how do ya'll cook crawfish??
 

just wondering how ya'll cook it.
seasonings...
condements...
boil and soak and such...
i want to find a way to get the crawfish spicy and juicy!

In a pot:cool:


sorry couldnt resist

Bring seasoned water to a boil and drop in crawfish. Once water comes to boil cook 4 min and dump in ice chest. Sprinkle with swamp dust and a squeeze bottle of butter. Shake em up and let em sit and soak in seasoning abt 15 min.

I cut and squeeze a bunch of lemons in the pot too, it's what crawfish is always missing when it ain't good IMO. 6-10 per sack.

I throw ice in the pot and let them soak instead of the ice chest, that get more juice up in em. Then I dust with swamp dust when I serve.

Dip - 3 parts ketch, 2 part mayo, 1 part mustard, seasoning, garlic power sauce

Heres a good thread from a while back... Id like to here some new imput too though

http://www.saltycajun.com/forum/show...oking+crawfish

To season the water i use, salt, liquid boil, a few lemons, plenty of garlic heads, onions, salt and swamp dust or swamp fire. Boil to cook onions and cook some sausage to get some oil in the water.

Boiled Crawfish



Equipment Required


Burner, gas bottle, boiling pot w/ basket, something to stir pot, container to wash and purge crawfish.

Cleaning & Purging


Crawfish are usually dirty and should be cleaned before cooking.
· Wash off sacks of crawfish with hose.
· Put crawfish in clean ice chest other container that can be drained. Fill with water until crawfish are covered. Stir the crawfish some to help move them around.
· Drain the dirty water and wash again with clean water. Repeat until water is fairy clean.
· If cooking more than one sack, wash all sack before purging.
· Purging will help some to clean out the crawfish. To purge…..In another container (if available). Fill container until sack is covered and dissolve about 1 to 2 lbs. salt.
· Purge for about 10 to 15 minutes and remove from water. Rinse and place in cool spot before cooking.

Preparation


· Clean up onions.........cut large onions in half.
· Clean up garlic cloves and cut up some.
· Cut lemons in half.
· Clean up corn and cut in half.

Seasoning cooking water


This will vary some depending on pot size and amount of crawfish to be cooked. I will assume the pot will hold about 25 to 30 lbs. of crawfish (not quite a whole sack). Remember it is best not to try to over fill the pot when adding crawfish. Be sure to put basket into pot before cooking crawfish.

I only use Zatarain’s Shrimp & Crab boil. I find other brands require using a lot more to get the same results…. making other brands more expensive to use.

Crawfish (25 to 30 lbs.) 1 st Boil.. 2 nd Boil

1. Salt (26 oz box)............. 3.......... 2 ..........Potatoes........Small size is best
2. Black pepper (oz.) ..........½....... ½ ..........Corn....Cut in half if frozen, thaw
3. Red pepper (oz.)............ 2......... 1
4. Garlic (toes)................... 2 .........1
5. Liquid crab boil (oz) * ...15-20... 10-15 * .....“Premixed” seasoning can be used
6. Tabasco sauce (shake) [to taste] ~1 oz...... and all other ingredients can be
7. Onions (med. size) ..........6.......... 5 ..........reduced or eliminated. Taste and
8. Lemons (med. size)........ 8 ...........5 .........season. I do not use this seasoning
to cook crawfish or sprinkle it over cooked crawfish.

9. Butter for potatoes & corn (squeeze container)

Cooking


· Fill pot a little past half full and start heating.
· Add items 1 thru 7 above and bring to boil. Taste water and add more seasonings, as desired.
· Add crawfish
· Bring back to boil, cut down the fire some and stir. Boil about 5 more minutes. Taste crawfish
· Cut off fire, squeeze lemons over crawfish, stir crawfish and soak for 5 to 15 minutes. The longer the crawfish soak, the more spices they soak up.
· Taste and when ready ….serve

