Crawfish Question From A NewEnglander

bigtrain74 · Mar 29, 2009

Hello all... Here in Connecticut and Massachusetts I have never tried a crawfish before in my life... Some may think that is a tad bit wierd but I am very interested in trying them... Same thing with Biscuts and Gravy... Some have told me that I have been missing out on something quite special.

What do the crawfish taste like and how would I prepare them?

Any and all imput would be great!

desertfox59 · Mar 30, 2009

The key to good Biscuits and gravy (IMHO) is to make sure the biscuits themselves are soft light and flaky. I've used smoked sausage in my gravy and it's better than any other gravy I've had.

Put about three tablespoons of sausage drippings in your skillet on med. heat. whisk flour into sausage grease for about 1 minute. add 2 cups of milk and bring to a boil (raise heat if necessary). reduce heat and simmer about 2 minutes or until desired thickness (I like my gravy thick). lastly add your smoked sausage or smoked crayfish or other meat and pour over split in half already made biscuits. Great for dinner or breakfast, but be careful it very filling.

I'll leave it to others to talk about your crawfish since I don't eat it that much.

Try biscuits and gravy first....then eat some crawfish next....Lastly try some biscuits and crawfish gravy.

Wow! you've come up with a great Idea. Biscuits and Gravy Louisianan style. I'm going to try that out.

meat hunter · Mar 30, 2009

Hello. Well I can understand the not trying crawfish, but not trying biscuits and gravy? Well they are right, you have been missing out. Its almost criminal

. Well desertfox's recipe looks very good so I would try that one.
Im not the B&G maker in our house, I leave that up to the wife.
But the crawfish, well I can help you there. I dont know if you are able to catch them in your area. If so, get yourself a minnow trap, tie some boned chicken backs in the center and toss in a creek or lake. Check traps daily. If you do catch your own, I suggest letting them spend a few days in some fresh water. Like a kiddie pool. If you have to buy them, thats cool to. Some like to boil them, but I think that leaches allot of flavor out of them. Instead, steam them. You can add Zatarains crab boil to your water or sprinkly some Old Bay on them and steam them. Only takes a few minutes for them to cook. They will turn a nice orange red color. Some people like to suck the heads, some dont. Mostly people just remove the tail and eat. Just like a baby lobster. Prepared properly, they are delicious.

bigtrain74 · Mar 30, 2009

Thanks... Those both seem quite amazing! I am very excited to give this a whirl!!!

alblancher · Apr 2, 2009

OOOO WEEEEE,

What do dem crawfish taste like?

Just kidding,
Crawfish take up seasonings real well so if you can imagine a small, juicy lobster boiled in salt, cayanne, lemon, garlic, and a bunch of other spices you get an idea of crawfish. Wall Mart may have frozen crawfish that will give you an idea but you really need to come down here in the spring and give them a real try. The season typically runs from Mardi Gras through May but they are available almost through summer.

You can do just about anything with them so buy a pack of pealed tails and make something good. Just about every good cajun chef has recipes posted that can give you a good start.

Good luck and let me know how it comes out.

Al

creative rock · Apr 2, 2009

Try cooking them as said below boiled or steamed. I have used crab boil, delicious! I have taken it a step further... Remove the meat from the tail after cooking them and cooling them down, meat usually come out in whole pieces. Put on your smoker with smoke of choice, they are great in salads, by them self, or my favorite is to make a lite tasting dip and put them in like a shrimp dip. MMMMMMM

I have smoked them up 45 to one hour keeping in mind you don't want to over do the smoke since they aren't that big.

enjoy
Matt
aka Rocky

teacup13 · Apr 2, 2009

heres my take on biscuits & gravy....

you want to make roux out of the drippings. equal parts drippings to flour, cook the flour a little bit until it is a dark golden brown. add lots of fresh cracked black pepper. when you think you have added enough pepper, add a little more. add some heat such as dried crushed red peppers, then slowly add your milk. the gravy will not thicken until the milk heats up and starts to boil. at this point i add some hot sauce as well.

serve hot.

heres how i use to do a crawfish boil when i lived in louisiana.

