Crawfish Taco

Crawfish tacos are a nice blend of Texas and Louisiana, perhaps inspired by San Diego’s popular fish tacos. It’s not known who first served this dish.
 
     
Texas Monthly: December 2006
The Greatest Tacos Ever Sold
They’re wrapped in yellow-corn or white-flour tortillas. They’re filled with beef, chicken, pork—even octopus.
by Patricia Sharpe
(...)
37. Catfish
Berryhill Baja Grill | Houston
Most people think of tacos as delivery systems for beef, chicken, pork, goat, and such. But there’s no rule banning our finny friends from being the featured ingredient. To make its crown-jewel fish taco, Berryhill Baja Grill soaks plump morsels of farm-raised catfish in a chipotle marinade, grills them, and slides them into double-layered store-bought-but-top-quality white-corn tortillas, along with a Dijon mustard sauce, some pico de gallo, and a handful of shredded lettuce. Succulence, crunch, and not one but two kinds of zip: What more could you ask? 3407 Montrose Blvd., 713-523-8226. Open Mon—Thur 11—11, Fri 11—midnight, Sat 10—midnight, Sun 10—11. 
 
Google Groups: The-Insighted-Chef
From:  Barb Rokitka
Date:  Thurs, Oct 26 2006 9:20 pm
 
Uncle Ray’s Crawfish Tacos
Adapted from memories of Kokopelli’s in New Orleans
Serves 4

For crawfish:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds crawfish tails
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro/coriander
1/2 teaspoon (or more) cayenne pepper (alternatively you can use a good
hot sauce - I like habañero)
1/2 lemon
salt

For vinaigrette:
6 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
salt and pepper to taste

For tacos:
1 red onion, diced
1/2 lb sharp white cheddar, grated
1 1/2 cups sour cream
extra chopped cilantro, for garnish
taco shells, heated in a 250F/125C oven for about 10 minutes (I usually
do 4 per person, but you can do more!)

Heat a large frying pan over high heat until very hot. Add half the butter and olive oil and swirl it around. Add half the garlic, stir once or twice, and quickly dump in half the crawfish tails. Sprinkle on half the cayenne pepper. Toss the tails in the pan for about a minute, until they are very fragrant and most of the liquid has evaporated, then quickly stir in half the cilantro, some salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lemon. Toss once more, then transfer to a bowl. Repeat with the remaining crawfish tails.

For the vinaigrette, combine the ingredients and whisk together until emulsified. Whisk again before serving.

To assemble the tacos, put a layer of crawfish, sprinkle on some onions and cheese, and drizzle with a spoonful of the vinaigrette. Top with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with a little additional cilantro. Eat quickly with lots of napkins and a cold beer.

Note: you can easily substitute shrimp for the crawfish, though I would urge you to do your best to get ahold of crawfish, as that’s what makes this dish really spectacular.
 
College Station restaurants
Restaurants I like in Bryan-College Station:
(...)
La Bodega has good seafood tacos and a nice portabella mushroom dish for vegetarians.
Location: 102 Church Street (at Wellborn Road) - 691-8226.
Recommendation: habanero crawfish tacos and a Shiner Bock.
 
Food Lovers’ Guide to Texas
by John DeMers and Rhonda K. Findley
Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press
2003
Pg. 10:
Crawfish Tacos
Southeast Texas between Houston and the Sabine River (the Louisiana line) is ripe territory for culinary fusion between the two states’ traditions. Crawfish tacos, inspired no doubt by the fish tacos that have become such the rage, are a nifty bit indeed. (Recipe follows—ed.)