The title should say Need Some Crawfish Prep Help (I hate screwing up the title)

I have been a big participant in the eating of crawfish. And while I have been more than happy to show up to my friends houses while they boil, it seems that my time as a crawfish host is upon me. And now I must boil. My previous crawfish experience has been limited to hosing them off to purge them.

I was talking to coworkers here in Olympia, WA about missing out on crawfish season while being up here. Others joined in and talked about how they had it once before and enjoyed it. This led to some quick google'ing and finding that we can get it shipped from Louisianan by Louisiana Crawfish Co. Anyway, long story short, it comes down to me on March 28th for a crawfish/elite 8 crawfish & beer day.

I saw on the website that I can get a party pack that has some spices. Is that good enough? What about the corn, potatoes, and sausage? Does that go first or with the crawfish? Possibly afterward? Would you all use the spice bags that come with the crawfish or would you do your own spice? Any, not so secret recipes you would be willing to share?

Thanks in advance for the replies



edited because I suck at spelling



[This message has been edited by jetescamilla (edited 3/9/2009 5:01p).]

Spices - order any good spice mix - what you get from the supplier is probably fine. Cook the potatoes and corn seperatly in spiced water - the potatoes will take much longer than the mud bugs. Boil the crawfish in plain water - no spices. To spice them prepare a cooler with 5 gallons of hot (almost boiling) water mixed with 1 gallon plain yellow mustard and 5 pounds of spice mix - keep cooler lid closed to keep hot. Boil the bugs in a mesh bag (I use the poly mesh bag they come in) - ccok them 4 to 5 minutes after water returns to a boil. When done pull bag out, drain a little and place bag in spice cooler - close lid again. Leave up to 15 minutes or untill next batch is ready. Dump on a table covered in news paper and enjoy - remember not to eat the straight tails.. I like to include whole mushrooms and raw garlic cloves with the corn/potatoes. When the veggies are done cooking, add some more spices and garlic, and take a whole thawed chicken and boil untill internal temp is at least 160. the chicken wil be the best part....

Better yet, put the chicken in frozen and let the fun begin!!!





[Editors Note: this will likely cause an explosion, the eruption of much boiling water and possibly a fire.... so get your retarded cousin, mean Aunt, or someone who owes you money to do it.]

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Cook the potatoes and corn seperatly in spiced water - the potatoes will take much longer than the mud bugs. Boil the crawfish in plain water - no spices.

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That is contrary to every Crawfish boil I've ever been to...in LA and outside of the state. Usually the potatoes are dumped in first, followed by the corn and other veggies followed by the crawfish. Boil for the required amount of time then turn the burner off and let'em soak for a while.

I always just use Zatarins Crab Boil. ALOT of it. Turns out great I think.

The potatoes do take longer so add them first.

Along with crab boil I throw in some lemons and a couple sticks of butter to soften the shells.

My favorite addition to the crawdads are mushrooms and crab legs.





Im thinking about doing my first one up here in Seattle this year as well. I used to do one at my house every year in college. Im interested to see how ordering them up here works out for you.

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That is contrary to every Crawfish boil I've ever been to...in LA and outside of the state. Usually the potatoes are dumped in first, followed by the corn and other veggies followed by the crawfish. Boil for the required amount of time then turn the burner off and let'em soak for a while.

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This works if you are cooking one huge pot or if you are cooking only a few pots. However, if you are cooking 10-15 batches, you don't want to have people waiting for the crawfish just to let the potatoes and corn finish. People don't want to just sit around and let them soak all day. We have a double burner that we cook on. One pot is strictly crawfish. The other we alternate.....one batch of crawfish, and then one batch of corn, potatoes, mushrooms, and sausage. We put Zatarain's in both pots for cooking crawfish and leave some spices on the table for people to spice their crawfish how they like them.

Ok...put the potatoes and corn in separate nylon pantyhose. That way you can work around them and not have to pick them out after each batched is dumped.

Also, do not purge them - it does nothing - it does not make them s*** or anything else - think about it - would you s*** yourself if someone dumped salt on you? The answer is "no". I used to until I learned that covering the crawfish in saltwater does nothing more than put them in shock and raise the chances they will be dead before you cook them, which is not good. Also, I'm sure the salt is not comfortable to them - you are going to boil them alive anyways...make it a little more humane if possible.

Whatever spice you use, a big can of Tony's in the water and on cooked crawfish never hurts. Plus a few sticks of butter in the water helps.

zataran's crab boil is what most cajuns use. that the best. and no cloves. that's a texas b.s. spice.

18 years born and raised in LA here - not an expert but i've done my share.

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cook them 4 to 5 minutes after water returns to a boil. When done pull bag out, drain a little and place bag in spice cooler - close lid again. Leave up to 15 minutes or untill next batch is ready.

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do not do this. You will over cook your crawfish.