IMHO, most shellfish/seafood doesn't really have a particular "flavor", rather, it takes on the flavor during preparation. I would imagine that if we cooked some crawfish with a lobster, the crawfish wouldn't have too much taste...and I'd probably dip those same crawfish into the clarified butter along with the lobster before eating them!

The best part of eating crawfish is the flavor that goes with it...and depending on who's boiling (and therefore seasoning) the crawfish, it can be merely well-seasoned, or it can get really hot and spicy! After you peel the tail and eat it, you MUST try "sucking" the head at least once...it's not gross at all, you're simply tasting the juice from the boil combined with some of the fat from the crawfish.

Also good to eat along with crawfish are the other foods that might get thrown into the pot...common foods are potatoes and small ears of corn, but I've also had bits of smoked sausage, mushrooms, and cabbage. The mushrooms were great, but the thin pieces of cabbage REALLY absorbed the spices in the boil.

A really popular tradition on Good Friday is for families to gather for crawfish boils. You can either do the boil yourself, or (as our family does) you go to your favorite seafood store and buy crawfish by the pound. We usually call ahead and reserve ours...and as with certain holidays, you can definitely expect a wait after taking your number!

After you bring them home, just spread newspaper all over a big table, dump them out and get busy eating.

alblancher · Apr 2, 2009

My plans for Good Friday,

35 people from both sides of family

120 lbs Boiled crawfish with corn, potatoes, plenty of garlic, onion and lemon
20 lbs Seafood Boudin
10 lbs seafood boudin balls
15 lbs Fried catfish fillets for poboys
5 lbs smoked cheese
Fried onion rings
potato salad
hot dogs for kids
strawberry birthday cake
Beer, wine.

and whatever everyone brings

I'm getting the cold smoke going for the cheese this weekend so I'll also smoke 10 lbs raw shrimp and some brined catfish fillets that will go in the boudin with 3 lbs crawfish tails, rice, green onions, garlic, hot peppers,

And I may also pickup a hamper of crabs to be boiled if more family shows up out of the woodwork.

meat hunter · Apr 2, 2009

Damm mailman must have delivered my invitation to the wrong house..

Thats ok, just send me your address and direction and I'll be there.

txbbqman · Apr 2, 2009

alblancher...... me and you are long lost cousins RIGHT!!!!!!!

What time do we eat????????

abelman · Apr 2, 2009

Here's an idea I posted way back:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=73722

Had another one which is more New Orleans style, which we had for dinner last night. During the change, that got lost. Here's the recipe:

1 Onion, yellow or red
1 Bell Pepper
Fresh sliced Mushrooms, 8 oz.
1 Pound of cooked/thawed Crawfish Tails
2 cans of French Onion Soup
1 can of Cream of Celery Soup
1 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 stick of unsalted Butter

Sautee the diced onion, bell pepper and mushrooms. I add some oregano, cumin and parsley. While you’re doing this, add the 4 cans of soup in a large pot. Mix well and set on Med heat for an hour, stirring every so often. At first, it doesn’t look so good but it takes some time. It will also look very thick. Don’t worry as once it’s all finished, it will be fine.

Then, mix the tails in and set at low heat. I add some smoked Kung Pao ground pepper as well as some Sriracha sauce to taste. Just depends on the heat level you’re looking for. Cover and let simmer for 30-60 minutes.