To cook Potatoes and corn


· After cooking the first batch of crawfish......add small potatoes to basket and put in water and bring to boil for 15 to 20 minutes. (Note: if not cooking more crawfish, add ½ cup of salt per 5 lbs. potatoes)
· If you are cooking some corn, add corn to pot after the potatoes have cooked for 8 to10 minutes. Continue to slow boil for 10 more minutes and potatoes and corn should be done. (Note: frozen corn should be allowed to completely thaw before cooking) No addition seasoning required if cooking only corn.
· If you want to cook another batch of crawfish….. After the potatoes boil for 5 minutes, Add seasonings for second Boil and add crawfish after the water is boiling again. After the water comes back to a boil…..add the corn. Stir the crawfish to get the corn down into the water. Cook for 5 minutes after it comes to a boil then turn off the fire to start the soak. Taste crawfish.
· Turn off fire. Squeeze lemons over crawfish, stir crawfish and soak for 5 to15 minutes. Taste and serve.
· Serve butter with potatoes and corn.

Miscellaneous items needed


· Tables and chairs for eating crawfish.
· News paper to cover tables.
· Table for putting seasoning on.
· Hose with spray nozzle.
· Old ice chest to store cooked crawfish in.
· Large trash can and bags for cleanup.
· Paper towels.
· Butter for corn and potatoes.
· Cold beer and other drinks.
· Stuff to make cocktail sauce. (optional)
· Small plastic bowls.(optional)
· Hot buttered French bread. (optional)

Since it's just mama an me an she don't eat bugs. I just call Tony seafood and tell them to bag me up 10 lbs a hot bugs. Go pick them up .Come home and Chow Down.

Use whatever method others suggested on the seasonings. But it you want them gushing with juice when you peel them then do this....After water is boiling, drop in your basket of crawfish. The water will stop boiling, once its is rolling again I only let it roll for 2 minutes and shut down the fire. Let them soak 15-20 min, but the way to get them full of juice is to cool down the water quickly. Dump a bag of ice in it while soaking and I also hose down the outside of the pot to cool it quicker. My take on this is that there is steam inside the crawfish body keeping the water out but if you cool them down slightly it draws in the liquid. That's my story and I'm stickin to it. :) But the juice pours out of them everytime!

This is how I do mine they come out way better seasoned and juicier
You need 2 pots
boil crawfish in clear water pot have your seasoned water pot on the side on very very very low heat enough to keep them warm but no where near boiling and soak for 15-20minutes
Lemons are a must as well helps soften the shells for peeling as well as a nice flavor.
I boiled crawfish for a restaurant back in high school and that's how we did it there and it was JAM UP still use the technique today


Capt. Kade Shaw

the only way I like mushrooms is in a crawfish boil, stick some sausage and onions in der too, oh me oh my!

Aww yeah, mushrooms and whole garlic cloves!

If I had two pots that's how I would do it too. Works great. But I have to use the cool down method instead.

I'm trying this for sure.

Ratdog:confused::confused:

What's the perfect pot size to do one entire sack at a time?


BROWN FIN

Throw in some red potatos and and sweet corn cobs broken in half. The potatoes soak up alot of seasoning and pack quite a punch

I like using small cut frozen corn cobs. Don't worry about thawing. I think the ice method helps with peeling and stopping them from cooking allowing longer soak times. Try throwing a few sticks of butter for flavor and peeling. I prefer Cajunland seasoning. Using liquid boil is great to manage sodium intake since it has no salt or hardly any. I usually take a whole head of garlic and cut the bottom off. The flavor comes out and its easy to get some cloves that way. Throw in whole onions and when it's done just grab one and squeeze the heart out. Really sweet. No need to shake seasoning all over. That should be taken care of in the boil! Make one small batch for the ladies and amateur guys. The experienced men will drink a couple more beers and wait for the final batch. That's where the spice is!!!
http://www.bayouclassiccooking.com/decrkit.html
I think I have a pot like the above link. Seems like I can do a sack and a half at a time. You may be better with a smaller one, but bigger wont be a bad choice.

