Boiled Crawfish

The crawfish boil is one the most popular Cajun meals. Cajun seafood boil seasonings (we love Slap Ya Mama’s Seafood boil) do the trick to perfectly season crawfish. This recipe is for the times you don’t have it or can’t buy it. A neat addition to boiled crawfish is adding Louisiana Gulf blue crab, shrimp, and smoked sausage cut into 4 inch pieces. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

Prep Time : 30 Minutes 

Cook Time : 15 Minutes 

Total Time : 45 Minutes 

Servings : 6-8

Ingredients

• 20 pounds crawfish or shrimp
• 1 box salt
• 6 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 6 tablespoon black pepper
• 4 lemons, halved
• 6 medium onions
• 10 red potatoes, unpeeled or cut in half
• 6 ears of corn, fresh or frozen
• 1/4 cup oil (optional) helps makes peeling easier
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 box salt
• 3 tablespoon each of black and red pepper
• 2 teaspoon ground clove

Directions

1. Remove any dead crawfish and clean the rest with a salt purge.  Put about a cup of salt into a large tub of water, stir it up a bit, and drain.  Repeat this process one more time without salt.
2. Fill a large stockpot (42 quart is a standard crawfish boil pot size) with water and bring to a boil. Season water with 1/2 cup salt, 3 tablespoon white pepper, 3 tablespoon black pepper and the lemon. Add the potatoes (and sausage, if you’re using it), cover and cook for 8 minutes.
3. Add the corn, onions and crawfish. Bring back to a boil, cover and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until crawfish turn red and float to the top. Turn the heat off and let the crawfish sit for 4 to 5 minutes; this will allow the crawfish to absorb the seasonings. A visitor suggested to throw ice in the boil and the crawfish will sink during the soaking process. Drain the water or dish out the crawfish and vegetables.
4. Place the crawfish in an ice chest and sprinkle with two teaspoon each of white, red and black pepper and two teaspoon of salt. Stir. Close the lid of the chest and the steam will meld the seasonings to the crawfish.
5. Allow 3 to 5 pounds per person. Get a beer, wait a few minutes and enjoy!