Grayson Weir
Videos by OutKick
It does not get much more Louisiana than the Ragin’ Cajuns. However, their crawfish boil practices have recently become the center of a much larger debate.
As the University of Louisiana at Lafayette wrapped up its spring semester, the athletic department celebrated with a boil. Athletes from all sports were invited.
While such a simple event might not seem controversial, the way in which the crawfish were prepared reignited an age-old debate. Should you put seasoning on crawfish after boiling them?
The process, known as “dusting” can be seen in Lafayette’s video and it’s highly controversial.
Crawfish purists would say that if you properly season the water for the boil, then there is no need to dust the mud bugs with additional seasoning once they have already been cooked.
Dust is what it is, dust. It’s trash, you have to let them soak, get that good flavor and when you bust the tail open all that juice comes out the head. It’s so good, it’s magical.
— boiler Kendell King, via WBRZ2
Others would say that more seasoning isn’t a bad thing.
Look if you ain’t dusting you ain’t doing it right. You got to take that dust and get a nice dusting. Close that lid it steams up and it all melts into that crawfish. You want flavor? You got to dust.
— boiler Cole Brewton, via WBRZ2
Lousiana takes its crawfish seriously.
Legendary Louisiana chef Isaac Toups explained why some people add seasoning after the fact. It comes down to science.
Even still, as soon as Lafayette posted its video, the dissension began. It got heated — especially as the folks in Baton Rouge got involved.
Don’t tell Lafayette how to eat crawfish respectfully
— Matthew Hebert (@mhebert22_) May 5, 2023
true. dusted crawfish is like well done steak with ketchup. an abomination.
— Brad Huber ⚜️👽🍻🕹 (@daybreaker) May 5, 2023
— Paul Schuler (@Paul__Schuler) May 5, 2023
If you dust your crawfish, that tells me all I need to know about your boil. ✌🏻
— tony (@tonyfrombr) May 5, 2023
I need some real good reasons why not, because I can’t think of any.
— Josh Wright ⚜️ (@_joshw) May 5, 2023
If your man’s crawfish gets sprinkled then he sits when he tinkles!
— Drake Poiencot (@PoiencotDrake) May 5, 2023
New Rule: Prove to me that you can pronounce “Trahan” correctly, and then we can talk crawfish seasoning.
— Joe Coussan (@JCouss) May 5, 2023
If you don’t know how to dust crawfish just say that. Y’all done ate before and loved it without knowing but y’all tried to do it yourself and yo shit came out gritty and salty.
— Michael Thomas (@OGSupr3me) May 5, 2023
Nah that’s sickening dusting that food like that pic.twitter.com/xNrjAbR4Lq
— Logan (@ljlovin24) May 4, 2023
Grew up in Lafayette live in BR now. This shit is embarrassing. Been boiling crawfish since I was 15 and never needed to dust. EVER! Just wasting money by putting seasoning on the outside of the crawfish. 🤦♂️
— 🟪🟨 Drew 🟨🟪 (@IteTigres) May 4, 2023
Some people pointed to the amount of time it would take to properly boil the amount of crawfish that was served over the weekend. Dusting could expedite the process.
‘BigB in Baton Rouge’ offered a counter argument after doing his research.
Ok I called the guy here locally that does them for our event. What I thought was his “big” trailer isn’t. His 16’ rig can boil 2500lbs per hour. That cuts your boiling time down to 4 hours.
But… you start boiling before the event starts so the crawfish is ready at the start of the event. So 10,000 lbs of crawfish can successfully be prepared and served during a 3 hour event.
So again…. Dusting is lazy.
— BigBinBR, via Tiger Droppings
The extremely Louisiana debate will not be settled today. It will not be settled tomorrow. The question will remain forever.
Is it okay to “dust” your crawfish?!
