A couple years ago in wine school, I ended up meeting someone who has quickly become one of my very best friends. Lara’s originally from Dallas, but moved back here from New Orleans with her husband to be closer to her family.

She loves crawfish, but found most of the restaurants that prepared it in Dallas to be disappointing. Lara’s husband is Cajun, and he’s also a chef, so they decided to invest in the equipment and host an annual Crawfish Boil at their home.

They moved into a new apartment earlier this year, and lost their amazing outdoor space, so we decided to keep the tradition rolling at our home now that we had a backyard. We purchased five sacks, a whole lot of lemons, potatoes, celery, sausage, corn on the cob, garlic, and onions.

What I found interesting is the crawfish didn’t boil it at all. Jason let the water come up to temperature, added the boil seasoning and aromatics, lowered the crawfish into the pot, and cut the heat so it slowly poached. We decked out the tables in plastic and newspapers for easy cleanup.

We split the cost of the food 50/50, and we asked everyone to bring their own booze. We provided some water and sodas for the kids. Some people brought beer, others brought wine and liquor.

The weather was perfect. I’m already looking forward to next year.