February 12, 20241 yr Due to the horrendous drought last year, followed up by the big freeze in January, crawfish supplies are scarce and prices nauseatingly expensive. Seeing upwards of $15/lb at the few restaurants and bars that are even serving currently, and $8/lb or more for live crawfish if you can even find them. If I called my guy that drives a big refrigerated truck over from Louisiana on weekends and asked for a price quote right now, I'd probably hear raucous laughter. I usually wait until late March or early April for prices to drop enough to grab a few sacks for a boil, but am usually willing to grab a couple lbs cooked to snack on somewhere for Mardi Gras. Don't reckon I'll be doing either this year. Have to imagine it will be damn near Summer until prices get closer to where they usually are in the Spring.
February 12, 20241 yr 4 minutes ago, Storm the Field said: Due to the horrendous drought last year, followed up by the big freeze in January, crawfish supplies are scarce and prices nauseatingly expensive. Seeing upwards of $15/lb at the few restaurants and bars that are even serving currently, and $8/lb or more for live crawfish if you can even find them. If I called my guy that drives a big refrigerated truck over from Louisiana on weekends and asked for a price quote right now, I'd probably hear raucous laughter. I usually wait until late March or early April for prices to drop enough to grab a few sacks for a boil, but am usually willing to grab a couple lbs cooked to snack on somewhere for Mardi Gras. Don't reckon I'll be doing either this year. Have to imagine it will be damn near Summer until prices get closer to where they usually are in the Spring. Yeah....I may get a sack and do a small boil late season, but it sure sounds like this season is pretty much a lost cause.
February 12, 20241 yr We cancelled my annual boil that was going to be on March 23rd. My guy is at $10/lb. or $300/sack for field run runts and doesn't expect prices to go down much all season. CHIEF
February 16, 20241 yr Shit just do a shrimp boil. I got jumbo gulf wild at Tom Thumb the other day for $7.99/lb
February 16, 20241 yr Yeah, my friend already cancelled his big boil and the cookoff we were gonna do. You could literally serve everyone at a party prime ribeyes for less money than crawfish this year.
February 16, 20241 yr There always seems to be gloom and doom this early in the season. We'll see how it plays out.
February 17, 20241 yr 10 hours ago, kevwun said: Yeah, my friend already cancelled his big boil and the cookoff we were gonna do. You could literally serve everyone at a party prime ribeyes for less money than crawfish this year. well thats a fucking idea right there.
February 17, 20241 yr My department is pressing on with their annual crawfish boil in April. One of my coworkers has a crawfish boil business as his side hustle, and the Louisiana guys LOVE to help out, so I guess they couldn’t take this away from them. I would be completely onboard with BBQ or steaks, but I guess crawfish is so engrained as a Houston thing it wouldn’t much of a party without mudbugs.
February 18, 20241 yr They were slinging mudbugs at H-E-B San Felipe this afternoon. A terrible season, the fact it’s February, and 40 degree weather can’t kill it off in Houston.
February 18, 20241 yr My department is pressing on with their annual crawfish boil in April. One of my coworkers has a crawfish boil business as his side hustle, and the Louisiana guys LOVE to help out, so I guess they couldn’t take this away from them. I would be completely onboard with BBQ or steaks, but I guess crawfish is so engrained as a Houston thing it wouldn’t much of a party without mudbugs. I don’t understand the infatuation with crawfish. I’ve been eating them for 40 years going back to college as a couple fraternity brothers from Nola would bring up 1000 lbs (about 25 cents lb then). But when you have access to cheap gulf shrimp, the finest on earth, why spend $15/lb for bugs? Have shrimp and crab boil.
