LSU Tigers, ULL Ragin' Cajuns At War As Extremely Louisiana Debate Unfolds Over Proper Crawfish Boil Protocol

It does not get much more Louisiana than the Ragin' Cajuns. However, their crawfish boil practices have recently become the center of a much larger debate.

As the University of Louisiana at Lafayette wrapped up its spring semester, the athletic department celebrated with a boil. Athletes from all sports were invited.

While such a simple event might not seem controversial, the way in which the crawfish were prepared reignited an age-old debate. Should you put seasoning on crawfish after boiling them?

The process, known as "dusting" can be seen in Lafayette's video and it's highly controversial.

Crawfish purists would say that if you properly season the water for the boil, then there is no need to dust the mud bugs with additional seasoning once they have already been cooked.

Dust is what it is, dust. It's trash, you have to let them soak, get that good flavor and when you bust the tail open all that juice comes out the head. It's so good, it's magical.

Others would say that more seasoning isn't a bad thing.

Look if you ain't dusting you ain't doing it right. You got to take that dust and get a nice dusting. Close that lid it steams up and it all melts into that crawfish. You want flavor? You got to dust.

Lousiana takes its crawfish seriously.

Legendary Louisiana chef Isaac Toups explained why some people add seasoning after the fact. It comes down to science.

Even still, as soon as Lafayette posted its video, the dissension began. It got heated — especially as the folks in Baton Rouge got involved.

Some people pointed to the amount of time it would take to properly boil the amount of crawfish that was served over the weekend. Dusting could expedite the process.

'BigB in Baton Rouge' offered a counter argument after doing his research.

Ok I called the guy here locally that does them for our event. What I thought was his “big” trailer isn’t. His 16’ rig can boil 2500lbs per hour. That cuts your boiling time down to 4 hours.
But… you start boiling before the event starts so the crawfish is ready at the start of the event. So 10,000 lbs of crawfish can successfully be prepared and served during a 3 hour event.
So again…. Dusting is lazy.

The extremely Louisiana debate will not be settled today. It will not be settled tomorrow. The question will remain forever.

Is it okay to "dust" your crawfish?!