A crawfish boil is the great casual party food in South Louisiana, especially in Cajun country. It’s also a celebration of springtime, when the crawfish are available in abundance.

The peeling process goes like this: You break the crawfish where the thorax meets the tail. After removing a segment or two of the tail’s carapace, you can squeeze the meat out by applying pressure just above the tail fin. There is also some good crawfish fat inside the head, which you need to suck out—bu