We add some dirty rice on the side or it can be mixed in as well. Garlic bread to boot.

oillogger · Apr 2, 2009

I really do not think you will like crawfish at all. After all they are just odd looking lobster like critters that love living in the mud. They are also called mudbugs because of this. Heck, we have to season the dog out of them and add a whole bunch of other items such as potatoes and corn just so we can bring ourselves to eat them. Crawfish are so awful tasting we alway drink plenty of beer when eating them just to cover up their taste. It would best for you to just forget about them. Hey, we will do you a supreme favor just eating them all for you so that you do not have to put one of those nasty crawfish in your mouth. We will even take care of sucking the heads and that is the worst part. Aren't we such swell buddies? Yes we are. Well, it looks like I will be of service to you this weekend again by eating some more of those awful tasting crawfish.

black_dog · Apr 2, 2009

Hi; When I was in college we found a small clear river near the college where crayfish were introduced in the early 1940,s. Very nice, dove with face masks and took only the ones about 6 or 7" long got 1 1/2 5 gallon buckets full. We broke off the tails and claws a put them in salted boiling water. Cooked until they turned pink and ate with lemon and butter can't be beat. Tasted just like a lobster. They came out of clear water. If out of muddy water they say to keep them in clean water for a while or put in salted water to force them to poop out the junk inside them. When I was a kid, we would catch them in muddy water and would just cook whole and eat tails and claws. Makes a great crab type dip.

morkdach · Apr 2, 2009

oh yea i'm txbbqman long lost sibling i'll be there just when do we eat

creative rock · Apr 2, 2009

LMAO... Sounds like something I would do for a friend :D

oillogger · Apr 3, 2009

Yup, pinching the tails and sucking the heads on a big sack of nasty, muddy, crawfish is ultimate sacrifice for a friend. I just hate the sound they make when you pour the live crawfish into that 20 gallon pot of highly seasoned boiling water. Boy if PETA could hear their hundreds of tiny crawfish voices screaming their last breaths out. That reminds me, I'm out of propane.

creative rock · Apr 3, 2009

Hmmmm, sounds like a good recording for youtube... label it "For PETA SAKES"

Matt
AKA Rocky

just a lil note... I love all living creatures, but some are more delicious than others and I thank God every chance I get when my table has a great bounty for friends and family!

irish · Apr 3, 2009

I like my crabs steamed but I think shrimp and crawfish are best boiled!

Shrimp Boil
4 lbs. deheaded shrimp (or crawfish)
8 to 10 ears of sweet corn
8 to 10 med. red potatoes, unpeeled
2 pkgs. (4 lbs.) smoked Hillshire Farm sausage, sliced in 1/4 inch slices
(I have used the cheesy Lil Smokies too, instead of sausage)
1 Zatarain's Crab & Shrimp Boil Bag
2 tbsp. crushed red pepper (optional)
melted butter for dipping

Use a large enough pot to hold everything, like a turkey fryer. We do this outside on a propane jet burner. Fill the pot about halfway with water and bring to a boil. Toss in the Boil Bag, red pepper, the potatoes and the sausage and boil for 20 mins or until the potatoes are almost fork tender. Add the corn and the shrimp and boil for 10 more minutes. Drain off the water and dump the pot onto a picnic table covered with newspapers.

Feeds 6-8 people well.

cajunsmoke13 · Apr 4, 2009

Come on down. I'm boiling up 3 sacks in a couple of hours. Also, picked up 70 pounds of fresh gulf shrimp yesterday. People do crawfish all different ways

cajunsmoke13 · Apr 5, 2009

Here are some of mine from yesterday. Lots add a bunch to their's, lemons, seasning bags, etc. I add my Swamp Dust. Add seasoning to water, bring to boil, add crawfish, bring to boil again. Let it boil 6 minutes. After 6 minutes, to the cooler. Dust the crawfish with more Swamp Dust. Let it steam in the cooler for 20 minutes. Always come out good and no complaints. Wife and kids don't like the corn and potatoes reall spicy so I do them in another pot. I'll throw a few for me in the boil water after I am done with the crawfish. 1.59/pound right now. Not very big yet. Everyone does them different. One friend boils them in straight water and adds seasoning after...not very good.

Swamp Dust

Purging the crawfish

Crawfish boiling

To the cooler for a little rest

Crawfish Question From A NewEnglander

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