Crawfish Boil/Easter 56k nono

[spharis]

After the interest in the other thread, here are some shots from Sunday. Yes they were good.

In the bags.....roughly 35pound bags....we boiled 3.



Here is the prep table....we do it redneck style (yes I'm half) so we use tasso, challads, eggs, garlic, all kinds of stuff in the mix....potatoes and corn first so they don't get hotter than hell. If you look close you can see the cayenne and the crab boil....they suggest 2 tbsp per 5 gallons or something......we use about a bottle per batch, to intensify the flavor. It's hot ****.


Then we purge them, basically put them in a super saltwater solution....This makes them vomit, poop, and cleanses the molds and crap that is all over them....look how dirty the water is.....IF YOU EAT CRAWFISH AND THEY TASTE LIKE FISH, chances are they were not properly prepared, and you are enjoying that good south LA moldy water flavoring.....I hate that. The first sack was real nasty, so I purged them twice.




The little boarders......dying to jump in the chest with them.

[spharis]

OK...so you have to have the pot ready and nearly boiling......a really good burner helps here, and a full tank of propane so you can fire it up.....here are some pics of the pot, and some of the first round (corn and potatoes) water....the heat intensifies as the day progresses. If you listen close, right when you drop them in.....you can hear them scream!






So once purged, cleaned and the water is hot, you put them in the basket, once the water boils....time 3 minutes, then let them sit. Our mix (family recipe) is to sit 3 minutes for mild, 5 minutes for hot, and 7 minutes for POO-YAI Il fait chaud! They end up looking like this. Also if you notice, we don't dust. If you cook and let them sit properly, you don't need to....I hate eating dusted crawfish....not good for much but making your cuts and fingernails burn.....I'd rather enjoy the heat cooked into the meat, and not dusted on the shells.

The steam coming out of the ice chest is why its so washed out.

[spharis]

And yes we had some big ones this year.....believe it or not the price is super low even with the price of fuel and everyone growing sugar cane. We got these for .85 a pound.

[zad0030]

409... an ingredient everyone needs in the kitchen.

[b/w05]

spharis,

I'll trade you a sack of pacific oysters for a sack of crawdads!?

[spharis]

I have gulf oysters LOL.....We don't cook them down here though! BTW what is a crawdad? The best fried oyster po-boy you will ever eat is about 3 minutes from my house....you will slap yourself with every bite. I have kin in central coast cali, and they said the seafood is ok there, but they really miss the fried oyster and fried catfish po-boys.

I may have to take you up on the oyster offer though.....we had a bad sewage spill in Lake Charles, and Katrina got the Gilf real nasty, so I am holding off on the oyster from until they've had time to get clean again.

[spharis]

409... an ingredient everyone needs in the kitchen.

That's there in case you get the liquid boil in your eyes....the 409 doesn't burn as bad.......

[Domsz06]

YUMMMY!!!

[Matt Garcia]

Great thread Steve!

What the heck does this mean "7 minutes for POO-YAI Il fait chaud!" ?

[chpthril]

That makes me want to go pop the top on a cold one great write up Spharis, thanks

We usually use shrimp because good fresh crawdads are hard to get here.

Now, if somebody wants good fried seafood, this is where you need to be!
We call them "fish camps" dont know why. They are all family owned and operated and have been in business for generations. 2 of the best are five minutes from the house, and one more with a buffet is 15 minutes away.

menu
fantail shrimp
green shrimp
calabash shrimp
oysters
scallops
catfish
flounder
perch
fries
hushpuppies
coleslaw

All fried and guarantee to clog your arteries

[Tequilasun]

Looks like a real good feast of Mud bugs!

I have a buddy who drives back from the gulf a couple times a year with a pick-up bed full of crawfish.

[spharis]

Great thread Steve!

What the heck does this mean "7 minutes for POO-YAI Il fait chaud!" ?

Rough translation is "OOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!"

But more English would be WOW! Those are hot!

[Domsz06]

ha ha ha, your great SP!!

[Matt Garcia]

Rough translation is "OOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!"

But more English would be WOW! Those are hot!

Ahh... I can see why.

Looks like you caught a small lobster in the bottom right of this picture. Damn thats a big sucker.