How do you cook crayfish?

[Okie joe]

Ok ,,,now go easy... I havent eaten crayfish,crawdads,Mudbugs...new thing do you buy purged? Raw ....cooked How? with what? any tips?

[Richtee]

Boil 'em..typically with a crab boil. I like the commercially available Zatarains Crab Boil. You can make due with Kosher, bay leaf, pepper corns, coriander seed, red pepper flakes, onion, paprika and garlic... or something along those lines.

http://www.zatarains.com/content.cfm?id=10372

[Geek with Fire]

For me it depends on the quality of the bug. Mid mo crayfish aren't the same as gulf bugs, but I still use them. Some of our streams around here are more muddy than others, and therefore some of the bugs are more strong than others. For muddy's, I just pull the tails and boil them for gumbo. If they bugs come out of cleaner water, I steam them whole. When the color looks right, I quickly pull them out of the steam and dump them into a box of cajun spice (and give them a shake).

[Gunslinger]

Are you kidding? Boil, steam, smoke, all whole of course. Find a "crab or crawfish boil" and boil them up with cob corn, red potatoes, andouille, onions, and whatever else you want to throw in there.
I like them steamed and dipped in cocktail sauce. I've heard people like to suck the heads like shrimp, I think ANY portion of the head tastes pretty horrible, so no recommendations there. And I only eat them hot. Somehow I think they taste like cheap dog food, cool. Not that I've ever eaten dog food.

[Richtee]

For me it depends on the quality of the bug. Mid mo crayfish aren't the same as gulf bugs, but I still use them. Some of our streams around here are more muddy than others, and therefore some of the bugs are more strong than others.

Hey Geek...can you do like you can with clams...put them in fresh clean water for I dunno..a day or so...to "clean" them?

[Okie joe]

Thanks guys I have never had them, wife is away for womens retreat...and now for something different.....cajin maybe not hot just a little heat...tender mouth and what dad said,,,,what goes in hot comes out hot....lol

[jbchoice1]

we eat em all the time... I can buy a 10lb bag of them already purged and into the hot water they go... with the rest of the boil... zatarains is the stuff, but I also like old bay... and I suck the heads... nice and salty... just don't look at it before or after... kinda a turn off...

[Richtee]

and I suck the heads... nice and salty...

"Pinch da tail, and suck da haid" is what I was taught in Loosiana- at Mardi Gras no less :{) Drink to go with? A good Bloody Mary!

[jbchoice1]

"Pinch da tail, and suck da haid" is what I was taught in Loosiana- at Mardi Gras no less :{) Drink to go with? A good Bloody Mary!

amen... I like my bloody marys with siracha pepper sause... you know the stuff? hot and spicy... it's the clear bottle of red pepper sauce with the chicken on the front... red hot cock sauce is what we call it...

[Richtee]

Same as "Rooster sauce"? Love that stuff... JUST the right amount of heat with flavor...for dousing something pretty well.

[curious aardvark]

shame I don't live a bit further south - apparently american crayfish are in the rivers down there in epidemic proportions.
Saw a program last year where they were pulling about 2000 a week from a 50 yard stretch of river, big ones too. Even the claws had decent meat in them.

And you know instead of trapping the buggers and flogging them to the rest of us they just winge that there are no english crayfish left - I don't ever remember there being english crayfish to eat. Caught them in germany, but not england.
As far as I can see this is one invasion that ought to be celebrated :-)
Just wish they'd hurry up, move up the country and hit the trent - at which point I'll beable to put all this cooking crayfish advice to the test :-)

[Richtee]

They be good stuff CA... A good fat tail is reminiscent of lobster. Not LIKE it but...reminiscent

[Abelman]

I can't get fresh ones out here, at least at a decent price. If I could, a boil is the way to go, tails and heads.......with a lot of heat and it's ohh so good.

So, I can get shelled tails at the store. I do one of two things with them, either burgers:





or a type of Gumbo with a recipe I got from someone in LA:





Dirty rice is good with either. With the gumbo, you can eat the rice seperate or mixed in. It's a dish that is better the day after so all the spices meld together.

If you want any info on either one, let me know I can give you the recipe.

[Texas-Hunter]

I can't get fresh ones out here, at least at a decent price. If I could, a boil is the way to go, tails and heads.......with a lot of heat and it's ohh so good.

So, I can get shelled tails at the store. I do one of two things with them, either burgers:





or a type of Gumbo with a recipe I got from someone in LA:





Dirty rice is good with either. With the gumbo, you can eat the rice seperate or mixed in. It's a dish that is better the day after so all the spices meld together.

If you want any info on either one, let me know I can give you the recipe.

Now this is one hell of a High Jack of a thread....WOW..



Okie Joe.. if they have not been purged yet make a small tub of lightly salted water.. dump them in there for a few minutes they should purge pretty fast.. then back in fresh water...

[Gunslinger]

That looks great.

I would think if store bought, they'd already be purged, but maybe not.
My son catches ours in the spring on the back of the property. Clean spring water, them suckers taste fantastic. I think more like shrimp than lobster, but definitely reminiscent like Rich said. I think the bigger they are the more reminiscent they are, which would stand to reason.

Hey head suckers, you guys suck squirrel brains too.
Nasty, nasty, nasty. To each his own for sure.