Louisiana Grows Rice & Crawfish
Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler!
Rice
Louisiana is the 3rd largest rice-producing state
425,000 acres of rice planted on 823 farms in 2019
Rice production contributes $308 million to the state economy
Rice traveled south to Louisiana with Acadian settlers.
Acadians are the descendants of a group of French-speaking settlers who migrated from coastal France in the late 16th century to establish a French colony called Acadia in the maritime provinces of Canada and part of what is now the state of Maine.
Forced out by the British in the mid-16th century, a few settlers remained in Maine, but most resettled in southern Louisiana and are popularly known as Cajuns.
Prior to the mid-20th century, the word “Creole” described all French-speaking and Catholic Louisiana natives, regardless of racial designation. “Cajun” was rarely used before the 1960s. White, French-speaking Catholics were known as White Creoles, and Black or mixed-race, French-speaking Catholics were Black Creole.
Cajuns descended from the French-speaking white people of Acadiana (the southwestern region of Louisiana), while Creoles descended from French-speaking Black or mixed-race people of New Orleans.
People always think they’re in “Cajun country” when they travel to New Orleans, they’re not. Cajun country and authentic cuisine is west of New Orleans, in fact Breaux Bridge is the gateway to authentic Cajun culture in southwest Louisiana.
Louisiana rice was originally grown by and for household cooks who utilized areas that couldn’t be plowed. Farmers tossed rice seeds into wetlands near bayous and ponds, this rice was called “providence rice”. Providence literally means foresight, but is generally used to denote God's preserving and governing all things. God's providence extends to the natural world.
Commercial rice production began in earnest in the second half of the 19th century, helped along by the railroad which transported the crop to New Orleans.
Rice is one of the state’s top agricultural exports. In 2019, more than 425,000 acres of rice were planted on 823 farms. Rice production and processing both play important roles in the state, generating annual economic activity of almost $308 million and accounting for thousands of jobs.
There are many rice fields scattered around Southeast Louisiana. At harvest time, farmers bring their harvest to a rice mill for processing, similar to how wheat is processed.
We visited the Conrad Rice Mill in New Iberia, Louisiana. They produce Konriko brand of brown rice.
The Conrad Rice Mill is an independently owned and operated rice mill located in New Iberia, Louisiana, and produces the Konriko brand of rice varieties. Established in 1912, it is the oldest independently owned rice mill in the United States still in operation. Two of the buildings, dating back to 1914–1917 and 1930, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 10, 1982. Wikipedia
The tour is very quirky. As seniors you pay significantly less than others. The woman who guided us (it was just the two of us) was Cajun, related to the Conrad family and was proud to tell about her family all the way back to the migration from Canada. She told us to look for her grandfather’s photo in the Tabasco hall of fame on Avery Island when we toured the facility. The hall of fame housed photos of all longtime employees.
She proudly told us about the mill and how each ancient piece of machinery worked. As a mechanical engineer it was quite fascinating for me. They were old machines that made clear exactly what they did.
Your modern machines might be impressive to the newbcake, but these were honest workhorses with purpose.
The video she offered was played from her laptop onscreen in a viewing room where the audience sat in reclaimed antique church pews. The video was probably the most interesting I viewed on the whole trip. It was clips from her family, her church, the history of the area and how the Acadians became to be known as Cajun.
It was a nice intro rice milling, something I knew nothing about.
Rice milling dates back centuries. Historically, milling was a manual process where rice grains were ground to remove the husk and bran. Proper modern milling results in brown rice with minimal broken kernels.
Steps in milling brown rice:
Pre-cleaning is the initial stage in rice milling, where harvested rice undergoes thorough cleaning to remove any foreign matter, debris, or impurities.
Drying. Proper drying is critical to the quality of milled rice. Reducing the moisture content to about 12-14% helps to prevent mold, mildew and it preserves the rice during storage.
Husking, also known as dehusking, is the process of removing the outer husk or hull from the rice grain to access the edible portion inside.
Once dehusking is complete, the mixture of husked rice and unhulled rice undergoes paddy separation resulting in the brown rice you buy.
White rice production goes further.
Crawfish
Breaux Bridge was officially designated as the “Crawfish Capital of the World” in 1959. Remember, Breaux Bridge is the gateway to authentic Cajun culture in southwest Louisiana.
There are 39 varieties of crawfish in Louisiana. Only two Louisiana crawfish species are targeted for commercial harvest, red swamp crawfish and white river crawfish.
A little darker in color, swamp crawfish have slightly harder exoskeletons (or shells), and the river (also called spillway) crawfish have less red pigment. The red swamp crawfish is the primary commercial species and perhaps the most easily recognized Louisiana crawfish, making up 70-80% of the state's annual catch. The southern white river crawfish makes up 20-30% of the state's annual crawfish catch.
Both taste very similar once they are boiled.
Wild crawfish actually account for only small portion of the total crawfish sold. Most crawfish are raised in crawfish ponds – either flooded rice fields or ponds that have been dammed up. Crawfish stay underground in their burrows until the water is 50 degrees or above.
Historically, crawfish were consumed by Native Americans and low-income families because they grew in the wild and were easily accessible in the late winter and early spring. It wasn’t until around the 1930’s and the advent of transportation and refrigeration that crawfish became a commercial commodity and in demand.
