edit: I just woke up and damn, y'all. It's time to clear up some misconceptions. Let's get started.
There are about as many ways to boil crawfish as there have ever been crawfish boils. I mostly followed this method: http://eschete.com/boiledcrawfish.html . As you can see, I'm not the only one who does it this way. Everything came out cooked the right amount. I'm sorry I didn't make it your special way. I'm sure your special way is delicious, too.
As someone else pointed out and was very unfairly downvoted extensively for, the need to purge crawfish with salt has been scientifically disproven, at LSU no less. Here ya go: . For those who don't care to read it, salt is unnecessary. All you really need to do is rinse them until the water looks clean. If you really want to get every last bit of mud out, you have to soak them overnight in refrigerated water. Most people aren't equipped to do that. We ordered from cajuncrawfish.com, they do that: . So these were pre-purged, and then of course we rinsed them until the water looked clean again.
We used small red potatoes. They're softer than you think they are, and they're... small. It doesn't take long to cook them at all. If you cut them in half, they get so soft and get jostled around so much they turn into mush and get all over everything. They were perfect just they way they were.
Lots of people add lots of different things. Mushrooms, pineapple, artichoke, sausage, green beans, carrots, asparagus... whatever you like. Just because you like it one way doesn't mean another way is wrong.
Similarly, lots of people like a dipping sauce. Traditionally that dipping sauce is basically fancy sauce with some extra fixins (2 part mayo to 1 part ketchup, if you don't know). Some people just like plain melted butter, maybe some lemon juice. Some people only want the flavor of the boil. The beauty of a dipping sauce is if you don't like dipping sauce don't dip your crawfish in it.
Some people sprinkle more seasoning over everything after it comes out of the boil. Some people think it should have enough flavor already and don't feel the need to have cayenne smeared all over their fingers and faces. Do it whatever way you like it.
No, we're not in a frat. We're all about 10-15 years too old for that nonsense, plus I lack the requisite set of genitalia.
Yes, it's the very end of the season. We had some stuff to deal with earlier this year and things are just now settled down enough that we had the energy for something like this. I called around and cajuncrawfish.com promised me they could still send me big ones. They weren't the biggest I've ever seen, but they were big enough. Sure, you'll get better ones earlier in the season, if you have that luxury.
Some of y'all are some triggered snowflakes. So indignant because we didn't follow your special perfect process. I've said it a bunch of times already, but there's a ton of ways to do this, and none of them are wrong. It's just a fun way to get a bunch of people you like together for an afternoon of good food and good drinks. We had a great time. I hope you have a great time at your next boil. Chill out.
It's easy! Get your water boiling. Add whatever seafood seasoning you prefer (Old Bay, Zatarain's Crab & Shrimp Boil, etc, or make your own!), along with lemons, oranges, onions, and whole heads of garlic cut in half horizontally. Once it comes to a good rolling boil, add your crawfish, shrimp if you want them, and potatoes. Return to a boil, let it boil approximately 5 mins. Cut the heat, and add your frozen half ears of corn. Add sausage here too if you like. This helps drop the water temperature so you don't overcook your seafood. Let it soak about 10 mins. Add Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, etc, and give it another 5 minutes or so. Drain the water, dump it all out on the table, and enjoy!
There's a million different variations, everybody has their method that they swear by, and their favorite additions. It's really pretty hard to screw it up, so feel free to experiment.
The most important part is getting enough people together to help you eat them. That and plenty of cold beer.
![image showing We boiled 30lbs of crawfish yesterday [Homemade]](781d347b-7d1d-5410-b17e-61d2088a24f8.jpg)
ktg0 on July 3rd, 2017 at 00:53 UTC »
edit: I just woke up and damn, y'all. It's time to clear up some misconceptions. Let's get started.
There are about as many ways to boil crawfish as there have ever been crawfish boils. I mostly followed this method: http://eschete.com/boiledcrawfish.html . As you can see, I'm not the only one who does it this way. Everything came out cooked the right amount. I'm sorry I didn't make it your special way. I'm sure your special way is delicious, too.
As someone else pointed out and was very unfairly downvoted extensively for, the need to purge crawfish with salt has been scientifically disproven, at LSU no less. Here ya go: . For those who don't care to read it, salt is unnecessary. All you really need to do is rinse them until the water looks clean. If you really want to get every last bit of mud out, you have to soak them overnight in refrigerated water. Most people aren't equipped to do that. We ordered from cajuncrawfish.com, they do that: . So these were pre-purged, and then of course we rinsed them until the water looked clean again.
We used small red potatoes. They're softer than you think they are, and they're... small. It doesn't take long to cook them at all. If you cut them in half, they get so soft and get jostled around so much they turn into mush and get all over everything. They were perfect just they way they were.
Lots of people add lots of different things. Mushrooms, pineapple, artichoke, sausage, green beans, carrots, asparagus... whatever you like. Just because you like it one way doesn't mean another way is wrong.
Similarly, lots of people like a dipping sauce. Traditionally that dipping sauce is basically fancy sauce with some extra fixins (2 part mayo to 1 part ketchup, if you don't know). Some people just like plain melted butter, maybe some lemon juice. Some people only want the flavor of the boil. The beauty of a dipping sauce is if you don't like dipping sauce don't dip your crawfish in it.
Some people sprinkle more seasoning over everything after it comes out of the boil. Some people think it should have enough flavor already and don't feel the need to have cayenne smeared all over their fingers and faces. Do it whatever way you like it.
No, we're not in a frat. We're all about 10-15 years too old for that nonsense, plus I lack the requisite set of genitalia.
Yes, it's the very end of the season. We had some stuff to deal with earlier this year and things are just now settled down enough that we had the energy for something like this. I called around and cajuncrawfish.com promised me they could still send me big ones. They weren't the biggest I've ever seen, but they were big enough. Sure, you'll get better ones earlier in the season, if you have that luxury.
Some of y'all are some triggered snowflakes. So indignant because we didn't follow your special perfect process. I've said it a bunch of times already, but there's a ton of ways to do this, and none of them are wrong. It's just a fun way to get a bunch of people you like together for an afternoon of good food and good drinks. We had a great time. I hope you have a great time at your next boil. Chill out.
It's easy! Get your water boiling. Add whatever seafood seasoning you prefer (Old Bay, Zatarain's Crab & Shrimp Boil, etc, or make your own!), along with lemons, oranges, onions, and whole heads of garlic cut in half horizontally. Once it comes to a good rolling boil, add your crawfish, shrimp if you want them, and potatoes. Return to a boil, let it boil approximately 5 mins. Cut the heat, and add your frozen half ears of corn. Add sausage here too if you like. This helps drop the water temperature so you don't overcook your seafood. Let it soak about 10 mins. Add Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, etc, and give it another 5 minutes or so. Drain the water, dump it all out on the table, and enjoy!
There's a million different variations, everybody has their method that they swear by, and their favorite additions. It's really pretty hard to screw it up, so feel free to experiment.
The most important part is getting enough people together to help you eat them. That and plenty of cold beer.
ticklemeyoudie on July 3rd, 2017 at 00:58 UTC »
This looks delicious but the lack of paper towels is disturbing.
sweepingpines on July 3rd, 2017 at 03:30 UTC »
I've never had crawfish before. Is it similar to shrimp or lobster?