Need a better crawfish étouffée recipe

Lol

Crawfish Ettouffee:
2 lb. crawfish tails
Crawfish fat
1-1/2 stick butter
1 lg. onion, chopped
1/2 chopped bell pepper
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp. chopped green onion tops
Salt, black pepper, and red pepper to taste
1 tbsp. cornstarch


Season the crawfish tails and set aside.
In a saucepan over medium heat melt 1 stick of butter then sauté onions, bell pepper, and celery until they are clear add minced garlic. Add crawfish fat and 3/4 cup of water or seafood stock then let simmer 10 minutes. Add the seasoned crawfish tails and cook for 10 minutes over medium low heat.
Dissolve the cornstarch in a 1/4 cup of cold water and slowly add a little of the cornstarch mixture to thicken as desired. And let simmer for 5 minutes.
Add green onions and fresh parsley and seasoning as desired. Let simmer a few minutes more.
Then remove from heat cover and let rest for 5 minutes.

Serve over rice with a green salad and French bread.

Louisiana fish fry étouffée mix with fresh green onions, simple and great

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Anyone know why the difference in the two?

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Crawfish Fat

I use the recipe posted above anytime I have plenty of crawfish fat. Years ago they gave you a little styrofoam container of fat anytime you bought a lb of crawfish tails. Now days I usually by 5 lbs of boiled crawfish for an appetizer and get the fat out the heads for the etoufee. I usually end up with a little less than quarter cup.

With out the fat or with shrimp I find a butter roux flavor works better.

Just google the Paul Prudhomme recipe. It's pretty damn money.

Plantation Cookbook Crawfish Étouffée

2 sticks butter (or 1 1/2 sticks butter and 1/2 cup crawfish fat)
1/4 cup flour
1 cup chopped green onions
1 cup chopped yellow onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 to 1 tsp basil (optional)
8 oz tomato sauce
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 tsp salt
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco to taste
1 cup white wine plus 1/2 cup clam juice and 1/2 cup water OR
1 cup clam juice plus 1 cup water OR
2 cups water
2 lbs cooked crawfish tails
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs grated lemon rind
1/4 cup minced parsley
2 tbs cognac (optional)
1/2 cup chopped green onion tops (optional)

1. Make walnut-colored roux with 1 stick butter and flour. Add onions, yellow onions, garlic, green pepper, celery, bay leaf, thyme, basil and the remaining butter and crawfish fat. Saute, uncovered, over medium flame for 30 minutes.

2. Add tomato sauce, white pepper, salt, Worcestershire, Tabasco and liquid. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer slowly, uncovered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Turn off fire.

3. Add crawfish tails (if frozen, do not thaw), lemon juice, lemon rind, parsley and cognac, if desired. This is better made the day before or early in the morning. Cover and refrigerate.

4. Remove from refrigerator 1 hour before serving. Heat quickly, without boiling, and serve immediately over steamed rice or in ramekins with French bread.

5. If desired, garnish with raw green onion tops. It is recommended that if you use wine and/or cognac you omit the raw green onion tops.

Source: The Plantation Cookbook, Junior League of N.O.

Lots of good info on here. Does anyone put the heads in a blender, strain the mixture and use the liquid?

i basically use kajungee's recipe except he left out what to do with the last half stick so I'll edit:

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Then remove from heat, add 1/2 stick butter, and let rest for 5 minutes.

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don't cover the pot while cooking. The crawfish will turn grey. I also don't like celery in my etouffee.

Tip: if not using tails from a boil, add 1/8 tsp liquid crab boil/lb of crawfish tails.

Just sauteeing your veggies in butter/margarine together with an addition of a flour/water(about two to one ratio) slurry will will essentially make a roux to thicken and add volume. Your wife is too nice in her expressing displeasure. To the person that asked about flour/cornstarch the starch is not as glutenous it just absorbs water volume in a different manner. There are certain other gelling agents that work miracles in that respect. A five pound bag of agar and a drill with a paint mixer attachment will allow me to turn you swimming pool to jello.

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A five pound bag of agar and a drill with a paint mixer attachment will allow me to turn you swimming pool to jello.

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Neighbor has pool and is a Bama fan.......