The Crawfish Part That Most Folks Toss Is A Flavor Bomb You Should Never Waste

If you've ever had the pleasure of attending a crawfish boil — where mounds of the bright red crustaceans are piled high on newspapers along with potatoes, corn on the cob, and other vegetables — you probably noticed folks sucking the crawfish heads. To many enjoyers of Cajun cuisine, this act separates the pros from the pretenders of crawfish consumption. While the crawfish tail may contain the tender meat, the head has something just as delicious, if not more so. When eating crawfish, you can't skip this flavor-packed part: It's commonly known as the crawfish fat or butter, aka tomalley, and it's yellow or orange after cooking.

The head collects the spices that the crawfish has been boiled in — cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and various herbs — and the water, giving you a concentrated dose of flavor when you suck the head. The yellowish "fat" also has an inherent taste that's rich, buttery, creamy, and brimming with crawfish essence. What puts some people off from consuming this part of the crawfish is the fact that this "crawfish fat" is actually an organ.

What's often referred to as crawfish fat is actually called tomalley, and it's the crawfish's hepatopancreas, an organ that acts something like a liver and pancreas in humans, filtering out toxins among other activities. Even so, it's a delicacy that shouldn't be overlooked. Think of it as the foie gras of the seafood world. Eating crawfish can be an arduous process for a small amount of tail meat, but it's less of a hassle when you twist off the tail from the head and give the tail a pinch for easier peeling.

Getting to this flavor bomb in the crawfish head is pretty easy. Once you've separated the tail from the head, simply put your mouth on the head cavity and lightly suck (you can pinch the head a bit to control the flow of juices inside). You'll get to truly experience everything crawfish has to offer, along with all the flavors from the Cajun seasoning the cook has added to the seafood boil.