Christmas dinner.

[dmccarty]

Egon,

I think my parents and then I had the same microwave. 30 years ago.

My grandmother raised four kids by herself on a teachers pay when teachers were paid just a bit more than dirt. The kids, my dad, aunt, and uncles would fight over a pint of ice cream since that is all she could afford to buy them every now and then. In her later years she was very comfortable and I would visit her in the summer. The first year I visited her I was 6 or 7 and for some reason she took me to Red Lobster since it was near her house. I think she figured I would order a hamburger or something.....

I of course was at Red Lobster. I had never had a Lobster. So I ordered a Lobster.

She was too shocked to cancel the order.

Granny and my dad would chuckle over that story for years. My dad and I still laugh about it.

She would take me to Red Lobster every year and I would get a Lobster.

Fast forward to today. I don't like lobster that much. The wife and I would rather have shrimp.

Somewhere I reading about the colonial times and the servants used to be fed Lobster because it was CHEAP! The servants protested about being fed Lobster so local laws were passed that limited how many times a week the servants had to eat Lobster.

We have a guy who lives down in New Orleans but has family in my town. The guy has a license to buy shrimp and such down in LA. He buys shrimp, crawdads, oysters and such in LA and brings them up here and sells them in the parking lot of a local business.

I was very skeptical but he has done this for a good year or so and is very popular. He is making a trip soon and I think we will order some shrimp and crawdads.

Later,
Dan

 

[Bird]

I'd love to have a potful of the small lobsters to boil in some Zatarain's Crab Boil to see how they taste compared to our world famous Louisiana crawdads.

They're both very good, but I actually prefer the crawdads over the lobster myself.

 

[Bird]

I of course was at Red Lobster. I had never had a Lobster. So I ordered a Lobster

That's great, Dan. I'll probably never forget my first taste of lobster, about 1967 or 68, we stopped for the night in Memphis, TN, and the restaurant where we ate that night had lobster newburg on the menu, so I ordered that, with no idea what it was, except that I'd never eaten lobster. It was good, but it was a very small oval dish of lobster newburg while my wife had a huge platter of assorted fried seafood for less money.

Only one time (in Chicago) I tried the whole lobster deal; good, but not worth what it costs. I've also had the steak and lobster tail, and I've had the lobster newburg several times. But I've not eaten any lobster for quite some time now because there's just too many other things just as good and a lot cheaper.

The guy has a license to buy shrimp and such down in LA. He buys shrimp, crawdads, oysters and such in LA and brings them up here and sells them in the parking lot of a local business.

It's not unusual to see pickup trucks or vans on the side of the road up around Dallas selling seafood (mostly shrimp) from the coast. And it was many years ago when some people were concerned about the food safety aspect and Texas A&M did a study or survey and the Dallas newspaper published the results. Their conclusion was that the shrimp from these guys was probably better for you and safer than what you buy in the grocery store.

There used to be a family from down on the Louisiana/Texas border who came to Corsicana periodically and sold their shrimp and crawdads on the parking lot of the H.E.B. supermarket. They not only sold raw seafood, but were set up to boil seafood and I bought hot crawdads from them; not cheap, but delicious. They knew how to season them properly, while some restaurants in Dallas have tried selling boiled crawdads with no seasoning at all.

 

[Egon]

Fast forward to today. I don't like lobster that much. The wife and I would rather have shrimp

I prefer Scallops.

Can't remember when we got the micro wave but it was from Sears.

 

[alchemysa]

The pics in my opening post are saltwater 'crayfish' from the cool seas off our south coast. They have no claws. I think elsewhere they are also called spiny or rock lobster and the term crayfish is used for freshwater crustaceans. Last season they were up to $80 a kg for a cooked cray from a fish shop. (Thats about $30 US a pound I think). A large part of the professional catch goes to Japan. Theres a big professional fleet down here that operates from about Oct to June. As amateurs we are allowed 2 'pots' each. Most commonly the size is about 1 to 2 kg but this year we seem to be pulling quite a few big ones around 3 to 4 kg. The professionals don't really like catching big ones because they get less money for them.

Chzecksonofagun. Cooking them is easy. Just bring a pot of salted water to the boil, then drop the crays in for about 8 minutes after the water comes back to the boil. Add a couple of minutes for big ones. All the good meat is in the tail and the legs.

Dfkrug. The 'Bugs' were probably 'Moreton Bay Bugs.' A smaller and very different looking critter but pretty tasty nevertheless.

 

[jinman]

When I was in the US Navy on a ship in refresher training at Gitmo, one of the local Chiefs on base invited me to his house for lobster. He had a deepfreeze full of frozen lobster tails. He said that since Guantanamo Bay had no commercial fishermen, it was full of fish and crustaceons. They just called lobster by the Spanish name langosta, which means lobster. He said he used four-barb frog gigs and rowed his boat through the shallows where lobsters hid in the rocks. He and his family ate so much lobster that he was sick of it. As good as that sounds (and they were great), I wouldn't go stay in Gitmo for a year or two just for the lobster.

 

[Stimw]

I like to broil the lobster tails basted with butter. You ring the head off, remove the poop vein ( you take one of the antennas, shove it in the vent, twist and remove the duct), split the under side with a knife and break the top of the shell open. Eat with a fork dipping in drawn salted butter! Yum!!
Florida season is from first week in August and closes April first. I like to go to the Florida Keys where you can get them snorkeling in shallow water. You take a fishing dip net and a tickle stick, you dive down, put the net down, tickle the lobster a round until his back is facing the net then you smack it in the face, it shoots backwards into the net. The first time someone told me about doing it like this I though I was being had but it really works!!
I also like to get them with SCUBA gear. You find coral heads and grab them with a gloved hand. I grabbed for a lobster once and got a Stone Crab, I was lucky I didn't get broken fingers! Stone crabs gave them the idea for Vice grips!

 

[tallyho8]

Our Louisiana crawfish (mudbugs) are at their best in April when they reach a good size and the shells are still soft. They are a little cheaper in May but this is when their shells get harder and they are less desirable.

South Louisiana is known for their good food and the many overweight people who indulge in it. Luckily, crawfish and the fixin's are probably one of our healthier meals as everything is boiled instead of being fried and the seasoning does not require heaps of butter being used as with lobsters.

A big pot of steaming crawfish cooked in Zatarains with potatoes, garlic, onions, sweet corn, mushrooms, lemons, celery and some people add sausage.....yum...yummmmmm......

 

[Bird]

Yep, we used to go visit friends in Baton Rouge and indulge in the Cajun food. I love it.

 

[kyspartan]

ya'll need to stop, my mouth is watering and i am hungry now. i'll have one order of each with an ice cold corona with lime, or amber rock, naw i'll take both