Seeing as how I’ve become the go-to guy for cicada cookery–here are some tips. (And if you can’t get enough of deep-fried bugs, I’ll be on Chicago Tonight  on May 29, 7 PM on WTTW.)

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A cicada is mostly protein with a fair amount of shell and very little fat. Now, fat is a carrier of flavor–that’s why we like our meat marbled–so to up the flavor quotient in cicada, I prefer to fry it and perhaps serve with some cheese.

Before you do anything, though, you want to select the right bug. I try to snag the little guys coming right out of the ground.  The youngest of any breed is usually the most tender (think veal, suckling pig, etc.), and the younger cicadas have a softer exoskeleton. Once the cicada hits a tree, it begins to transform into a larger, winged creature; to eat these, you have to clip the wings and they look a lot less appealing (though I realize to many this is a fine distinction).

And that can be a challenge.