I haven't ventured out into this territory yet and it seems almost too easy. Any tips, tricks, and recipes so I don't embarrass myself?

15 ppl. Have a giant pot, seasoning. How much crawfish to buy? Any help is appreciated

That really depends upon how those 15 people eat crawfish. Are they experienced crawfish eaters or first-timers? If the former, you should plan on 5 lbs per person. So, that would be 75 lbs of crawfish and means you would need two sacks (each sack is about 40 lbs).

With one pot... that means two to three boils of crawfish alone. You will also have a pot of vegetables to cook. So, in reality, you are looking at 3 boil-pots. Typically, I would have two burners and pots going at once for this, but in your situation I would use a whole ration of seasoning in the first pot, and 1/2 a ration of seasoning in the second and third pots each.

You will get an infinite number of comments on this thread about what seasonings to use (none of them are wrong), but I use for a whole ration of seasoning:

1 large container of Zatarains Pro Boil
1 container of Mortons Iodized Salt
Cayenne Pepper (quite a bit, I don't measure)
1 12oz American Lager beer

I also boil the veggies first so the garlic and lemon have seasoned the water.

[This message has been edited by austinag1997 (edited 3/21/2014 5:30a).]

I will also tell you that, because of the cold weather this year, crawfish are very expensive currently. I am holding off until the prices fall.

We like them to be spicy but not on fire.. and I can always tell if the water is seasoned enough by if it makes me cough when I get a good whiff of it. We had great results last year and I also recommend doing all the sides first and separate from the crawfish.

dump some sausage, broccoli and cauliflower in with your boil. the broccoli and cauliflower really pick up great flavor...

Mushrooms are always the highest demand of our vegetables.....

Also one tip I picked up that works well is adding about a half stick of butter to the water right before you pull them and thy pick out easier.

Great advice guys. Looking forward to this.

Mushrooms, pearl onions, andouille sausage, pealed garlic cloves, and potatoes are MUST haves. Peeled garlic can be purchased in a large container at Sam's club in the prpduce refrigerator case.

Quality Seafood here in Austin is quoting $4.50 to $4.95/lb. you may want to wait a bit for the price to come down.

Just did 450#

Paid 4.99/lb. ouch

Yikes. At that price, it may be cheaper to cook live lobsters.

Prices are dropping then. Last week I was quoted 6.99/LB.

It's going to be a late season so I will wait.

Boil for 6 mins. Zatarains is not stout enough by itself... You'll need some cayenne or better yet Chinese red pepper. And butter. When done, dump them in a big ice chest and dust them again with zatarains... Let them stew in the ice chest for 30 mins before eating.

A little bit of vinegar in the water will help with the shells. Never have added butter to the water.

Use butter!!
Can't just boil the crawfish...will not get any flavor.
Best to have a boiling pot then a soaking pot. Put water in soaking pot at 120 degrees..crawfish can soak for hours at this temp before getting soggy..put lots of butter, lemons and your spices (I use swamp dust) in this pot.

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Use butter!!
Can't just boil the crawfish...will not get any flavor.
Best to have a boiling pot then a soaking pot. Put water in soaking pot at 120 degrees..crawfish can soak for hours at this temp before getting soggy..put lots of butter, lemons and your spices (I use swamp dust) in this pot.

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Are you suggesting two separate pots? You can't be serious. The boil pot IS the soaking pot. You turn the fire off and let them soak. If you are particular like me, you dump a bag of ice in the pot and hose the outside off to stop the cooking process... then wait 30 minutes. Your boil water is the best flavoring for crawfish. Continue tasting until the heat is right... then remove.

Everyone I have ever seen from South Louisiana that knew what they were doing used two pots.

quote:

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The boil pot IS the soaking pot

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You're doing it wrong

And you can't be serious that you have never heard of the two pot system? Must be new to cooking crawfish or you just don't really know how to. With the ice method you're not going to get near the flavor you would if you used the two pot method and you're more than likely going to end up with some mushy crawfish

[This message has been edited by Victory (edited 3/24/2014 1:08a).]

Wow. I am from south Louisiana and have never seen someone use two pots for a single pot of crawfish. Far from a newb, but to each his own I suppose...

