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Message
First crawfish boil. Not spicy enough and other changes?
Posted on 6/3/19 at 5:56 am
Posted on 6/3/19 at 5:56 am
I spent yesterday doing my first crawfish boil. I used a 100qt pot, 36 pounds of crawfish, sausage, corn, and potatoes. The crawfish were easy to peel and delicious but were not spicy enough. Do I need more spice and should I change other things?
Here is the process:
- Filled pot 65%
- Put in Zatarain's New Orleans style liquid and bag crab boil that totaled up to a suggested 40lb of crawfish
- Put in four oranges, four lemons, Iodized table salt 26 Oz, potatoes, and sausage
- Brought the pot to a rolling boil
- Put in the Crawfish
- Waited till a rolling boil and let it boil for five minutes
- Cut off the gas
- Put in the corn
- Let it soak for 20 minutes
Here is the process:
- Filled pot 65%
- Put in Zatarain's New Orleans style liquid and bag crab boil that totaled up to a suggested 40lb of crawfish
- Put in four oranges, four lemons, Iodized table salt 26 Oz, potatoes, and sausage
- Brought the pot to a rolling boil
- Put in the Crawfish
- Waited till a rolling boil and let it boil for five minutes
- Cut off the gas
- Put in the corn
- Let it soak for 20 minutes
9
Posted on 6/3/19 at 6:34 am to Bandit390
quote:
- Put in Zatarain's New Orleans style liquid and bag crab boil that totaled up to a suggested 40lb of crawfish
I would use powder that totals to a sack. It's generally the whole bag or container from the big brands. Then you add your liquid as extra.
With those two, I would nix the extra salt, but that's just me.
Start tasting at 20 minutes. We usually go 25 to 30 depending on the alcohol consumption
This post was edited on 6/3/19 at 6:35 am
Posted on 6/3/19 at 6:42 am to Bandit390
You have to taste the water. Not spicy enough...add more pepper.
Increase your soak time when you need them to get spicier.
Increase your soak time when you need them to get spicier.
This post was edited on 6/3/19 at 2:19 pm
Posted on 6/3/19 at 7:03 am to Deactived
Listen to Jones...
Posted on 6/3/19 at 7:11 am to Bandit390
Add half a cup of cayenne. They will be spicy.
Posted on 6/3/19 at 7:41 am to Bandit390
quote:
- Put in Zatarain's New Orleans style liquid and bag crab boil that totaled up to a suggested 40lb of crawfish
I know lots of people use liquid, but I find its adds little and tastes weird to me.
100% powder.
And let them soak longer.
quote:
- Filled pot 65%
Maybe a little less water.
Posted on 6/3/19 at 8:19 am to Bandit390
Way too much water(50% or less)
Add cayenne pepper.
More liquid crab boil.
That said, less water and you may not need the other two depending on how spicy you like it. I like them el fuego so the latter two are always a must.
Add cayenne pepper.
More liquid crab boil.
That said, less water and you may not need the other two depending on how spicy you like it. I like them el fuego so the latter two are always a must.
Posted on 6/3/19 at 8:26 am to Bandit390
Fill your pot no more than half and like others said. Go with powder.
Posted on 6/3/19 at 8:51 am to kengel2
quote:
Maybe a little less water.
Posted on 6/3/19 at 8:59 am to SmokedBrisket2018
Less water unless that much was needed to cover crawfish and extras.
I do not return to a rolling boil and boil them. I get it close to back to a boil then cut the fire. I find it gives more time to soak before overcoming them.
Add a whole bag of whatever brand you want. Then add some extra either from another bag or single seasonings. I don’t think you will need more salt tho.
I do not return to a rolling boil and boil them. I get it close to back to a boil then cut the fire. I find it gives more time to soak before overcoming them.
Add a whole bag of whatever brand you want. Then add some extra either from another bag or single seasonings. I don’t think you will need more salt tho.
Posted on 6/3/19 at 9:04 am to Bandit390
quote:
I used a 100qt pot, 36 pounds of crawfish,
quote:
Filled pot 65%
You used way too much water.
Posted on 6/3/19 at 9:05 am to NOLAGT
quote:
I do not return to a rolling boil and boil them. I get it close to back to a boil then cut the fire. I find it gives more time to soak before overcoming them.
This. Definitely be careful with soak times if you are boiling for a full 5 minutes, as the crawfish will still overcook with the heat off. If you want to boil for 5 minutes, you'll need to cool off the water with either ice or spraying the pot with water. I typically just do as NOLAGT suggested.