This industry has grown by leaps and bounds over the years and has become the rice farmers bread and butter. Many of the crawfish are sold in large quantities to seafood markets by the “sack”, which average 40 pounds each.
Crawfish season, depends on the weather, is generally November to January.
Crawfish trappers set out baited traps, then come back several days later and check their traps. They take their catch to processors located near the flooded fields. The live crawfish are sorted, sold to restaurants and seafood markets or processed and flash frozen.
Lagniappe is French for “a little something extra.” Crawfish is one of the more unique foods that Louisiana has to offer, a little something extra. Called mudbugs, crayfish or crawfish the freshwater crustaceans are fun to see and better to eat!
Crawfish are generally between 2 and 6 inches in length. Their tails are tightly folded under the body, and pincer claws will nip onto and squeeze anything they can get a hold of.
Five pounds of live crawfish equate to one pound of peeled tails. The tails are generally what is sought, but some people prefer using the whole critter.
Me, I like the tail.
When it comes to colors, this can vary a little depending on the breed, but generally live crawfish range in color from a deep blue through to a muddy green. Crawfish should only be bright orange-red when cooked. Crawfish should only be bought live and cooked fresh, or purchased in prepared commercial packaging.
So, all of this is wonderful information, where are we headed?
Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler.
This is the most commonly used formal expression to convey “Let the Good Times Roll” in Cajun.
It is also the literal translation of the phrase.
Pronounced as “LEH-say lay bon TOM roo-LAY,” this expression beautifully captures the essence of Cajun joie de vivre (cheerful enjoyment of life).
So now that you know a little bit about ingredients, let’s talk about Crawfish Étouffée. Crawfish étouffée is a classic Louisiana dish originating from Breaux Bridge, LA.
This classic dish came from frugal Cajuns who used the remaining crawfish from a leftover boil. (LOUISIANA CRAWFISH BOIL RECIPE)
The French term “étouffée” means “to smother”, and this dish is smothered in butter.
Lots of butter.
We were in Abbeville, Louisiana for eight days in March 2024. I ate Crawfish Étouffée for lunch six of those days. The best was at the Tabasco® Restaurant 1868 Avery Island, LA second best Prejean's Restaurant Carencro, Lafayette, LA. Prejeans had a side of fried crawfish with the Crawfish Étouffée.
Heaven!
The type of rice you use will definitely make a big difference. But when it comes to Cajun cooking there is so much more to it than the ingredients. Time, heat level, timing of stirring or adding water, pot covered or uncovered, even the type of pot you use can drastically change the outcome. Many times it’s not so much as the amount of any one ingredient as much as it is timing and technique.
Constantly stir to help marry the flavors together.
It’s a simple recipe that features “the holy trinity”.
Maybe you’re familiar with mirepoix, the combination of celery, carrots, and onions that make up the base of most French dishes from soups to sauces? The Holy Trinity is the Cajun and Creole counterpart to this trio, consisting of onion, celery, and rather than carrot, green bell peppers. These are all cut to a similar size and sautéed in the butter to done, then you add the garlic after they are cooked.
The flour is also important, be sure to add it to the veggies while they are still swimming in butter. If there is liquid other than oil the flour will clump leaving unpleasant lumps in the stew.
If you manage to get live or frozen whole crawfish, the water you boil them in becomes your crawfish stock. This is authentic, but you can also use seafood stock or even easier, veggie stock.
If using frozen whole crawfish, after boiling, make sure your crawfish tails have a little curl to them. Throw away the straight tails. That usually means they were already dead before they were boiled. That meat will be inferior and may be mushy.
Buying already cooked tails is the easiest.
One thing I’ve noticed is the Creole étouffée tends to have tomatoes and the Cajun étouffé does not.
This is a Cajun recipe.
I haven’t revised this recipe for two yet, it makes four to six servings.
Why reduce it?
I could eat it every meal!
Crawfish Étouffée
Ingredients
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups diced yellow onion
1 cup diced green bell pepper
1 cup diced celery
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 pounds Louisiana crawfish tail meat
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1½ cups crawfish stock or seafood stock
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dash of hot sauce (I used TABASCO® BRAND CAYENNE GARLIC SAUCE)
¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 cup diced green onion tops
6 cups cooked Louisiana long-grain white rice, such as Supreme* or Konriko
Instructions
In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and add the onions, bell pepper, and celery. Sauté until tender and add the garlic. Lower the heat to simmer and stir to combine. Season the mixture with cayenne and add the crawfish tail meat stirring to combine.
Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir to incorporate and begin cooking the flour. Add some of the stock and continuing stirring until it begins to thicken. Add more stock until you get a stew-like thickness.
Season to taste with salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Serve over a mound of white rice garnished with chopped parsley and green onion tops.
*Located in the heart of Southwest Louisiana Rice Region, Supreme Rice, LLC is the premier exporter of US milled rice on the Gulf Coast
Interesting. Years ago our local supermarket here in NJ would sell steamed crawfish by the pound in the seafood department. I always thought it was a surprising offering for the region and a refreshing change of pace for dinner.
Now I’m hungry! ❤️