Crayfish or crawfish; the spelling does not matter here. I have held many crawfish boils, and this is by far the best crawfish boil recipe in my opinion. I have refined this recipe over the years, and you will see that it uses the perfect blend of cajun spices and ingredients to create the perfect crawfish boil recipe.
Pot size - an 80 quart pot will hold one 30 pound sack of crayfish, and the corn, potatoes, and sausage. It will be a tight fit. I prefer to use a 100 quart pot. You can always boil the vegetables and sausage, remove them and put them in a cooler, and boil the crawfish.
Recipe by: The Smoker King
Crawfish Preparation: (Purging)
1. Keep the sack of live crawfish in a cool area with a little ice on them
2. Before cooking, poor the live crawfish into a cooler and fill the
cooler with water, covering the crawfish
3. Add about 1/2 of a box of salt, and gently stir the crawfish to dilute
the salt
3. Leave the crawfish in the water for 10 minutes or so; they will "purge"
themselves of mud and other goodies during this time
4. Drain the water and fill the cooler with water again to purge one more
time. Drain after 10 minutes.
5. Crawfish do not like salt, and they will die if you leave them in
the water too long, so be careful.
6. After the final purge, rinse the crawfish until the water around
them is clear.
5. They are ready to cook
Ingredients:
1. New Potatoes-24 small
2. Corn-10 half pieces
3. Salt (for purging only)-1/2 box
4. 1 lb. of butter.
5. Dry Crab Boil 4-3oz packages. (Get the packages of seasoning, not the boil in a bag kind)
6. Wet Crab Boil 1-16oz bottle.
7. Cayene-7oz.
8. Black Pepper-7oz.
9. Lemons-6lg.
10. White Onions-6sm.
11. Sausage-3 links
12. Lemons-12sm.
13. 4 oranges
13. 30 lb. bag of live crawfish
14. 1- 80 quart pot (with strainer and lid)
15. Smaller pot for boiling sausage
16. Whole regular mushrooms (Optional - you can put these in the water while you are eating crayfish and they will soak up the seasonings and liquid!)
Preparation:
1. Fill 80 quart pot with 10 gallons of water (about 1/2 full), and
place the strainer into the pot
2. Begin heating the water to a boil
3. When water begins to boil, add seasonings and the butter
4. Add 8 lemons (cut in half), the oranges (cut in half and squeeze the juice into the boil before dropping them in), and whole peeled onions into the area
outside of the strainer
While you are waiting for water to boil:
1. Cut the potatoes into halves
2. Cut the sausage to the desired thickness and pre-boil for 15 minutes in a seperate pan.
Cooking:
1. After the water has boiled for 5 minutes add
potatoes and sausage into the strainer
2. Bring the water to a boil and boil for ten minutes
3. Add the corn
4. Bring the water to a boil and boil for at least 5 minutes
5.
Add the crayfish
6. Bring the water to a boil then turn off the heat. Cover the pot, and cool down
the outside of the pot with a water hose. You can also empty a 10 pound bag of ice on the top of the crayfish. This will make them cool down rapidly and sink to the bottom.
7. Let the boil sit for 15 minutes before eating to let the crayfish
soak up the seasonings
8. Remove the strainer with the contents of the boil, drain, and pour
the boil onto a table covered in butcher paper.
9. Dig in and enjoy
Tips:
Use the rest of the lemons to wash your hands when you are done. This
is a great crawfish boil recipe, and I hope you will enjoy it.
If you are adding shrimp, put the shrimp in right when you turn off the heat. They will cook in 15 minutes while you wait for the crayfish to soak up the liquid and cook. If you cook the shrimp any longer, they will be really hard to peel.