Crawfish--talk about them here

[Bird]

I never had any that weren't delicious (well, one exception), but I admittedly have no idea how the professionals clean, peel, etc. I know when our friends in Baton Rouge were going to boil 25 pounds of live crawfish, he first dumped them into a wash tub along with a whole box of salt, then filled it with water. He said crawfish don't like salt water and will flush themselves out trying to spit out the salt water. So that was the way he cleaned them before dumping them into the boiling water. Now whether or not he was right, I really have no idea. Another thing is that if the tail is not tucked up under the body; i.e., just laying straight, that supposedly means that crawfish was dead before being boiled and is not fit to eat. And as I mentioned in the other thread, the first restaurant I knew of in Dallas to have "peel your own" boiled crawfish on the menu just boiled them; no seasoning or flavoring. Even with a decent cocktail sauce they were not worth buying at all.

Maybe someone else can tell you better. I'm sure no expert on crawfish except for eating them.:laughing: And as someone else said, if you have enough crawfish, you'd throw the lobster away.

 

[brin]

We must have had a bad batch of crawfish...The wife and I ordered them once and they were small and tough and so chewy nothing at all like shrimp and had no seasoning to speak of ...that's been years ago and we have never ordered them since.

Something I have never been able to try is Soft Shell Crabs...I would love to try those by never see them for sale in our grocery stores or restaurants even at the Ga. coast...I also never see crawfish for sale around here in the grocery stores seafood depts...

 

[Lou66]

We will boil about 300-350 pounds next Saturday,, its week end between my son and his wife birthday,, and they like crawfish,, two twenty gallon pots,, a kids swimming pool,, corn cut in third, spring potatoes, polish sausage cut in 3 inch links,, fill a crawfish bag or two with them.. you will have 10 empty bags of crawfish,, I use crab boil and tony seasoning to both pots,, Dump a bag or two in the kids swimming pool along with three inches of water and a couple boxes of salt.. they purge their system.. (puck in other word),, dump in the craw fish till a nice red color,, oh yes a couple of large ice chest with out he ice,, one get the crawfish and other get the corn, potatoes and sausage,, you will also need lots of cold drinks, tea, soda and beer,:cool2::cool2:, bon apapite ,, Lou

 

[brin]

At the Georgia and South Carolina coast...what you describe is made with the same ingredients except Shrimp instead of Crawfish and we call it a Low Country Boil....served on newspapers spread out on whatever with Beer and Wine or sweet tea...:licking: Ya'll come.

 

[Lou66]

Bob so do we,, one of my son is a bay shrimper,, He gets a lot of shrimp and crabs,, we do that several times a year but only crawfish once in May,, one of my sons will drive half way to Louisiana and meet the guy,, get the crawfish and pay him the night before.. I like crawfish once a year.. lol.. I like shrimp, fish and crabs the rest of the time.. if we are going to have fish we will fry everything.. most of our parties will last till Sunday morning and I do mean morning..I raise cattle so we have a few steak and hamburger outings as well.. Plus a few chili cook offs.. No wonder I fat.. I thinks it was the beer..:laughing: Lou

 

[Gunny]

Not wanting to disrupt the thread, but I always did wonder why or how Polish sausage wound up in a Cajun recipe. The only reason I still use it (and I don't put much in there) is because all the low boils I ate back years ago always had it in there. This was in the area around Many, LA, so maybe it was just a regional thing there. Still tastes pretty darned good. I always keep a couple of boxes of Zataran's (sp?) in the pantry.

And I was taught to always use the salt and water thing to flush the lil critters systems out, or they will taste muddy.

 

[pjbci]

I always throw a couple packs of deer sauage in my boils. Along with corn on cob, potatos, a bag of lemons, a bag of garlic, a bag of onions, a bag of louisana seasoning, a 6 pack box of zatarans crab boil pouches, and a quart of vinegar to make em peel easier. And always flush em with saltwater beforehand. May just havta have some tomorrow now that im thinking about em.

 

[M E Race]

Crawfish festival is starting today in Breaux Bridge, La. Crawfish any way you can think of and some you wouldn't think of. Not cheap tho , prices have been higher than ever sean before. One our local farmers was harvesting 2 to 3 hundred 35 to 40 lb sacks a day at close to $3.00 a lb at start of season. Live price has dropped some due to the season is almost over, but still look to pay from $3.50 to $8.00 a lb for boiled.Fresh peeled are running from $14.00 to $17.00 per lb.

 

[brin]

Crawfish festival is starting today in Breaux Bridge, La. Crawfish any way you can think of and some you wouldn't think of. Not cheap tho , prices have been higher than ever sean before. One our local farmers was harvesting 2 to 3 hundred 35 to 40 lb sacks a day at close to $3.00 a lb at start of season. Live price has dropped some due to the season is almost over, but still look to pay from $3.50 to $8.00 a lb for boiled.Fresh peeled are running from $14.00 to $17.00 per lb.

That is shocking considering I am 4 hours from the GA coast but I can still by Georgia caught Shrimp at our grocery store for no more than $6.49 a pound and sometimes less and I would sure rather eat a pile of sweet GA Shrimp than Mud Bugs at $14 to $17 a pound...Geeez...I am stunned....

 

[M E Race]

Oh, I almost forgot, crawfish does not nor is it supposed to taste anything like lobster. If you ask for drawn butter with lemon and garlic down here nobody will know what you are talking about! After you dump 5 or 10 lb's on the table you sprinkle more powdered crab boil on them and start peeling.