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Crawfish Boil - need some help

Rod

Rod

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Hey guys,
 
I'm going to be boiling up some crawfish.  I'm buying them live from LA (overnight shipping), and planning for about 15 lbs of SELECT.  About how many crawfish is in a lb?
 
What size stock pot will I need to boil up 15 lbs?  Also, any tips/tricks is appreciated.  This is my first time doing this.
 
Thanks,
Rod
 
 
old-bay-seasoning.jpg
 
Old Bay is pretty hard to beat.  I have another one at home, (of course I don't remember it right now) I will add later this evening.
 
Louisiana fish fry products crawfish, crab and shrimp boil..
 
 
 
 
Edit to add second line.
 
Rod said:
 
What seasoning are you using?
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What do you recommend?
 
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Old Bay is alright, but I prefer it when boiling Crab to Crawfish. Try Tony Chacher's Creole Seasoning. 
 
51446HMY27L.jpg

 
I want to do a Crawfish Boil this year also. I've been told the best time for Crawfish is April - June (if I'm remembering correctly). Would love to find out who you are getting them shipped through Rod! 
 
Devil Doc said:
If you want to do it the hard way, no one does hard better than Alton Brown. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/crawfish-boil-recipe.html.
 
Doc
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So, there is one thing missing in Alton's recipe and I can't remember the specifics, so I'll figure that out and post it on here. But my buddy took all the live Crawfish and threw them in large cooler filled with water (I just don't remember if it was salt water or not) before he cooked any. Why he did that was, if any floated to the top, they were dead and you don't want to serve any of those. Also, (this is why I was thinking it might be salt water) letting them set in there caused them to purge their bowels. So in the end you have a better flavored product to serve your friends. ... Let me see what I find out his suggestions, and I'll post something for you. 
 
Ok, this is from my buddy who grew up in Louisiana - scale as appropriate this recipe is based around 40# bags of Crawfish. 
 
He recommends Zatarain's Pro Boil (spicy powder) & Zatarain's Shrimp & Crab Boil (liquid seafood flavoring) over Tony Chacher's or Old Bay. Walmart may carry it, but you can probably find more appropriate sizes online. 
 
Make a Salt Water solution: 
- 5 gallons of H2O
- 1/2 canister of Morton's Iodized Salt
Purge in Salt Water for 10-15 minutes at most. It makes them sick and they 'puke' out any mud that still may be in their stomachs. 
Don't keep them in there much longer, because they will die in about 17-20 minutes. 
Only use live Crawfish for your boil. 
 
If you plan on adding potatoes to your boil, pre-cook your potatoes about 3/4 of the way before adding them to the boil. 
 
Get your water up to a strong rolling boil. 
Add 1/2 Gallon of Zatarain's Shrimp & Crab Boil per 40# bag of Crawfish
Add 10-14oz. of Zatarain's Proboil per 40# bag of Crawfish
Have a metal basket inside the pot that you can pull the Crawfish out of ... 
Add 1 40# bag of purged Crawfish
Add your potatoes & corn (optional)
Bring back up to a strong rolling boil and hold for 1-2 Minutes.
Cut the heat and let them steep in the hot water for 30-45 Minutes depending on how spicy you want them.
*Keeping the heat at a rolling boil will cause you to have rubbery Crawfish.
Take the Crawfish out with the Metal Basket.
Throw down the Crawfish & Fixins in the center of the table and have a party!!
 
If you are doing multiple bags of Crawfish, you will need to add additional Proboil and Shrimp & Crab Boil. 
 
**KEEP the Crawfish stock for future use in Ettouffe, Creole and Gumbo! If you don't have an immediate need, freeze it in mason jars!
 
Crawfish boils are more of an art than an exact science, so you'll have to figure out amounts of seasonings as you go. Just have more Crawfish boils to perfect the art. 
 
...
 
Again, this if for a 40# bag of Crawfish. You'll need to scale this back accordingly for a 10# batch. 
 
Hope this helps!
- Cory M. 
 
Excellent choice Rod!  I've been living down south for 17 years now, some of it in southern MS, where I met my wife and visit frequently with the outlaws.  Crawfish boils are a staple this time of year and you've been given some great advice from Blue Dragon.  Doc's link to Alton Brown's recipe is also good and I think what makes it appear hard is the measuring of multiple individual spices, some of which are actually in the Zatarain's Blue Dragon mentions.
 
We use Zatarain's crawfish, shrimp and crab boil, which comes in a mesh bag containing mustard seed, coriander seed, cayenne pepper, bay leaves, dill seed and allspice.  With everything contained in the mesh bag, you get the flavor without the seeds to fight with when you're eating.  We also use Zatarain's shrimp and crab boil liquid concentrate which contains red pepper extract, bay clove, black pepper, thyme, marjoram and some artificial spice flavor.  The concentrate will give you heat you desire.
 
