Researchers have named a new species of giant crayfish. Barbicambarus simmonsi lives in Tennessee and somehow went unnoticed until 2009.
Which reminds me that it's been a while since I last ate crawdad. Delicious, delicious crawdad. If you're lucky enough to live in the sort of place that sells bags of frozen, cooked crawfish tails in the supermarket*, I highly recommend the following recipe as a yummy, if not particularly healthy, snack:
1) Put one bag of thawed crawfish tails in non-plastic container that you can cover and seal. Glass storage bowls would be good.
2) Add equal parts olive oil and white vinegar to cover the crawfish. Add salt, black pepper and/or red pepper flakes.
3) Cover, and let sit in the fridge for at least a couple of hours. Make sure your fridge isn't set really cold, otherwise the olive oil will firm up. If the olive oil firms up, let the container sit on a counter until it goes liquid again.
4) Serve bowl of marinated crawfish with forks and saltine crackers. Put crawfish on cracker. Eat. Yum. Pairs nicely with a cheap beer.
Also, you know, this should go without saying, but eat the plentiful species of crawfish. Not the rare ones. Even if they are extra large.
*Minnesota, to my knowledge, is not one of those places. But if you know something I don't know, speak up. It's been forever since I had a good etouffee.