February 18, 20241 yr 27 minutes ago, Texzilla58 said: I don’t understand the infatuation with crawfish. I’ve been eating them for 40 years going back to college as a couple fraternity brothers from Nola would bring up 1000 lbs (about 25 cents lb then). But when you have access to cheap gulf shrimp, the finest on earth, why spend $15/lb for bugs? Have shrimp and crab boil. I could see shrimp boils on the uptick after this year. They were pretty big with rodeo and O&G socials back in the day. People might realize again that boiled shrimp taste pretty good and require 1/10th of the work as cracking a crawfish. But… it’s become a very Houston thing. Almost every bar with a food license sells crawfish. And every town south of Huntsville has big ass crawfish festivals. I think the margins were better in the recent past and they’ve trapped themselves. There’s only one place I’ll pay for crawfish in Houston, but I’m not giving it up out of fear of being down voted like a Ketch sock. There are enough of these boils in Houston where if you have a job or a social network, you really shouldn’t really have to pay for crawfish. Be a generous guest, bring booze. Edited February 18, 20241 yr by billfromlaketravis
February 18, 20241 yr Half the people (At a minimum) at these crawfish boils don’t even like them. It’s just a big social event.
February 20, 20241 yr Author Seeing very early signs of price improvements. I keep an eye on Boyd's seafood market down in Texas City since they post prices just about every day. They have sacks for $5.55/lb today, which is still crazy high, but that's down from $6.99/lb just a week ago.
February 20, 20241 yr On 2/17/2024 at 11:16 PM, Texzilla58 said: I don’t understand the infatuation with crawfish. I’ve been eating them for 40 years going back to college as a couple fraternity brothers from Nola would bring up 1000 lbs (about 25 cents lb then). But when you have access to cheap gulf shrimp, the finest on earth, why spend $15/lb for bugs? Have shrimp and crab boil. I agree, one the aspects about it was how cheap they were. Spent plenty a weekend afternoon on the back patio at Floyds off Durham, it was like $2 a pound with everything and dollar longnecks. I still love me some crawfish but wouldn't be upset showing up to a boil to find out it was shrimp and crab
February 20, 20241 yr Doing a shrimp boil for a group of ten. How much shrimp, corn, and potatos would be reasonable so everyone can be satisfied and have some to take if they want leftovers? What seasoning to use and what measurements to not be over/under seasoned?
February 21, 20241 yr Doing a shrimp boil for a group of ten. How much shrimp, corn, and potatos would be reasonable so everyone can be satisfied and have some to take if they want leftovers? What seasoning to use and what measurements to not be over/under seasoned?I would think a pound of headless 2 pounds head on per person plus some, so maybe 14lbs headless? I’m a beer, lemon, Zatarains, celery boil guy. I’d keep the eat on the side and let those folks needing heat add their own.
February 21, 20241 yr On 2/20/2024 at 2:30 PM, Smax said: I agree, one the aspects about it was how cheap they were. Spent plenty a weekend afternoon on the back patio at Floyds off Durham, it was like $2 a pound with everything and dollar longnecks. I still love me some crawfish but wouldn't be upset showing up to a boil to find out it was shrimp and crab The same with chicken wings. I'm not going to turn them down if offered, but I'll put my money elsewhere if I am buying.
February 24, 20241 yr Included, but not in the pic is the extra spicy Zatarains and potatoes. 4.95/lb Headless Jumbo 16-24 count. Edited February 24, 20241 yr by Enemy07
February 25, 20241 yr We stopped by the boiling booth outside of our HEB yesterday, to get an idea of how much crawfish were going for by the pound, and to gauge the size. Turns out, all they had was shrimp, and a sign that said they wouldn't have crawfish until March. CHIEF
February 27, 20241 yr Just got a text from my crawfish guy, prices are staying around $7.99/lb. Apparently the killer right now is mortality. He said that about a 3rd of each bag is dead. An abnormal amount of crawfish are molting in the crawfish sacks and getting crushed to death. CHIEF
February 27, 20241 yr It's been a long time since I took crustacean biology, (never), so are they molting early or late? I assume that either way we're blaming it on climate change.
February 27, 20241 yr It's been a long time since I took crustacean biology, (never), so are they molting early or late? I assume that either way we're blaming it on climate change. My guess is that they are mostly babies that molt more frequently than adults.
