There has been an increased debate around animal welfare in the past few years and its all good. Apart from one species. The Crayfish. When you come from a fishing family thats been in the business for 6 generations in New Zealand, you can become anaethetised to killing fish.
Our crayfish or rock lobsters, normally came home in a sack , were chucked in the cool of the wash house tub and then the water of a big mush pot was ready for them when it reached a rolling boil. You quickly dumped them in and jammed the lid on quick as they didn't seem to like the hot water very much.
And in the days of tailing at sea - the body was severed from the head. Probably the worst way to kill them as the bodies remained active for quite some time.
As knowledge increased iki-ing became the done thing. A slice into the body that basically munched the very small brain. Then into boiling water.
So all good - And we see that the BSA has not upheld a complaint that came out of Master chef when a young aspiring chef dunked her cray into boiling water to kill it.
And frankly if its been chilled down long enough and the water is on a good rolling boil - there is little movement from the crayfish.
Now, we iki most fish these days- it stops them wriggling and means you get less spikes in your hands and it has the added benefit of them dying very quickly.
But occasionally we need a reality check - you see the crayfish has quite a close terrestial relative.
And we wonder just who among animal activists is going to go into bat for the extremely common slater or wood lice.
So why should the crayfish warrant more sympathy than a slater?
Personally we tend to ignore slaters, irritating and frikking ugly they may be but they are pretty harmless. And they tend to turn bad shit into good shit.
However if they really annoy us we just squash them - sort of a mega iki.
Works fine for us.
And for the record - one of the most viewed blogs on roarprawn, its about crayfish how to cook it and eat it naked.
And the best wine to go with crayfish?? That simple - any damn fine champagne will do especially the great NZ bubbles we have on offer these days - like the Le Brun Number 1
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1 comment:
A crayfish’s brain operates from not one but several brains or ganglia. A ganglia, is a sort of secondary brain/nerve tissue mass. Disabling only the frontal ganglion (the bit corresponding to human brains) does not usually result in death or unconsciousness. So, stabbing them through the head or cutting off their bodies does not usually render them unconscious. Chilling does render them unconscious. Crayfish are actually quite bright as crustaceans go and clearly respond to noxious stimuli (pain). I love eating them, but for goodness sake, chill before killing.
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