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    Team Mudbug I need your help!

    I am tasked with cooking some of these bugs and need to know a couple things.

    1. What ingrediants and how much of them do you put in the water.

    2. How long do you boil then let set in the water and rest before putting in the cooler.

    Thanks
    Last edited by bmac; 04-15-2010, 05:47 PM.

    #2
    ttt

    Comment


      #3
      There’s probably no single answer to either of these questions. There is probably as many recipes and cooking methods as there are stars in the sky – and most will work. Regarding cooking time, there was a thread on this site a week or two ago and delved into that aspect of cooking. Timing instructions are not very precise. It might be worthwhile to search for crawfish on this site (around the campfire I think) and read that part in that thread.

      As far as what seasoning to use – boy, that will depend on personal preference. I have a simple recipe, but it is at work, I’ll have to find that tomorrow. Alton Brown, the host of “Good Eats” – from the Food Network Series has a good show on cooking crawfish, and has a more involved seasoning recipe. I think his show is on two Youtube clips. You can probably google those and find them. A number of commercial seasoning are very good also.

      The type of seasoning and how much to use will depend a lot on your cooking rig and cooking method. I have been told that the crawfish will not pick up the seasoning very well at the higher cooking temperatures. If the seasoning is placed in the cooking water, it is only during the early stages, when the temperature is not yet too hot – or after the fire is shut off, as the temperature cools while the crawfish are soaking that the crawfish pick up the seasoning. If you need to cook several batches quickly in the same pot and don’t have time to let the crawfish soak, then you will probably need to increase the concentration of seasoning in the pot or use a dry mix and season the crawfish as they come out of the pot.

      I am usually in the latter situation when cooking crawfish and find that seasoning after cooking works well –although I often put some salt and liquid crab boil in the water as well, especially if cooking vegetables also. For crawfish, I usually pull them out of the boiling water as soon as they start to float – and place them in waxed chicken boxes or igloo ice chests and liberally coat them with dry mix, cover and let stand for 10 minutes before serving. However, be sure not to close the lid on those in ice chests – they will overcook while inside the chest.

      I can get you the recipe tomorrow – I don’t trust my memory. Just remember, most crawfish are messed up by overcooking and rarely undercooking.

      Comment


        #4
        Thanks, I am looking forward to the recipe. I have cooked them before but can never get the meat to "pop" out of the tail. I usially have used some type of prepacked boil but I notice that people put more then that in there such as garlic, lemons, mushrooms etc.. I have heard of soaking before but I am usually rushed to get the next batch on so I have to mostly season in the cooler.

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          #5
          The most prevalent cause for hard to peel crawfish (i.e., not easy to pop out of shell) is overcooking. Maturity and intermolt stage of the animal can have some effect on this, but most often hard to peel crawfish are overcooked.

          Comment


            #6
            Quick and Easy Crawfish Seasoning

            5 boxes Salt (1 pound box)
            20 oz Cayenne Pepper
            10 oz Black Pepper
            5 oz Chili Powder
            5 oz Coarse Garlic Powder

            Figure on about 1.5 sacks of crawfish per pound of salt.
            Sprinkle liberally on crawfish as they come out of the pot and let stand for few minutes. Adjust to taste.
            Can also use in water during boiling -- dissolve until water taste salty.

            Comment


              #7
              Every person that cooks crawfish uses a different method but here is how I do it when cooking for the family or catering for a party.

              No need to purge crawfish with salt. It is a waste of time. Simply pour them in a large tub and hose them off.

              Next fill pot a little under half full of water. The pot I use holds 1 sack of crawfish. I then add 8 lemons cut into halves, 2 sticks of butter, then 1.5 large bags of Zatarains crawfish seasoning and 1 4 oz. bottle of Zatarains liquid boil(a must). Bring to a boil and add Crawfish and cover with lid. Turn burner on high and when you see steam come out of the lid turn the burner off(approx. 5 minutes). Next dump 2 bags of ice into the pot with the crawfish and let soak for 20 minutes. After the first batch I add around 1/2 bag of seasoning to each batch I put in the pot but this is something you will have to determine based on the spice you desire.

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                #8
                thanks guys!

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                  #9
                  Buy some Zatarains Pro Boil. Follow instructions. Works great I use it all the time.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Like they said before there are a hundred ways to cook crawfish...I cook hundreds of punds of crawfish a year. I do this on the side for company events and parties.

                    We always cook potatoes, corn on the cob and suasage with our crawfish. Boil your water and add about a half cup of liquid crawfish/crab boil to the water, boil your potatoes, corn and sausage in this water. Using the liquid boil keeps from having everyones lips on fire when they eat the potatoes and corn. Then add one large bag of Lousiana Crawfish Boil to the pot/sack of crawfish. We use one bag of seasoning per a sack of crawfish. Obviously your last batches are going to be hotter than the first (keep this in mind). Add lemons (cut in half) and butter to the water and boil till the crawfish are floating. Shut the fire off and let sit for 3-4 minutes ( the longer they sit the hotter they will be. I add butter before each batch of crawfish. Our sacks range from 30 to 40lbs of crawfish and my cooker will cook 200lbs at a time so you will have to adjust the amount of seasoning to how much crawfish is in your pot at a time.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      make sure to throw in corn, potatoes and german sausage bmac

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