re: Cue Benny Hill Theme: Wife ordered a sack of Crawfish

quote:

---

The problem is, a lot of people want to bring them back to a boil. Many do not have enough heat to get this done quickly, so they inadvertently over cook during the wait to get back to boil. Yeah, I wouldn't cut immediately if I were you, but also don't wait a long time for the boil if it looks like it ain't gonna happen. You will over cook for sure.

---

Sounds like "Keep them on heat for xxx more minutes then turn heat off" would be a better middle ground.

You’re a strange fella

I have been in your exact shoes before. I empathize. That said, it's pretty easy to do. I did the fixings, then added the crawfish and cut the heat after the pot came back up to a boil. Soaked and tasted until I was happy. I did not do any spraying of the pot.

Really the only part I screwed up was actually pouring the crawfish on to the table. Get a helper.

Right now I'm missing a good way to clean them. Do I really need to buy a $70 platic bucket to wash them in? Any reason a Rubbermaid tote with some drain holes cut in the bottom won't work to hose them off?

What the heck do you do with all the mudbug stew left over after cooking?

quote:

---

Everything pretty much sounds like what we had planned on doing except the cut off immediately instead of boil for 2 minutes then cut off (some also say spray the side of the pot with water to help cool it down quicker?). I take it this is to keep from overcooking the aholes? I don't mind sacrificing a little extra cook? soak? time to make sure they aren't overcooked.

---

This is where you'll see the most variance. Some cut off the burner as soon as the crawfish hit the water, some cut it off as soon as it looks like the water is coming back to a boil, and some let it come back to a boil for 2-3 minutes before cutting off the burner. It doesn't really matter which of those you pick, as long as you arent boiling them for 10 minutes before cutting your fire.

I like to cut the burner off as soon as the water starts to come back to a boil.

You'll also see several different methods on cooling the pot after you cut your burner. Some will spray the pot with a hose, some will put bags of ice in the pot. Some just remove the lid and stir constantly to release some of the heat. I do the stir method. I also drop my frozen corn in after I cut the burner off.

There's hundreds of ways to skin this cat, but here it goes:

1. Crack open a beer.
2. Take the crawfish out the sack and place them into an ice chest. WITH THE PLUG OPEN, hose them off and pull out any grass, sticks, bait, etc.
3. Crack open beer #2.
4. Fill you pot up with water a little less than half way and turn your burner on. Add your seasonings and citrus (lemon or oranges or both).
5. Cut your veggies while the water is coming to a boil. Add the onions, garlic, potatoes to the pot. Boil those for 5 minutes or so.
6. Crack open beer #3.
7. Once your veggies have boiled for a couple minutes, add your crawfish. As soon as the water starts to come back to a boil, cut off your burner.
8. Crack open beer #4.
9. Add mushrooms, corn, and sausage (if you want) to the water and start stirring and rolling the crawfish to release some of the heat.
10. Drink beer while letting the crawfish soak. Once they start to sink (20 min. or so), start tasting.

quote:

---

This is where you'll see the most variance. Some cut off the burner as soon as the crawfish hit the water, some cut it off as soon as it looks like the water is coming back to a boil, and some let it come back to a boil for 2-3 minutes before cutting off the burner. It doesn't really matter which of those you pick, as long as you arent boiling them for 10 minutes before cutting your fire.

---

Correct. This is why I tell first timers with no guidance to cut the fire immediately

The water is still hot and the crawfish are still cooking. It just greatens your margin of error for the only way to ruin crawfish: over cooking them . There isn’t really a negative either, as all this causes is having to soak longer to get them properly cooked

quote:

---

Some cut off the burner as soon as the crawfish hit the water, some cut it off as soon as it looks like the water is coming back to a boil, and some let it come back to a boil for 2-3 minutes before cutting off the burner.

---

As soon as I see the first huge puff of steam, I cut the fire.

Problem #1 for the day. I'm not sure I can get good sausage here in Auburn. Do I roll with somethign from Kroger/Publix or try out the Meat Lab's sausage on Campus.

quote:

---

I try to sift the crawfish around (use hands or a paddle)

---

This is something I do.