February 27, 20241 yr Author On 2/24/2024 at 11:06 AM, Enemy07 said: @Texzilla58 I did this exact same thing on Sunday with a couple of friends. $30 got me 6 lbs of the large EZ peel. Basic boil with a some potatoes, corn and andouille. It would have been a perfect day for a crawfish boil, but shrimp will have to do for now. Edited February 27, 20241 yr by Storm the Field
February 28, 20241 yr If I’m going to get the big pot out of the shed and fire it up, some crabs of some sort are going in there.
March 4, 20241 yr Author On 2/20/2024 at 10:55 AM, Storm the Field said: Seeing very early signs of price improvements. I keep an eye on Boyd's seafood market down in Texas City since they post prices just about every day. They have sacks for $5.55/lb today, which is still crazy high, but that's down from $6.99/lb just a week ago. Weekday prices continuing to slowly improve: This week they've got $4.44/ for field run, $5.22 for preferred. Weekend prices still obnoxious: $5.88 for field run, $6.55 for preferred Edited March 4, 20241 yr by Storm the Field
March 5, 20241 yr On 2/27/2024 at 4:33 PM, Storm the Field said: I did this exact same thing on Sunday with a couple of friends. $30 got me 6 lbs of the large EZ peel. Basic boil with a some potatoes, corn and andouille. It would have been a perfect day for a crawfish boil, but shrimp will have to do for now. I got some of those last weekend and i won’t make that mistake again. Tasteless, texture was off and, IMHO, the EZ peel aspect makes the not good for boiling. I’m ok with farm raised, prefer wild caught but will stay away from the EZs in the future. Edited March 5, 20241 yr by TonyTexas
March 8, 20241 yr https://www.nola.com/news/business/disaster-declaration-for-louisiana-crawfish-shortage/article_d1c1603c-dc03-11ee-8374-cbd43a4cc2d0.amp.html Moose out front and shit. CHIEF
March 10, 20241 yr On 2/27/2024 at 12:21 AM, CHIEF said: Just got a text from my crawfish guy, prices are staying around $7.99/lb. Apparently the killer right now is mortality. He said that about a 3rd of each bag is dead. An abnormal amount of crawfish are molting in the crawfish sacks and getting crushed to death. CHIEF Well, yeah, mortality is nature’s #1 killer.
March 10, 20241 yr Was at Schooner in Nederland yesterday and the crawfish prices hadn't changed yet, but they were talking about how they'd need to bump them up soon and how they'd held out as long as they could. I got the blackened opelousas with shrimp and crab and didn't miss crawfish at all, but we'll see how it goes a few months from now.
March 28, 20241 yr Author Prices gradually started to come down over the last few weeks, but are spiking crazy high again for Easter weekend. One place I keep an eye on went from like $4/lb on Monday to damn near $7 this coming weekend. Lot of places not even taking reservations.
March 29, 20241 yr On 2/21/2024 at 3:15 PM, Gene Parmesan said: The same with chicken wings. I'm not going to turn them down if offered, but I'll put my money elsewhere if I am buying. I’ve pretty much turned my wing consumption to homemade variety… plain wings from grocery store at $3-4/lb, air fryer, baking powder (not soda) to help crisp, then the key is buying a jar of sauce from pluckers for $5.
March 29, 20241 yr 5 minutes ago, BearSchlong said: Can I not post boobs in this thread? I don't see anyone stopping you.....but they probably DO go on another sub-board....
March 29, 20241 yr 45 minutes ago, BearSchlong said: Can I not post boobs in this thread? They just need a crawfish or sausage between them. Wait, what?
March 29, 20241 yr No crawfish for my annual crawfish boil tomorrow. Shrimp Dungeness crab and snow crab.
March 30, 20241 yr Mrs. CHIEF has stayed on top of the season. I quit checking prices and size. Looks like she is planning a boil the third weekend in April. Prices are down, size is good, and there aren't as many dead soldiers. I still want to write the season off, but that bitch is persistent. May have to let her rub my "Man card" on her bearded clam. CHIEF
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