Don't Toss This Part Of The Crawfish - It Tastes A Lot Better Than It Looks - Tasting Table

"Crawfish boils are a signature down South, complete with sticky tables, bundles of napkins, and hands stained permanently orange. Weekends revolve around it. And if you're new to the tradition and crawfish in general, there's one mistake that almost everyone makes at first: they eat the tail, then stop. You see, the prize isn't the meat you can squeeze out of the shell. It's the soft, yellow "paste" that you'll find in the head cavity of the crustacean."

"It may look like fat, but it isn't. Called tomalley, it's the crawfish's hepatopancreas - basically a combo liver and pancreas. Crabs and lobsters have it too, and in those cousins, this soft substance is celebrated as a delicacy. Savory, almost buttery, and intensely flavorful (thanks to all those spices soaking into it during the boil), tomalley is aptly nicknamed: "crawfish butter." Enthusiasts swear by extracting and enjoying every ounce they can get out of each one - the technique, fortunately, is simple!"

"Twist off the tail and eat it as you normally would. Then comes the fun part: bring the head up to your mouth and suck out the contents. Don't sharply inhale, do it slowly (too fast and you'll end up choking when crawfish juice shoots down your throat - some of us have learnt that the hard way). The crawfish juice will be mixed with a teeny bit of tomalley, creating something that tastes like the ocean met a spice cabinet."

Crawfish boils are a Southern tradition with sticky tables, napkins, and orange-stained hands. The most prized part of a crawfish is the soft, yellow tomalley found in the head cavity. Tomalley is the hepatopancreas, a combination liver and pancreas, and is savory, buttery, and intensely flavored after soaking up boil spices. Common eating technique: twist off the tail, eat the meat, then bring the head to the mouth and slowly suck out the head juices mixed with tomalley. Tomalley can also be scooped and eaten on toast or crackers, or saved to fold into pasta sauces, rice dishes, or creamy seafood preparations to add a luxurious base.

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