Vegies - I like to do a load of veggies before the crawfish...mushrooms, cauliflower, whatever. potatoes take forever I usually leave them in for the first round or two of crawfish.

bring spiced water to a boil then dump in crawfish. As soon as the water comes back to a boil take it off the burner. Dump ICE in the water. get it cool enough to stop cooking, you don't want them to keep cooking. Let them sit for about 15 minutes then take them out of the water.

For small cookers - yeah it sucks, but I have done this with several hundred pounds and 2 turkey fryers on multiple occasions. Try to get an extra pot/fry basket. Then you can rotate one on the burner and one soaking. Change the water after every 3 batches. Before each new batch in old water, add about 1/3 of the spices that you put in the new water.


Other stuff that must go in the water:
lemons - cut in half
garlic cloves
onions
crab boil

get creative - many people add beer, orange soda, jalapenos, whatever strikes your fancy.

[This message has been edited by ccard257 (edited 3/9/2009 9:19p).]

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bring spiced water to a boil then dump in crawfish. As soon as the water comes back to a boil take it off the burner. Dump ICE in the water. get it cool enough to stop cooking, you don't want them to keep cooking. Let them sit for about 15 minutes then take them out of the water.

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This is good advice! I am originally from NOLA and have participated in more boils than I can remember. The ice serves to stop the cooking process and the temp differential causes the crawfish to soak up as much spice as it can. I typicall leave them in about 5 - 10 min then move into a cooler, complete with a beer cup full of dry spice, some cut lemons and onions. That is also the time to throw in your potatoes, corn, mushrooms, sausage, artichokes and whatever else you want.
Laissez Le Bon Temps Roulle!

"The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."

Thank you all for the advice. I have never seen the ice in the pot thing before. I am going to have to try that out. So Zatarains seem to be the best consensus so far, I will have to go with it. I will let you all know how it turns out in 3 weeks. Thanks again

I just realized I forgot salt (whoops). You need lots of salt in the water as well.

we can argue about purging, but you need to at least let them sit in some water. i agree that the salt doesn't flavor them whatsoever, but i do think it helps to clean them even if its just the outside. if you let them sit for a long time in salt water then yeah more will die because they are freshwater creatures.
10-15 minutes shouldn't kill many if any. i guess its a preference, but i've never known anyone not to purge the crawfish. to each his own though.

im about 5 beers deep right now and am craving some craw corn. i like how it really soaks up the spice

This is my purging style.

1. Get 15 Natural Lights together.
2. Drink said natural lights.
3. Put crawfish into large cooler.
4. Urinate said 15 natural lights into large cooler.
5. Allow to soak.
6. Boil.

I agree with the ice thing. I have been doing it for years. I recently started purging the crawfish with water only. Everyone has always said you had to add salt to the water to properly clean them. That is not true. Just keep rinsing them until the water starts to become clear. The salt actually kills the crawfish. I like to cook the potatoes last since they soak up all the seasonings. I get my spiced water to a boil, let it boil for a while to let the cayanne really open up. I add celery, lemons, oranges, garlic cloves, lil' smokies and onions to the water with the crawfish. Hope this helps some. I think this way, it turns out better than any I have ever had.

I don't do ice, but I do rinse them several times with fresh water in an ice chest with a drain spigot.

I use a combination of the powder Zatarains and a bottle of the liquid concentrate. After I've added the sausage and corn, and get it back up to a good hard boil, I lower the bugs into the boiling water then put the lid on and kill the fire. After that, it's just a matter of letting them soak up the seasoning for 15 minutes or so. The longer they soak, the spicier they get.

FWIW I've hosted crawfish boils dozens of times and I'll let you in on one of my recipes.

My primary ingredients usually consist of the following:

• butter (so long as no one at you boil has a heart condition, i say the more the better)
• crab boil (just about any will do to get started, but prefer zatarains)
• Tony Chachere's creole seasoning]
• corn
• onion
• lemon
• new potatoes
• Swamp Fire liquid seasoning
• more butter
• salt (for purging)

secondary ingredients include:

• whole mushrooms
• sausage links

start by adding the crab boil, 2-3 sticks of butter, and about 1/3 can of Tony chachere's to your pot, and bring to a boil. the longer your seasoning boils the better it will be. after you've boiled a for a good 10-20 minutes throw the potatoes, corn, and crawfish in. cut the lemons and onions in 2 pieces (width-wise) and throw them in as well. crawfish take 8-9 minutes to cook. you will know they are down when they are floating.

after 8-9 minutes remove the crawfish, lemons, and onions. the potatoes and corn usually take 2-3 rounds before they are cooked. once your crawfish are cooked, put them in an ice chest and mix in more tony chachere's.

after the women and children have had their share add a bottle of liquid Swap Fire to your pot.

the mushrooms and sausage can be added at any time and take only one round (8-9) minutes to cook.

usually, if i'm feeding a lot of people and don't have a lot of crawfish, i cook more potatoes, corn mushrooms and sausage. also, from what i've gathered since living in the northwest, mot of the people at your boil will prefer the mushrooms and potatoes anyway h

hope this helps. and fyi, i live about 90 miles south of you in vancouver.

good luck.

[This message has been edited by itgoes211 (edited 3/12/2009 2:20p).]

