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.

If you have a small pot and a lot of crawfish, do you vegetables first, when they are done put them in a cheap ice chest. Add more seasonings to the water and put in half the crawfish. Cook them until they are red, turn the fire off and let them soak and then pour them in with the vegatables in the ice chest. Start the other batch of crawfish going while you eating the first batch and those will be getting ready for the next go around.

I also like to have salt shaker filled with Louisiana Crab boil for the folks who really like to kick it up a notch or two.

I grew up in south Louisiana and this is how we've always done them:

Seasoning:
1 sack size Zatarains crab boil powder (use 2 for spicier and omit the salt)
1 quart Zatarains liquid crab boil
6 bags of the Zatarains Crab Boil in a bag
.5 lb salt
1 quart lemon juice

Vegetables:
6 large lemons
6 large onions (halved or quartered)
12 whole pods of garlic
5 lbs small red potatoes (silver dollar size or larger ones cut to silver dollar size)
24 ears of frozen sweet corn

Optional:
1-2 lbs of mushrooms
Sausage

DO NOT soak the crawfish is salt water to "purge", just rinse them until the water runs off clear.

Fill the pot 1/2-2/3 of the way full of water (depending on pot size). Put all of your liquid seasonings plus the bags and halved lemons in the pot and turn on your fire. Add the potatoes, garlic, and onions. When the water starts to get pretty warm, add the powdered crab boil and salt, then stir well (this allows the seasoning the dissolve and prevents it from sticking in the bottom of the pot). Cook until the potatoes are fork tender.

Add the crawfish in the pot and bring it to a rolling boil. Kill the fire exactly 2 minutes after the pot comes to a rolling boil. When you kill the fire, add the corn, mushroom, and sausage along with approximately 10 lbs of ice. Stir well. Your goal is to lower the water temp to 140-150 degrees. This allows the crawfish to soak up the seasoning without getting soft. Soak them for 20 minutes and taste. If they're not juicy and spicy enough, soak for 10 more minutes and they should be good to go.

I've boiled tons of crawfish using this method and they always get rave reviews.

The potatoes and corn are added so that you actually have something to eat.

yep

"purging" is wives tale unless you place them in suspended holding tanks and dont let them eat for 48 hrs.LSU has a great study done that proves this..There is only one place in Arkansas that sells "purged" crawfish and they are pricy......When you put them in salt water you are really only washing the outside....