A crawfish can't absorb more once it reaches saturation. Boiling in a pot of water for ten minutes, and it is saturated. Letting your water cool down means you have to reheat to boil the second batch. I have coonass relatives that boil them in straight water and then spice in the ice chest and they are awesome.

agree with queso. spice inside and out.

quote:

---

Boiling in a pot of water for ten minutes, and it is saturated.

---

Osmotic pressure, (high salinity solution, low salinity crawdad) results in saline solutions 'carrying' seasoning into the meat. This is why brining works. It is not an instantaneous process, and it’s not a ten-minute process. However, once the solution on each side of the membrane (shell) reach relative equilibrium, you will not be gaining anything by further submersion in the solution.

/nerd

quote:

---

would add ice to the pots at the end of the boil to make the crawfish absorb more of the seasoning from the water.

---

This is to bring the temp down to 130s so the dang crawfish don't turn to rubber chickens.

I soak for 30 minutes at that medium water temp... I also dust because I like the heat.

What do you use for the boil seasoning and what do you use for the dust? Same stuff?

I'm convinced that the reason the dusting works is because it get's seasoning all over your fingers and thus on your bugs and lips as you are peeling and eating. This puts fresh seasoning straight on the tail meat and thus more heat.

Not all of the crawfish get boiled as this one got away and was found a month later in the backyard near the pond.

quote:

---

What do you use for the boil seasoning and what do you use for the dust? Same stuff?

---

Liquid boil for the actual boil water - Zatarain's, Louisiana Seasoning and a bunch of other companies make good blends (usually packaged under crab boil seasoning).

For dusting, a whole lot of things work, but a powdered boil works great. The purpose for dusting is like the poster above pointed out - mostly it gets on your fingers and you get a lot of additional flavor out of it while you are peeling and eating the meat. Some of it does liquify in the steaming process while the bugs are in the ice chest right after you pull them out of the water and dust them, but that's such a small amount it really doesn't make a difference. It's the seasoning you get all over you hands while digging around and peeling the bugs that makes it worth while.

If you're not using ice in the pot you're doing it all wrong...

Oh and if you're having to dust in the cooler you're doing it all wrong. (and burning people up for no reason)

If you use ice, you are doing it all wrong. If you don't dust, you are doing it all wrong.

See, it works both ways too.

I'll stick to my coonass method, you stick to yours. Both work.