As others have said, use less water if you can, I typically add more liquid if I want to up the heat, but that could also be accomplished with more powder, cayenne, or chackbay. I also don't think you need the extra salt.
Posted on 6/3/19 at 10:29 am to Bandit390
quote:
Filled pot 65%
Way too much water for only 36 lbs. A 100 qt pot can do about 45 lbs of crawfish, possibly a little more. So keep that in mind if you do less than that. You could fill the pot to less than half full of water and still have room for 36 lbs crawfish plus fixings. General rule of thumb is that you only need to fill the pot half full with water if you fill your basket up to the top with crawfish and other sides. If you reduce your water, you'll up your spice and save $ on how much spice you need to buy.
quote:
The crawfish were easy to peel and delicious but were not spicy enough.
It sounds like you got your seasoning right if you thought the crawfish tasted good. So that is great! I'd opt out of adding more liquid boil or other bag mix even though it will up spice (heat), but it will also add more salt, which it doesn't sound like you need. If you want more heat to the flavor, it's pretty simple. Add more pepper. Most on here will add Cayenne or Chinese Red Pepper. Both are good. I also like adding chili peppers (jalapenos serranos, habaneros) to the pot with the tops cut off. I make a puree of the spicier peppers since nobody is eating those and I feel you get more bang for your buck. I like the flavor habaneros add the most since it has sort of citrusy flavor and compliments the crawfish well. Try different things and find out what you like best.
If I were you, I'd simply just use much less water, keep your spices the same except for the salt. You may want to scale that back or nix the extra salt entirely. Start from there, then see if the spice (heat) is how you like it. If not, then adjust your spices.
This post was edited on 6/3/19 at 2:21 pm
Posted on 6/3/19 at 2:08 pm to SUB
1 sack of crawfish and fixings needs 40 qts of water
So with your 100 qt pot, you had roughly 25 qts too many. That will tame the spice even if you put alot of seasoning
So with your 100 qt pot, you had roughly 25 qts too many. That will tame the spice even if you put alot of seasoning
Posted on 6/3/19 at 2:11 pm to lsupride87
quote:
So with your 100 qt pot, you had roughly 25 qts too many. That will tame the spice even if you put alot of seasoning
This got me over the weekend. I used my BIL's pot which is 100qt to boil a couple sacks back to back. First batch was on the bland side. Got it right for the 2nd batch though.
Posted on 6/4/19 at 8:17 am to LNCHBOX
quote:
First batch was on the bland side. Got it right for the 2nd batch though.
Taste the water before you add crawfish and add spice if you need. Then once they are soaking taste crawfish every 5-10 minutes until you like the flavor. The first sack shouldn't be bland. If they are its either too much water and or not enough spices, or they didn't soak enough.
Posted on 6/4/19 at 9:15 am to saintsfan1977
I don't really get it 
The water tasted like it had plenty of seasoning and a good heat level. And I let them soak as long as I could without going overkill hoping to get a little more flavor into them, almost 50 minutes.
The seasoning I used was a container of Cajunland, 3 Zats boil bags, and an entire bottle of Zats liquid boil (as well as the fruits/veggies). Usually that's plenty to get good heat.
For the second batch, I added half a container of seasoning, 3 more bags, and another bottle of liquid to the water. These only soaked for about 35 minutes and were great.
The water tasted like it had plenty of seasoning and a good heat level. And I let them soak as long as I could without going overkill hoping to get a little more flavor into them, almost 50 minutes. The seasoning I used was a container of Cajunland, 3 Zats boil bags, and an entire bottle of Zats liquid boil (as well as the fruits/veggies). Usually that's plenty to get good heat.
For the second batch, I added half a container of seasoning, 3 more bags, and another bottle of liquid to the water. These only soaked for about 35 minutes and were great.
Posted on 6/4/19 at 9:19 am to LNCHBOX
quote:
The seasoning I used was a container of Cajunland, 3 Zats boil bags, and an entire bottle of Zats liquid boil (as well as the fruits/veggies). Usually that's plenty to get good heat.
How much water? I don't think that's enough powder/salt for a 100 qt pot.
Posted on 6/4/19 at 9:22 am to TH03
quote:
How much water?
Too much. And I had even pulled some out because I thought it looked like too much
Having said that, I'll take not salty enough over too salty any day of the week.
Posted on 6/4/19 at 9:31 am to LNCHBOX
Yeah even at halfway full, the 100 qt will have 25% more water than the 80 qt so maybe an extra 1/4 bag and 4oz of liquid.
True.
quote:
Having said that, I'll take not salty enough over too salty any day of the week.
True.
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