that served great crawfish bisque. Today due to the inability to buy crawfish fat and heads some restaurants have taken this traditional dish off of the menu or have eliminated the stuffed heads.

During Holy Week, the peek of the crawfish season, I decided that I would get the family together and cook crawfish. My grandson Will, on his way to visit with us in Grand Isle for the week and knowing that we were cooking crawfish, asked his mother a question that really made me feel bad. He asked Jamie, "Mom what is crawfish bisque?" When Jamie told me that I was ashamed I had not cooked this traditional crawfish favorite for him.

I knew this week would be the perfect time to make crawfish bisque. Diane's mother, Audrey and sister, Carolyn were going to be here. With the children and grandchildren also here it would be a perfect time to make an old fashioned crawfish bisque and everyone could help.

We started early Friday morning, first boiling and peeling the crawfish. We cleaned heads and saved the fat buried deep in the head. Without that fat our bisque would not have tasted like we all remembered it. We spent all day, making roux, chopping vegetables, cooking the bisque, preparing stuffing and cleaning and stuffing the crawfish heads. We were six people working on this family meal. This was a real labor of love, after all we were cooking for the family and we would be serving at least 14 of them that night.

After supper was served and everyone said that this was the best crawfish bisque they had ever eaten (our last bisque is always the best) we realized why Will had never eaten bisque. To make great crawfish bisque takes much labor and time but all of us vowed to at least cook one large bisque a year and to make it a family event.

Crawfish Peeling Plant

Hand Peeled Crawfish

Crawfish Peeler

Pile of Crawfish on Peeling Table

Peeled Crawfish Meat

Premium Hand Picked Crawfish Meat

Last week while working in Louisiana I had a chance to visit an old friend's crawfish peeling plant which is now being run by his daughter Rose and nephew Greg.

Lionel Hayes was the first person to start peeling crawfish commercially. He told me that while selling live crawfish for Joe Amy in Henderson, Louisiana he had 7 sacks of crawfish left over one afternoon. He dropped a few sacks off at each of his sister's homes to peel so that he wouldn't loose the crawfish. After they cooked and peeled the crawfish he asked one of his large customers, which was Don's Seafood & Steakhouse restaurant in Lafayette if they were interested in buying the crawfish tails. Don, Ashby and Willie Landry said that they would and thus an industry was born. During the early 50's restaurants that served crawfish etouffee, bisque and stew had to peel them which required extra labor during crawfish season.

Joe Amy owned a grocery store in Henderson and decided to open a peeling plant and have Lionel run it for him. Demand for peeled crawfish began to grow as more restaurants and supermarkets needed the meat

Lionel later opened his own plant and during the early 70's I began buying from him for my own first restaurant. We opened more restaurants and a wholesale company and eventually bought most of his production. He had the best peeled crawfish in those days and his reputation for top quality remains today.

Lionel died last year, but his daughter and nephew have kept his high standards and still produce one of the best peeled crawfish in Louisiana.

I knew Lionel for over 40 years and had the opportunity to spend many hours with him during crawfish season. When I hear the word crawfish I can't help thinking of Lionel Hayes, he was a pioneer and great friend I truly miss.

Boiled Crawfish

Boiling Crawfish

Back Yard Boiled Crawfish

Boiled crawfish have always been a treat to me and my family. I eat them more today than I did as a child because they are readly available and served today at many restaurants.

Growing up we ate boiled crawfish only two or three times a year and never at restaurants. There were none around serving them back then and even if they had them, eating out was not an option for us.

Usually during the months of April and May we had crawfish boils in the backyard. My Dad would drive down to Henderson, LA and pick up several hundred pounds, take them back home and start getting everything together for a big family boil in the evening. Usually all of my aunts, uncles and cousins came over to eat crawfish. The fun for us was not only the eating part but purging,rinsing and playing with the crawfish and having our family crawfish race before the boil.

Crawfish season brings back great memories of family and friends. There is nothing better than to sit down at a picnic table with your family and friends and a big pile of steaming hot boiled crawfish.

We had our first crawfish this year this weekend and all of the wonderful memories came to mind as I sat down to enjoy these crawfish.