It looks like your supplier is claiming 12-15 crawfish per pound.  We determine the amount needed estimating 4-5 pounds per person.  Crawfish tail meat isn't very big, so 5 pounds per person isn't much of a stretch.  Always better to have a little more!
 
Definitely follow the advice on purging.  We boil our potatoes (red), sausage, corn and onions all at once and don't precook any of it.  It's part of the ambience to sit around and socialize and drink.  You'll only need about 20 minutes under a full boil for those items, and actually can add the sausage the last 10 minutes.  Crawfish need about 3 minutes to cook and definitely let them sit in the boil.  We let them sit for about 10-15 minutes.  Having a colander is a definite must.  We like to put 3-4 layers of newspaper out on the table and "dump" the boil out on top,or sometimes will use trash bags.  Makes clean up a little easier.
 
If you can't find the Zatarain's and you want to try it, I'll be happy to send you some.  I have 2 unopened boxes here now.  And since eating crawfish is a two handed endeavor, finish your cigar before you start eating!!
 
Have fun!  
 
Frank
 
I have a turkey fryer with a strainer basket. I use Old Bay to boil and dust with Tony's when I serve em up.
 
Good advice here. I like the Zatarain's better than Tony's or Old Bay too, but they are all really pretty good.
Alton Brown's seasoning recipe has been my favorite, though Blue Dragon's recipe looks real interesting.
 
One time, I tried adding Chorizo in addition to the Andouille. This was in addition to the full measure of the the Andouille. About 15% to 25%. I did like the results. Subtle, but nice. I do Love Chorizo with "seafood" or Chicken. If you decide to try Chorizo sometime, make sure it is the true Sausage type, not cured or the loose crap in the plastic film tube. Precook it, in the bottom of the pan, pull it out, start your recipe, and add it back in the last 3 minutes. I slice it about 1/8" thick.
I use it more like a condiment/seasoning agent than a major player. I recommend trying it in a small batch the first time you give it a go, to see if you like it.
 
As previously stated, the timing is the absolute most important part of this. Boiling protein (or in some cases, over-boiling) is a very big no-no, making the Crawfish rubbery, and the Sausage tougher and, believe it or not, "dry" on the inside.
 
Thanks for all of the advice. I have spent several hours on youtube watching crawfish boil videos. 
 
I will be sure to take pictures of the boil. :)
 
fjldo said:
Definitely follow the advice on purging.  We boil our potatoes (red), sausage, corn and onions all at once and don't precook any of it.  It's part of the ambience to sit around and socialize and drink.  You'll only need about 20 minutes under a full boil for those items, and actually can add the sausage the last 10 minutes.  Crawfish need about 3 minutes to cook and definitely let them sit in the boil.  We let them sit for about 10-15 minutes.  Having a colander is a definite must.  We like to put 3-4 layers of newspaper out on the table and "dump" the boil out on top,or sometimes will use trash bags.  Makes clean up a little easier.
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I think he just recommended to precook the potatoes because we were doing multiple batches of crawfish. We cooked about 150 lbs at 40 lbs at a time. So we didn't want to wait 20 minutes for the potatoes to cook. 
 
duglynukem said:
I have a turkey fryer with a strainer basket. I use Old Bay to boil and dust with Tony's when I serve em up.
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That is a really great idea! I have one too that would work well. 
 
I spoke with my buddy again and he added something: 
During the boil, add 1 lemon cut in half and 1 head of garlic cut in half (with as much skin removed as possible) for a 10 lbs batch. 
 
We look forward to the pics!
 
Blue Dragon and fjldo nailed it, so not much to add---the bagged Zatarain's is the stuff; we usually double the amount and cut one bag open on a big boil, but we like it spicy here.   :D
 
You can add all sorts of stuff---we use baby potatoes, white or red, corn on the cob (cut into 3" chunks), shrimp, mussels, lobster tails, sausage. The sausage we brown before we add.  Just add stuff in the order of how long it takes to cook.
 
I have two different size pasta pots with strainer baskets; one for dinner parties and one for just me.  :laugh:
 
~Boar
 
Not A Nice Person said:
Blue Dragon and fjldo nailed it, so not much to add---the bagged Zatarain's is the stuff; we usually double the amount and cut one bag open on a big boil, but we like it spicy here.   :D
 
You can add all sorts of stuff---we use baby potatoes, white or red, corn on the cob (cut into 3" chunks), shrimp, mussels, lobster tails, sausage. The sausage we brown before we add.  Just add stuff in the order of how long it takes to cook.
 
I have two different size pasta pots with strainer baskets; one for dinner parties and one for just me.  :laugh:
 
~Boar
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The more you add the better it seems to get! :)
 
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