Incidentally, a 10lb bag of ice in 60 to 100 quarts of seasoned water does nothing to the taste of the crawfish.

Victory,

Curious... the soak pot... do you boil it and let it cool down some prior to soaking the crawfish? And is your boil pot just unseasoned water?

Growing up in south Louisiana, don't think I ever saw anyone do the two pot method. Granted, I wasn't really paying attention. My family didn't. But we are all converts now:


Bring 1/2 a pot of water to a rolling boil

Heat 2nd pot of water to around 140-145° Farenheit

Add 1 lb dry crab boil 1/2 Cup liquid crab boil to 2nd pot. Mix well.

Boil onions, corn, sausage and potatoes etc. etc. in first pot until potatoes are soft, corn - 10 min. potatoes 15 min.

Remove vegetables from 1st pot and move into your 2nd pot which is used for seasoning. Soak for 10-30 minutes. Longer soaking = stronger seasoning.

Drop 10 lbs. of live crawfish in boiling pot
Crawfish cook in around 10 minutes. They will all float to the top when they are cooked.
Move crawfish from boiling water to your 2nd soaking pot.

Let soak for 10-30 minutes. Try as they soak to determine your desired strength of seasoning.
Keep boiled food in a ice chest to preserve the temperature.

[This message has been edited by BMX Bandit (edited 1/22/2014 5:59a).]

[This message has been edited by BMX Bandit (edited 3/24/2014 5:52a).]

My in-laws, from south Louisiana, turned me on to the two pot method about 10 years ago and I have never looked back. Had heard about it prior to that but never used it. They used to make fun saying without the two pots I was cooking "Texas Crawfish" and they were right, there is no comparison.

In the boiling pot bring plain water to a boil, you can add some spices here but I have heard you can boil in plain water. I always add a little spice. Boil till crawfih float to the top, going to be different time for everybody depending on the size of your pot and haw many crawfish you are boiling.

The soaking pot... get the water at a consistent 120 degress. Add butter, lemons, cayenne pepper and a dry rub, I use swamp dust, if you cant find it you can use Tony's or Slap Yo Momma. Transfer the boiled crawfish immediately to the soaking pot, this will raise the water temp to around 130 to 145 degrees, anything over about 165 will continue to cook the crawfish and the meat will become soggy. You can soak in the soaking pot for as long as you want. I usually start about 15 minutes for the fist pot and work my way up, the last pot I will leave in for 45 min and they are on fire when they come out, but full of flavor.

Then transfer the soaked crawfish to your ice chest and sprinkle with what ever dry seasoning you used and let sit for 15-20 minutes before serving.

[This message has been edited by victory (edited 3/24/2014 7:32a).]

Single pot may be fine for flavor but really hard to cook multiple batches. AustinAg, next time use two pots and you'll never go back. I am far from a crawfish expert but the few times I have done them 100% myself I used two pots and can not imagine cooking multiple batches using the same pot to boil and season/soak.

How many soaks is the soak pot good for? Say for 2 sacks of crawfish. It would seem like your soak pot would lose its ability to season after a couple of boils. Do you ever reseason your soak pot instead of extending the soak time?

1997,
I put about 10-12lbs of crawfish in the soaking pot at a time and add to the soaking pot every two batches, putting in more butter and dry seasoning. I have heard some people completely start their soaking pot over with fresh water and dry rub after a few soaks but I don't think that is necessary.



[This message has been edited by victory (edited 3/24/2014 9:45a).]

I added 1/2 or 1/4 to each succesive pot.

I'm sure there are different ways to do it though.

I'm an olds set in my ways. I was probably a little closed-minded last night. For that, I apologize. My method works well, but I am intrigued by the two pot method and may give it a try when crawfish prices stabilize. Thanks for the input/advice.

I got some for this weekend at 2.85. Grew up in Beaumont..used to paying 1.50 this time of year.

You can't get them that cheap in La right now I don't think.

Victory is right, the 2 pot method is the only way to do it. My wife's uncle is from Baton Rouge and he taught me this method about 13 years ago. I do the exact same thing a Victory except I prefer Swamp Fire or Slap Ya Mamma. Swamp dust is good but prefer the other 2 first. My wife's uncle also prefers Swamp Fire or Slap Ya Mama.