re: 1st time boiling crawfish!

quote:

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Best advice so far.

Everyone's got their own way. Ask 100 people you'll get 100 answers.

The basics:


Fill pot 1/3 with water.
Turn on fire.
Add seasoning.
Add veggies.
Boil till potatoes almost soft.
Take out basket.
Add crawfish on top of veggies.
Put basket back in
Return to boil.
As soon as water boils, cut off heat.
Put bag of ice on top of crawfish.
Put lid on pot.
Stir at 20mins and taste/ continue soak until ready.

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this is spot on, except I don't use ice. Ice will dilute your mixture, thus decreasing the amount of seasoning that can be absorbed. It probably makes little difference in the end, but I prefer to maintain my mixture. I've tried many different ways and find this works best FOR ME. Here are some times though to help you on your way:


Boil the following for 15 minutes (bring water to full boil first though):
fresh corn
onion
celery
garlic
potatoes (red)
artichoke

*this will make your garlic mushy, but that is how I like it. I want it to be like butter when I squeeze it out the casing. Also your potatoes will break apart easily. If you prefer them to be more solid (which I find means they don't soak up enough seasoning), then boil for 10 mins. With the big reds, I cut them in half and boil for 10 mins.


boil the rest for 1 minute:
mushrooms
frozen corn
hot dogs
sausage
brussel sprouts


You don't need to boil the second group at all, the soak would be just fine, but I like the texture given with that 1 minute of heavy boil. THEN you put in your crawfish. As soon as the water returns to a boil, shut it off. You can test every 15 minutes, but I find 30 works out best. Rarely do I go less, someimes I may go up to 45 though. This runs the risk of overcooking. With the proper seasoning to water ratio, you won't go this far

Good luck. It really does take trial and error to get it down right. Don't be afraid to overseason: better to have spicy than fishy.