looking for a good crawfish Étouffée recipe, help!

The trick to a good Etouffee is having the fat.
Really hard to get a good flavor with out it.
With a the fat I would stick more to a roux based Etouffee than the following recipe

Crawfish Etouffee:
2 lb. crawfish tails (fresh or frozen)
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

I don't have an exact recipe, but it kinda goes as follows. The key is to make a crawfish stock, super easy this time of year.

Peel cooked crawfish. Place all shells, heads, legs in a stock pot. Put all tail meat in one small bowl, and the crawfish "fat" in another.

Add water to the stock pot, along with peppercorns and bay leaves. (I keep my stocks very basic). Boil for 30 mins.

Make a butter and flour roux and cook until you get a blonde roux. Nothing darker for etouffee.

Add well chopped bell pepper, celery and onions to the roux and stir for about 5 mins. Add garlic, parsley and the crawfish fat. Cook and stir for another 5 mins.

If you want tomato in your etouffee, add it here. Not much, just a small can of paste will do. Let cook for a few minutes.

Drain your stock and add it now. Hard to say exactly how much, but make sure everything is completely covered with stock, plus a little more. Add in your seasonings (salt, pepper, smoked paprika, etc.) and cayenne for a touch of heat.

Cook over med-low heat, stirring occasionally, until you get the consistency you want. 20 mins minimum. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Serve over long grained rice and garnish with little rings of green onions.

I think thats about it.

Recipe from the Plantation Cookbook is by far the best.

quote:

---

Make a butter and flour roux

---

How do you do this..and how much flour and butter do you use?

quote:

---

How do you do this..and how much flour and butter do you use?

---

I personally feel that a roux is a must for etouffee. And i prefer a butter roux for the richness, whereas with gumbo, i prefer to use oil.

Just melt your butter gently, then whisk in gradually approx the same amount of flour.

I HIGHLY recommend cast iron. Cast iron pot preferably so you can cook everything in it. But if you just have a skillet, you can make your roux in it and transfer it to a larger pot for the etouffee.

I only cook my etouffee roux until the four is cooked and doesnt have a raw flour taste. i don't get the dark brown roux as I do in gumbo.

It is called a blond roux, as it is still yellowish from the butter, it is only cooked for about two minutes max, just to get rid of the "raw" flour flavor. For an etouffee this mix is then put i with the trinity, and your stock is added to it bit by bit while stirring. If done for a bechamel, then milk/half and half are addded bit by bit, then simmered over low heat to thicken ETA same as a oil roux with regards to butter/flour ratio, equal amounts of each.

quote:

---

Recipe from the Plantation Cookbook is by far the best.

---

I agree.

quote:

---

quote:
Recipe from the Plantation Cookbook is by far the best.

I agree.

---

Plantation Cookbook Crawfish Etouffee

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.

Are the steps basically the same if you are using shrimp instead of crawfish?

quote:

---

Long story Tomato =/= etouffe.

---

Here's the etouffee I made yesterday. Used 1/2 small can tomato paste. One of the best etouffee's I ever had. Used homemade crawfish stock, crawfish tails, some shrimp and some sausage.

eta: picture wout link