From Texas Standard:
We’ve got some great news for you shellfish lovers out there – mudbug season has begun! Not quite yet, but thanks to unseasonably warm temperatures, delicious crawfish have made their way into restaurants and markets across Southeast Texas.
Markets like Ancelet’s Cajun Market down in Port Arthur, which received its first batch of crawfish yesterday – 1,600 pounds of medium-sized mudbugs straight from Louisiana. Ready to talk crawfish is one of the Ancelet’s Cajun Market’s co-owners Ryan Ancelet.
He says crawfish season usually doesn't start until Superbowl weekend, but this year they're coming in early.
"We can always get 'em at this time but usually the volume is not there," Ancelet says. "But this year it's totally different so we started to get going early on it."
Ancelet says he's been talking with the crawfish farmers in Louisiana, where they put test traps out to see what kind of catch they'll get.
One thing's for sure: these crawfish are bigger than the ones than they normally see this time of year.
"They're full too. Usually this time of year they're not full of the fat and the meat," Ancelet says. "But the shells are full right now. It's a good year so far."
He says they're expecting better business this year, because they've got a month and a half jump on this year's catch.
"We started selling crawfish yesterday as they came in and we stayed busy all the way 'til we closed at 7:00 last night," Ancelet says. "I expect the same tonight. Everybody's hungry for 'em."
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