Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer Buffet Crawfish boil

Planning on boiling some this weekend. Got any pointers. Im a crawfish virgin i usually do shrimp

http://howtoboilcrawfish.com/

This is how I have been doing it. Sometimes I skip the purging. I usually can't tell the difference. Neel huh? Let me know if ya need some help!

Haha yeah not too far from flint. Do you think a 30 quart pot is big enough to use

Just did one yesterday. Purging is a must unless you like eating mud. We do potatoes, sausage, brussels, shrooms, garlic, frozen corn, also cut the top and bottom off a pineapple and throw it in there.

x2 on the purge. However, don't purge in salt water. I always did until last year. Just put them in a cooler, fill up with water, pull the drain and stick the hose in there and let it run until the water is clear. I lay the empty sack on top to keep them from falling out. Made them easier to peel and tender as all get out!

Purge them with salt water. Changing the salt water mixture when it gets muddy. Do this until it stays clean. I use Conecuh sausage, red skin potatoes, and fresh yellow corn on the cob. Mushrooms are good too, if you like mushrooms. You can do your sausage, potatoes, and corn first. Then you can do your crawfish. Zaterain's crab boil(the granular kind) is what I use. It's better than the liquid and the bag to me. Let us know how it turns out. Enjoy!!!

Here's how I do it and it is the bomb diggity. You will need sea salt, cayenne pepper, zatarains crab boil in the bag, lemons, crystal hot sauce, tony chacheres Cajun seasoning, crawfish, conecuh sausage, small red skin potatoes, corn on the cob, and lots of your favorite beer. Fill your pot about half way with water and get it heating, mix in a bunch of salt till it tastes good, pour about a cup of crystal hot sauce in there maybe more, throw a bag of zatarains crab boil in the mix, throw some cayenne pepper in there till you get the heat you like(I am tasting the water the whole time I do this), finally quarter 2 lemons and throw them in the pot, when it gets boiling add your potatoes, about 5 or so minutes later throw in your pieces of conecuh sausage that you cut about 3 inches long and your corn, when the potatoes get almost done throw your crawfish in, I only cook my crawfish for maybe 5 minutes or so, if you cook them too long they will be tough. when it's done lift the basket with all the food in it out of the pot and dump it in a cooler and sprinkle on a little of the tony chacheres and close the lid and let it steam for about 3 to 5 minutes. Dump it out on a table and enjoy. For each additional batch I cook I will add another bag of zatarains and put in 2 new lemons.

Well guys i cooked em up saturday and they turned out awesome. Thanks for the help, I think this is gonna have to be a regular thing

Looks like you did just fine. Don't forget to invite us next time.

Love me sum mud bugs. Those look great

Dang that looks good.

Purge , Purge, Purge.. Clean them crawdads.. then all else is easy....Make that boil spicy.. and you cant go wrong...

I have put almost everything in mine..

Corn, Potatoes, Sausage, mushrooms, onions, garlic, pineapple, whole chickens, turkey necks, eggs, green beans, broccoli, califlower, orysters, clams, hotdogs, etc....

They all soak up the spice and are excellent...

I like whole garlic cloves in there.

I do too, but the taste, etc. seems to take days to go away.

One of the best parts of a crawfish boil is making hashbrowns with the left over corn, taters, and garlic the next morning. It is excellent.

Potato salad and mashed potatoes with the leftover potatoes are awesome as well...

Study: Straight tail crawfish were not dead and salt doesn't purge them

Dave Cohen Reporting
The LSU AgCenter is trying to clear up some long-held "crawfish myths." Researchers found salting crawfish before boiling does no good, and the ones that come out with straight tails were not dead before they went in.

Ray McClain, LSU AgCenter crawfish researcher at the Rice Research Station near Crowley says the straight tailed mudbugs were actually more likely to be alive before going into the boiling pot.

"Research at the LSU AgCenter showed that the degree of tail curl in cooked crawfish was not significantly different between crawfish alive at the time they were cooked and those that had been dead... prior to cooking," McClain explained.

So why do some have straight tails when they come out of the boiling pot? Researchers says it may just be that another crawfish blocked their tail from curling or the mudbug was shoved up against the side of the pot and its tail couldn't curl.

"The results suggest that the age-old adage of avoiding straight-tailed crawfish at a crawfish boil, as a means of ensuring safety and quality, may not be reliable and certainly has little to do with knowing the living status of the animal at the time of cooking,� McClain said.

As for salting the crawfish before boiling them as a means of "purging" or causing the crustaceans to excrete anything inside of them... McClain says it doesn't work.

"Research at the LSU AgCenter has shown that the addition of salt to the wash water provides no significant advantage in cleansing crawfish despite the numerous claims to the contrary," McClain insisted.

He says if you want to purge the crawfish, you have to set them aside with no food for an entire day.

"The only way to significantly reduce size and content of the intestinal tract is with a 12- to 24-hour freshwater purge, which is difficult and impractical for homeowners to do," McClain explained.

He did note that washing crawfish for as little as 10 minutes in water helps remove mud and other debris.

But, he says, "Does little to eliminate intestinal wastes... and salt appears to be of no benefit."

Well I cook them and sell them every week during the season..And I have always purged them with salt water... I dont care what the study says.. My method has always worked for me... So I dont plan to change the way I clean my crawfish....

Usually out of a good sack of crawfish you can have a pound or two of dead ones..So out of a sack of 40 lbs., I can afford to throw away the straight tails and eat the curled spicy ones...

No need to purge, doesnt do any good, just hose them off.

Coming from an "retired" commercial crawfisherman, this statement cant be any more true! I sold directly to one of the biggest seafood markets in LA that sold more boiled crawfish than anyone in the state of LA. They and anyone who knows how to cook crawfish has known that purging is a waste of time and salt.

Just place them in a large ice chest with plug in and fill with water and then remove plug several times until the water that is draining becomes clean.