How to Build a Seafood Table

Rising up in New Orleans, I knew spring had really arrived not by the calendar or the pollen within the air however by the unmistakable aroma of crawfish boil seasoning floating by means of the neighborhood. These Saturday afternoons had been sacred as time appeared to decelerate as household and pals gathered from all corners of the parish round a desk piled excessive with crawfish.

The ritual was all the time the identical, but in some way, new concepts and techniques would emerge. A few of the males claimed to have the “secret” spices that had been one of the best. Some shared their ideas on how lengthy to let the crawfish soak. However when the time got here for the boil, the teamwork kicked in and the chain of command proceeded.

The ladies would arrange their very own stations, chopping andouille sausage, and debating whether or not the potatoes had been sufficiently small to not reduce in half.

And us youngsters? We’d run wild by means of the yard, sometimes being roped in to dampen one other sack of crawfish or fetch extra newspaper (low-cost, disposable tablecloth) to unfold on the desk.

The Mess

However for all the enjoyment these gatherings introduced, there was all the time one factor that pissed off me to no finish – the mess. When the second lastly got here to dump the seafood onto the desk, it took plenty of effort to maintain all of it there.

First, there was the problem of holding the seafood boil water from dripping off the desk and onto the company.

Second, the crawfish shells would pile up and must be cleared each 5 minutes.

It wasn’t till I attended a boil at my good friend’s camp in Pearl River that I noticed the sunshine. He had constructed what he known as his “crawfish stadium”—a {custom} desk designed particularly for crawfish boils. He referred to it as a stadium as a result of he painted the desk to appear like the Saints soccer discipline.

That night time, on the drive again dwelling, I assumed up my a design for my very own crawfish desk and inside every week, had it constructed.

Learn how to Construct a Seafood Desk

The great thing about this mission is that it doesn’t require specialised carpentry abilities—just a few primary instruments, the best supplies, and that distinctly Louisiana dedication to make one thing good even higher.

Supplies You’ll Want:

• One sheet of 1/2-inch thick exterior-grade plywood (I want marine-grade if you happen to can swing the additional value)
• 4 4×4 pressure-treated posts, 8 toes lengthy
• Eight 2×4 boards, 8 toes lengthy (for bracing and the lip)
• One 2×2 board, 8 toes lengthy (for the trash bag body)
• Exterior wooden screws (3-inch and 1 5/8-inch)
• Waterproof wooden glue
• Marine-grade polyurethane end (at the very least 2 quarts)
• Heavy-duty rubbish luggage
• Sandpaper (medium and high quality grit)

Step-by-Step Development:

1. Reduce your plywood base: I’ve discovered that an 8-foot by 6-foot rectangle works completely for many gatherings. This offers you adequate house for 3 individuals comfortably on every lengthy aspect and two on every brief aspect—sufficient for a correct meal while not having to yell throughout to one another.
2. Create the middle gap: Measure and mark a 2’x1′-foot rectangle within the heart of your plywood. Earlier than reducing, reinforce the underside round your marked sq. with some scrap wooden—this prevents the plywood from splintering once you reduce it. Use your jigsaw to fastidiously reduce out this heart rectangle.
3. Construct the framework: Reduce your 4×4 posts to 40 inches every—this gives you a remaining desk top of about 42 inches, good for standing and consuming with out hunching over. Connect these to the 4 corners of your plywood base utilizing wooden glue and 3-inch screws, drilling pilot holes first to forestall splitting.
4. Add stability: Reduce your 2×4s to create bracing between the legs about 12 inches from the underside. This retains the desk from wobbling when somebody inevitably leans on it after their third beer.
5. Create the lip: Utilizing your 2×4s on edge, create a border round all 4 sides of the desk high. This raised lip—about 1.5 inches excessive—is what retains all these crawfish and their spicy juices from escaping. Safe these with screws from beneath the plywood and reinforce with nook braces for further power.
6. Make the rubbish bag body: That is the pièce de résistance! Reduce your 2’×1′ wooden barely bigger than your heart gap, making a body that may relaxation on high of the outlet. Then reduce one other body that’s barely smaller than the outlet. Join these two frames on the corners with brief items of the two×2. This creates a “basket” that hangs down by means of the outlet however gained’t fall by means of because of the bigger high body.
7. Sand every part clean: No one desires splinters with their crawfish, so take your time right here. Spherical off all corners and edges, particularly across the high lip and heart gap.
8. Waterproof it: Apply at the very least three coats of marine-grade polyurethane to each floor of the desk, together with beneath and inside the middle gap. Let every coat dry utterly and evenly sand between coats for a smoother end. This step is essential—with out correct waterproofing, your desk can be a warped mess after only one season.
9. Add ending touches: Some people like to connect bottle openers at strategic areas across the desk’s edge. Others add hooks beneath for hanging paper towel rolls. My good friend Ben even put in small LED lights across the border of his for night time boils—utterly pointless however undeniably cool when the solar goes down.

The Inaugural Boil

 I’ll always remember our first boil utilizing my new desk. My good friend Jeff, by no means one to supply compliments freely, stood there with a beer in a single hand and a crawfish tail within the different, nodding appreciatively.

“This,” he declared, tossing one other shell into the middle gap, “is best than indoor plumbing.”

Coming from Jeff, this was virtually a standing ovation.

The beauty of a seafood desk is that it’s custom-made for the occasion. Folks naturally collect round it, standing comfortably on the good top. The dialog flows as simply because the beer, unbothered by the standard chaos that comes together with the usual boil. The raised lip retains every part contained, and the middle gap eliminates the mountain of shells that piles up rapidly.

Better of all is the cleanup. When the feast is completed and everybody heads dwelling, you merely raise out the body, tie up the rubbish bag, and exchange it with a recent one. A fast hose-down of the tabletop, and also you’re finished.

So if you happen to’ve received a free weekend and the will to raise your crawfish boil recreation, I can’t suggest this mission extremely sufficient. It’s a bit of Louisiana ingenuity that you may move down by means of generations, alongside along with your secret spice combine and the right method for pinching tails and sucking heads.

As my Paw-Paw would say with a wink, “Laissez les bon temps rouler, however be sure to’ve received a correct desk to catch all of the mess, yeah?”

Keith Lusher

Keith Lusher is an award-winning out of doors journalist who resides in Covington, Louisiana. He owns and operates NorthshoreFishingReport.com and writes a weekly out of doors column for the Slidell Unbiased Newspaper. He additionally writes for the St.Tammany Parish Tourism Fee’s VisitTheNorthshore.com. He’s the previous host of The Northshore Fishing Report Radio Present and is on the board of the Louisiana Out of doors Writers Affiliation. Keith contributes to quite a few publications each on-line and in print and prides himself on selling South Louisiana’s distinctive fishery. To contact Keith electronic mail: keithlusherjr@gmail.com