I have had 2 crawfish boils this year and boiled some shrimp the other day. I have been using Slap your mama and no matter how much I put in it doesn't really seem to retain any spice even after a hot soak. The other problem I run into is when I try to hot soak the shrimp to get them spicier it just ruins the shrimp. I have never had a problem with getting my crawfish spicy before, could it just be slap yo mama? Any suggestions, ideas?

dust it after you pull it out? Maybe try the liquid?

I normally use Zatarains or Louisiana, if you want more spice just pour more in. It WILL get spicey (especially the corn/mushrooms/sausage), or dust after it hits the table. Slap Ya Mamma "HOT"-not regular- is hot, little goes a long way so careful-lots of cayenne. I don't soak my shrimp anymore. I found it's best to bring water to a boil with your seasoning, then add your taters/corn/sausage/& lemons/onions....once it returns to a boil-boil for 10 minutes then add your shrimp. Boil the shrimp for 5 minutes & dump water. If you let shrimp soak for too long it will over cook them & also make them harder to peel. I do soak my crawfish & my crabs though. I boiled shrimp last night & barely put any seasoning in because my toddler & wife can't handle it lol, so I just dust mine good now. If it's just me & the guys & cold beer....we pour the spice in

Are you bringing the temp of the water down when you soak.If not then the crawfish will have trouble "taking on flavor and heat"...?I cook 30 to 35 batches at a time and add a sack of ice after I turn the burner off...Let it soak for 20 minutes...You can always go to a Indian grocery store and add red chili powder....They have mild all the way to burn your arse hot..I have a client that I do a boil for every year..He was the only one that complained that they were not spicy enough last year,so I made a special batch for him this year...He was hurting after that...Most store bought boils now are 70 percent sodium..I put a recipe on here a while back...Less sodium and more or the good stuff....

Sprinkle on cayenne afterwards.

You want spicy? No problem. I use Use the Louisiana crawfish, crab and shrimp oil. Use double what the directions call for. Use this oil in combined with the crawfish powder (as directed). Do not add more seasoning powder in an attempt to make it spicy, I seen people do this and everything gets extremely salty. Nothing sucks more than a huge pot of crawfish and then start over.

Now, heat up a sauce pan and add in a little frying oil (canola, vegetable, peanut) and throw in a crap load of minced garlic and sautee for a couple of minutes to bring all the flavors out of the garlic. Throw in a several sticks of margarine (good quality one) and melt. Add in a little sugar or ketchup for some sweetness.
Now place drained crawfish in a large container or a cooler. Add in this garlic margarine mix and close the cooler, shake it all up well. Open the cooler add in a crap load of cayenne powder. You can add some old bay too. Shake this up all up again. The cayenne/seasonings will stick to the margarine coated crawfish. The result will be spicy and flavorful on the inside and outside.

Notes: When I boil crawfish in large amounts I use 2 pots. One for boiling and one for soaking.

Use more orange juice than water.

If using the 1 pot method, after you add in the crawfish let it come back to a boil, then boil crawfish for only 5 minutes, take pot off fire then hose the pot down to help cool it. This way you can soak without overcooking. Soak time 30 minutes.

I hope that helps. There is alot of other stuff but just ask away.

Great info Nighthunter , Thanks

Why not season the meat, and not the shells at your feet...? LOL

these are all great ideas i had a amazing cook from the swamp show me and i use the seasonings i prefer louisianna and tonys or slap ya mama plus lemons squized and alot of butter bring to hot big boil and dump bugs wait till it boils again or maybe a bit less than coming to a boil and then dump big bag of ice and leave lid off for 15 minutes i am boiling about a sack of bugs at a time then make sure the water is cool enough your not over cooking them now dump in cooler and dust and butter again let steam in cooler for 5 minutes pass out and eat i promiss they will be sweating and there great

use liquid crab boil...lots of it.

i've been adding at least 2-3 cups of cayenne per pot for the crawfish and shrimp. the veggies i boil before i add the cayenne because they soak up the spicy stuff easier. if you're worried about over cooking the shrimp, don't boil them for so long. same thing with the crawfish. it may be a different take to some but to me it jut makes sense - boil the veggies, dump in the ice chest, top with butter and some seasoning. add cayenne to pot, bring to boil, add shrimp, bring to boil and cut heat immediately, let soak 5 minutes and immediately ice down (4 beer cans on bottom of other icechest, set cookie rack on cans, dump shrimp, top with ice). bring pot back to boil, add crawfish, boil for a few minutes, remove pot and let soak while pot #2 starts boiling, add crawfish, and repeat. buying cayenne and other seasoing in bulk really helps to make your own boil seasoing. the last pot or two i just leave soaking while everyone chows down and i clean up. once they're all fat, full, and out of my way, it's time to eat!

Huh, I've never had a problem with the spicy..actually just the opposite. For boiling I like to use frozen peeled and deveined shrimp. Throw them in frozen and they'll help cool the water and take longer to cook, thus allowing them to sit longer before over cooking. Louisiana powder has never done me wrong.

I don't do the "soak" thing. If I'm doing a big batch, I do the potatoes and sausage first, dump that into a cooler. Then do the corn for a few minutes, turn off flame, toss in shrimp, cover. Wait 5 minutes, drain and toss in cooler. Top with a heavy handed shake of seasoning, mix, shut cooler lid, wait 5 minutes, serve. Burn like hell.

This will do the trick for you. Still not hot enough, dump more in. You can also sprinkle some on the crawfish after it is poured out on the platter.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Louisiana-Fish...530&veh=cse


How We Boil Crawfish

The amount of crawfish a person can eat varies with the person. I found out about the best way to determine how much to buy is to just ask each person how much they can eat. However, if you don’t want to do that I would say 5 lbs each for the guys and around 3 lbs each for the women would be a good starting point. However, I know some guys that can scarf down 10 lbs and not even belch.

Put the crawfish in an ice chest and fill halfway with water. Let them sit for 15 or 20 minutes, then drain out the water and repeat the process until the water stays clear.

(No magic amount of anything, just add what you feel is the right amount)

Ingredients
• Crawfish
• Louisiana Crab and Crawfish boil
• Corn
• Potatoes
• Garlic pods
• Lemons
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Rock Salt
• Some Adult beverages
• Music

(You can also throw in some cut up link sausage.)



1. Turn on the music…..might as well crank it up.

2. Make a drink or open a beer…….your preference.

3. Fill the pot about ¾ full of water and start boiling.

4. After the water is boiling add the corn, potatoes, garlic pods, onions, lemons (squeeze the lemons) add about a 1/3 box of rock salt and a generous amount of Louisiana Crab and Crawfish boil.

5. Cook until the potatoes are about halfway cooked and then add in the crawfish.

6. Add more Louisiana Crab and Crawfish boil and cook for 20 minutes.

7. Add in mushrooms and cook for an addition 5 or 10 minutes.

8. Add some butter in at this point (not a whole lot). This will soften the shell on the crawfish

9. Turn off the fire and let them soak for about 30 minutes.

One pot to boil in. Another pot to soak in, at a much lower temperature, for about 20-30 minutes. As someone stated earlier, the seasoning doesn't really absorb into the meat while it's boiling, but will seep in at a lower temp. You can sprinkle season all you want...but unless you're eating the shells, you're not gonna get anything but spicy fingers.

I want to eat crawfish

One of my nieces graduated from high school Friday night so we threw another boil for her. 30 lbs of mud bugs + 40 lbs of shrimp + music + cold beer = good times.

YUM