Evento

Cajun Crawfish Boil, Ya'll!

Slow Food Sacramento is paying homage to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Sacramento's Jazz Jubilee with a Cajun crawfish boil. Not only do these river cities share a love of jazz, they also share a native crustacean: the crawfish, also known as crayfish, crawdad or crawdaddy. Crawfish season in Sacramento kicks off in May, and Slow Food Sacramento invites you to celebrate these lobster-esque creatures with a traditional Cajun crawfish boil at the Supper Club.

Chef Matt Woolston shares his take on the Southern bash:

Appetizers
Corn, Andouille and Arborio Hushpuppies with Creole dipping sauce Gazpacho Shooters with Tomatillo avocado mescal SalsaDeviled Eggs with smoked paprika and caperDinner
Crawfish Boil with Corn, Potatoes and Special Cajun spices
Southern Fried Chicken

Southern style Bledsoe pork spareribs, lightly smoked tender and sticky

Southern Potato Salad with Red Potato, Boiled Egg, Apple wood Smoked Portobello Bacon,
Whole Grain Mustard and Scallions

Succotash with sweet corn, Lima beans, sweet peppers and green beans

Pickled Okra, Watermelon Rind, Jerusalem Artichokes, Scallions

Fresh seasonal fruit

Lemonade and Iced tea

Complementing the festivities is a performance by Mark St. Mary Louisiana Blues & Zydeco Band, so bring your favorite pod nah for dancing!

Where: The Supper Club, 1616 Del Paso Blvd
When: Sunday May 17, 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Cost: $40 for Slow Food Members; $45 for non members

Crawfish Tidbits
The name for crawfish derives from the French ecrevisse, and according to folklore, the French-speaking Acadians (who became Cajuns) were forced from Maritime Canada down to Louisiana, and lobsters went with them. Legend says the journey was so long and exhausting that when the lobsters arrived they'd lost so much weight they were reduced to crawfish.

Crawfish from the Delta make up the state's largest freshwater catch, up to 500,000 pounds per year, and Sacramento exports a sizeable amount to Louisiana. It is not known how Crawfish made it to the Delta, but it is believed that Cajun farmers brought them to Sacramento and populated the Delta. There is a second crop in mid-July when rice fields are flooded.