There's a ton of little things about crawfish boils to remember. It's not just crawfish that's expensive. Veggies, propane, trash bags, plastic bowls and spoons for dips, blah blah blah. A city park is good to use because the trash stays there and is payed by your tax dollars. Bring a hose to use their water if you do.

I've heard of whole garlic cloves. You guys eat them? I thought it was a flavoring thing.

Hell yeah! If you like garlic, grab u one!

IMO......In a 100 qt. pot you can cook up to a sack [35 lbs] of crawfish. If you put much more than that.....it will take longer to get the pot back up and boiling after you put the crawfish in and this starts to effect the quality and taste.

I use to use a 100 qt pot that was shapped about like the old tin garbage cans....it was fairly tall and not that big in diameter. Cooking a whole sack in that pot took way too long to get boiling again.

The shorter and larger diameter pots are better for boiling crawfish.

I dont add ice ....... it dilutes the water. Instead I freeze 1/2 gallon jugs filled wuth water and drop 1 or 2 of them in there.

The biggest disappointment when I eat out or at someone else boils is when they sprinkle the seasoning on the out side. Thats when i would rater eat a damn hot dog from a gas station. Season the water and BOIL dem bugs!

^^^


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I used to do the ice thing. Always adjusting the water. Now, Water hose opened end(no nozzle) after fire is off, wet the outside the pot til it's stops steaming. Gets water below boiling temp. Crawfish loosens up, juice gets inside. No need to apply any seasoning in ice chest.

What's wrong with that?

The first time I ate [stuffed myself] with the seasoning on the outside, my intestines hurt for the next few days and I had a hernia. This was because I ate so much of the seasoning that got on my fingers.

If you season the water correctly, you shouldnt have to cover the outside of the bugs with seasoning. 100qt pot, 1 sack of bugs, 1 container of your brand of choice of seasoning for a sack. 4 lemons halved and squeezed, 3 yellow onions halved, and whatever else you want to chunk in there. I always add a little extra cayanne pepper for the spice. Bring water to boil, add bugs, bring back to rolling boil, boill for 2 minuted and cut the fire, hose the outside of the pot or add a bag of ice to start the soak. Soak for 20-30 minutes....

Season water with crab boil both powder and liquid. Cayenne pepper and garlic powder.
Bring water to a rolling boil and drop 1/3 sack of crawfish. Squeeze 8 lemons on top of each batch right after you drop them.
The key is too have the burner full blast to get the water boiling again ASAP!

I make three batches per sack so that there are always hot ones on the table. I would rather have people waiting on the next batch than bugs getting cold on the table.
Also, the small batches allow you to bring the water to a boil faster after you drop each sack.

Once water is boiling boil for 3 minutes. Cut off fire and drop ice on top. (Enough to cover top of crawfish.)

Let sit like that for ten minutes then dump on table and repeat it is a little more work making small batched but definitely worth it.

Also, increase the spice every batch so that once all the kids and women are full the last batch is hot enough to make you sweat and its just the men left eating.

Have been using this recipe for years and never failed me.

1 pack Chackbay
1 box salt
1 small bottle liquid crab boil
1 bottle Italian dressing
3 cloves garlic cut in half
2 lbs. smoked sausage
1 tub shrooms
16 pcs corn
2lbs b potatoes
3lbs onions
6 lemons
1 sack of clean crawfish, I put them in a tub of water and rinse them with fresh water till the water turns clear.

I put half of all my seasoning in the pot and bring it to a boil. Add all the smoked sausage and vegetables except for half of the onions garlic and lemons. Boil that for 15 minutes. Add the rest of the seasoning and remaining vegetables let my water come back to a boil for 5 minutes then add the crawfish, let it come to a boil and boil them for 2 minutes. Let them soak till you think they good. I boil all my vegetables in a sack so after the crawfish are boiled I put the sack of veggies on top of the crawfish to help sink the crawfish and it also warms the vegetable back up.

That Chackbay seasoning is the shiznit