Crawfish boil: when to add liquid boil, does it evaporate as you boil?

Everyone just makes up stuff about crawfish boils and swears it does this or that.

I add the liquid for the soak, but who knows?

4.5lb zat powder so it's enough salt.

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Then cool down and soak but they don't seem spicy enough.

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When you say "spicy", do you mean hot spicy or salt spicy? If salt spicy, your problem has nothing to do with the timing of when you are adding liquid boil. You need to add more liquid boil and more dry seasoning, or you need to let them soak longer....so how long are you doing that?

If hot spicy is your problem, you can add any of these:
- Cayenne
- Chinese Red Pepper
- Other hot peppers (cut in half), like jalapenos, serrnos, habaneros, etc.

BUT, as for the timing of adding liquid boil, there was a healthy debate on this a few years back. But it was focused on lemons and eventually included liquid boil because of what's in it.

Essentially, this is what I took from it:

Boiling lemons and things that contain essential oils essentially eliminates the oils. Therefore, the best time to add lemons and liquid boil is after you cut the heat.

I have been doing this for 2 years now and have had very good results. But honestly, your crawfish will come out good either way. I only see adding these things after the heat is off as an enhancement.

See post from thread that I referred to above, here.

add it to the ice chest when u dust them

Spice evaporates? That's a new one

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I heard that it makes a difference when you add the heat and that extra spice evaporate as you boil? True/false?

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I've concluded that since there are so many people with entirely different strong opinions about boiling crawfish, apparently this is one thing that it is impossible to screw up. Just be you and then argue that your way is the only way and there is no other, because it's obvious that there is no one best way to do it.

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Spice evaporates? That's a new one

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Do essential oils evaporate?

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I heard that it makes a difference when you add the heat and that extra spice evaporate as you boil? True/false?

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True. Liquid is best added at soak. It maintains its flavor when not boiled.

check this out: LINK

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Do essential oils evaporate?

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No. They get dispersed in a diffuser. The oil is pushed out. Essential oil is not boiled in a diffuser.

The only liquid in liquid crawfish boil that will evaporate is water - the primary ingredient in liquid crawfish boil.

The most comparable cooking technique to compare a crawfish boil to is not an essential oil diffuser, but the reduction technique used by chefs. The point of a reduction is to cook the water out so that the flavor remains in a more concentrated form.

So to answer the OP’s question, no. The flavor will not cook out. It will be more concentrated

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I was asking about essential oils, lemon, orange, etc that many people add. And you were too busy being a smartass.

And there’s a lot of stuff in “spices” that are essential oils btw.

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I was responding to the OP originally, but I guess you were too busy being a smartass.

Regardless, I've added my citrus and liquid at the beginning of the process and never had an issue with their flavors evaporating away.

But thanks for the totally necessary lesson.