Species sheet · The Edible River
Red swamp crayfish
Bayou red, and already at home in our marshes.
- In a crawfish boil with spices, corn and potatoes
- Stir-fried spicy with beer, Chinese-style
- Simmered in court-bouillon, then peeled into a salad
- In French
- Écrevisse de Louisiane
- Scientific name
- Procambarus clarkii
- Status
- Invasive species
- In the water
- A crayfish of the bayous of the southern United States, introduced for farming and now the most widespread in France: marshes, ponds, the rice fields of the Camargue, where it digs burrows into the banks.
- Season & buying
- Eating it is encouraged all year: it invades everything. In France it is illegal to transport it alive, so cook it on the spot or kill it before leaving.
- Common length
- ~10 cm
- How to identify it
- Dark red, rough carapace bristling with small spikes
Long, narrow, granular claws
Stocky body with a short abdomen
On the plate
A small, mild, sweet tail, less generous than the signal crayfish but fragrant.
Avoid: Cooking a crayfish that has been dead for a while: the flesh turns soft and suspect. Cook it live or freshly killed.
In China this same crayfish stir-fried with chilli is the star of summer nights, served by the basinful on the pavement.
In Umay recipes
5 Umay recipes call for it.
