How to have a successful crawfish boil

We just hosted our first crawfish boil and I'm happy to say it was a great success.

I didn't know much about boiling crawfish two months ago, but after helping out at a boil and being very inquisitive, I was able to learn a lot. I present to you, the reader, my observations.

How to boil a 30 to 40 lb bag of crawfish (aka, boiled crawfish recipe)

Prep time: 30 min.; Cook Time: 1 hour; Servings: 8 - 10



This is slightly modified from a recipe I got from Janet Simmons of Baton Rouge, LA.

Ingredients:
30 to 40 lb. bag of live crawfish
1 to 2 lb sausage
6 ears of corn
1 medium bag of new red potatoes
½ lb fresh mushrooms
4.5 lbs Zatarain’s dry crab boil (1 large jar)
2 containers salt, 1 lb. 10 oz. each (plus 1 cup for purging)
¼ cup cayenne pepper (for more spicy crawfish, use ½ cup)
½ cup garlic powder
1 cup minced garlic (not dry)
2 cup lemon juice
2 whole bunches celery
½ gallon Zatarain’s liquid crab boil concentrate (in South Louisiana, you can get this in gallon jugs)
5 lemons

Other stuff you’ll need:
80 quart or larger stock pot and basket with burner and propane tank (I have the Bayou Classic 80 Quart Aluminum Stock Pot.)
Large ice chest or plastic bin for purging
Wooden paddle or 1x4 for stirring
Large scoop for serving
Beer trays for serving


Preparation (can be done a few hours before cooking):
Cut up the sausage up however you desire. Cut each ear of corn in half with a sharp knife. Wash mushrooms and cut off ends. Quarter lemons. Cut ends off of celery bunches. Mix together dry ingredients (dry crab boil, salt, cayenne, and garlic powder) in very large bowl. Put sausage, corn, potatoes, and mushrooms in another large bowl. Alternatively, the vegetables (minus the celery) can be tied up and boiled in pantyhose to keep them together.

Fill stock pot a little more than half full with water and heat to boiling on propane burner. This should take about 20 minutes.

While the water’s heating up, purge the crawfish. To purge, open the bag and dump live crawfish into ice chest or large plastic bin and fill with water until most crawfish are under water. Be careful when handling live crawfish – they will use their pinchers if they’re given the chance! Put about 1 cup salt (not quite half of a 1 lb. 10 oz. salt container) over the crawfish and stir gently. Leave the crawfish in the salt water for now.

When the water in the stock pot comes to a rolling boil, put dry ingrediants in. Squeeze lemon quarters over pot and drop into the water (be careful for hot water splashback). Add minced garlic, lemon juice, celery, and liquid crab boil concentrate. Return to a rolling boil.

While the spicy water is reheating, carefully put purged crawfish into stock pot basket and wash crawfish well.

Once the spicy water is again boiling, carefully put the stock pot basket into the stock pot. Put vegetables into the pot and cover. Stir occassionally. Once water is again boiling (in about 3 minutes), boil for about 7 minutes. Crawfish should be floating to the top. Turn off burner and uncover halfway (or put half a bag of ice in the pot and uncover completely - see below). Let stand for about 20 5 minutes for crawfish and vegetables to soak in spices. Individual crawfish can be removed and tasted for spiciness and texture. The longer the crawfish soak, the less chewy and slightly more spicy they will be. If they soak too long, they will get all crumbly and will be hard to peel. Remove stock pot basket from water and serve.

One of our guests made a suggestion and I've also heard this from Mrs. Simmons - put half a bag of ice in the pot immediately after boiling, and let the crawfish soak in the cooler water. This is supposed to contract the meat and make it firmer and easier to peel. Plus, you can let the crawfish soak longer. I think I'll try this next time.