Wow, some of you have strange preferences for boiling crawfish.

I purge in a large cooler (1) with salt, but monitor the time as they will become lathargic and, ultimately, die if you don't pay attention. This has the added benefit of clearly identifying the dead bugs so that they don't go to the boil pot. Also, you can cook lots of bugs without having to dump the boil since the bugs go in much cleaner. Just replenish lost water as you go and, of course, seasonings.

I prepare the fixin's in the first boil so that everything gets the right amount of cook time in a fresh, seasoned pot (red potatos, onions, sausage, mushrooms, corn, etc) and then put them into a separate cooler (2) to keep warm. I dump Tony C's boil mix in the cooler as well.

I remove the purged bugs and transfer them into a strainer pot that transports them to the boil pot. The boil pot is generously spiced with a mix of Tony C's boil mix and Slap ya' Mama, and about 1/2 as much Swamp Dust along with a stick of butter.

Put bugs in boiling pot and return to boil, turn off fire and rest for 10 minutes. Strain and then dump the bugs into a large cooler (3) and sprinkle generously with Tony C's boil mix. Using this method, I can cook a significant amount of bugs (even running two pots when I need to) in an efficient amount of time and also serve a very large crowd hot crawfish at the same time. Keep dumping the batches into the cooler and keep sprinkling while mixing them up. Be mindful how long you keep the bugs in the cooler as eventually they will soften due to the steam in the cooler, however this is a boiling strategy for later in the season when the crawfish shell gets thicker and harder.

We serve crawfish on large individual platters much like a restaurant would, and use alumimum buckets to dump the trash.

most of these will work fine. there are 3 key things that help insure your success - 1 i use a washtub 2 purge them in plain fresh water for 1 hour 3 most important thing is DO NOT OVERCOOK, it will make them near impossible to peel.

itgoes:

where do you buy your crawfish?

i thought about ordering from the same company as jetescamilla last year and just never got around to planning it. Thinking about doing this year in Seattle, maybe around May/June.

Thanks again for more replies. I am sure with this abundance of info I should be able to get something that tastes like a crawfish.

Itgoes, I was about to ask you the same question. Do you get them locally?

hey guys,

i should have clarified that I haven't hosted a boil since moving here 4 years ago. i have come very close to pulling that trigger. most of my family lives in south louisiana, and they recommend these guys if i ever need crawfish:

http://www.cajungrocer.com/fresh-foods-crawfish-live-c-1_15_19.html

also, there are LOTS of crawfish around here in the lakes and rivers. you just have to wait until it gets warmer (july) before they'll be out and about. i bought some traps last year, but haven't used them yet. i can't wait to be the guy that pulls up next to the fly fisherman in the mountains with a crawfish trap

i came across this fella last year in a local stream outside of Portland.



[This message has been edited by itgoes211 (edited 3/13/2009 10:57a).]

They got some decent size around here then. Does no one here in the NW eat them?

For all of you die-hard purgers out there, from a marketing study at LSU.

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To provide a more appealing product for live markets, a small number of producers have adopted the practice of purging crawfish before selling them. This process cleans the exoskeleton of mud and debris and eliminates or reduces digesta in the intestine (Fig. 10), which consumers may find unappealing. Purging requires that crawfish be confined in water or in very humid environments where food is withheld for 24 to 48 hours. Purging should not be confused with the practice of immersing crawfish in salt water just before boiling, which does not evacuate the gut and is little more than an external wash.

For purging, crawfish are commonly held within specially constructed boxes or baskets (Fig. 10) that are usually suspended in water in raceways or tanks. The recommended loading rate is about 1.5 pounds of crawfish per square foot of submerged surface area with adequate aeration and water exchange. Equally effective, but seldom used, is a water spray system in which crawfish are held in shallow pools of water (0.5 inch deep) under a constant spray or mist. Holding crawfish in aerated vats or purging systems under crowded conditions for more than 24 to 48 hours is not recommended because mortality may be high. Recent research has shown that purging for only 12 hours can be nearly as effective and results in lower mortality. Though purging increases the cost of the product by 15 to 25 percent (largely because of mortality), consumers prefer purged crawfish, particularly outside of traditional markets.

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jet,

there's a couple of restaurants that serve them in potland. i actually had an etouffee that was decent. as for people boiling, you're the first i've heard. it's hard to get people excited about crawfish when they're in season about the same time as spring chinook.

tea, could you provide a link for that?

Sorry itgoes, I just saw your message. Here's one link to it, but you may find others that are more reader friendly:

http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/B6FEDB83-8B9B-49BB-89F9-60490ED3FEEE/18526/crawfish_maketing.pdf

ttt

this has turned out to be a pretty good thread.

I always let them soak about 5 minutes and then dump in an ice chest to steam a bit with Tony's or Swampdust on them. I never had them turn out bad. They always pop right out of the shell and stay juicy. To each their own. There really isn't a bad way to do them unless you boil them too long and they get rubbery and stay in the shell. They usually start to float when they're ready.