Made a big pot of crawfish bisque

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Damn. How long did it take to stuff 300 heads?

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Damn. How long did it take to stuff 300 heads?

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Not as long as it use to. Many years ago I'd stuff them with a small spoon and do it by hand. Then talking to an old Cajun lady and she told me to make my stuffing just a little wetter and use a pastry piping bag to stuff them. It took me a little over an hour to stuff all those heads.

I use the biggest nozzle that comes with the bag and cut a bit more off the end to make the opening a bit larger. Fill the bag with the stuffing and squeeze it into the heads. Then I roll them in AP flour and pop the trays of the heads in an oven to set the meat in the heads and firm them up so they don't fall apart in the sauce.

I still remember the time my dad made this when I was a kid. I was around 10-12yo at the time, and we sat there stuffing heads for what felt like hours. It was laborious, but it is a fond memory of mine. It turned out to be one of the most incredible things I have ever eaten (my dad was a great cook), and it is the only time we had ever done this. I really wish we did it more. There was something special about that chore; it was a great bonding experience.

I think I want to do this with my kids now. This might be on the Squad's schedule in the next few weeks.

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Gumbo - you mind posting your recipe?

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Can't get to it tonight but will do it tomorrow when I get time.

Can you post the bisque recipe too?

Landrys or the old restaurant that is where the spunky monkey is now

Bisque Recipe:

All seasonings are chopped fine and the amount depends on how much bisque is being made. I made 3 1/2 gallons with 300 stuffed heads with the following recipe.

5 large onions
4 bell peppers
8 ribs celery
2 whole heads garlic (about 15-18 cloves)
3 bunches green onions
1 bunch fresh parsley
5 bay leaves

1 qt. finished roux (I pre-make this after frying chicken)
3 qts. crawfish stock
2 qts. shrimp stock (all stocks are homemade)
3 14 oz. cans tomato sauce
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup hot sauce
4+ lbs. peeled and deveined crawfish tails
Enough clean, large heads to take the stuffing
Italian and plain bread crumbs (about 1 1/2 cups of each)
Slap Ya Mama seasoning (careful with salty stuff and add near the end after tasting).
1 stick real butter
Small pan of All Purpose Flour for coating heads


To make the stuffing:

In a large pot melt the stick of butter, add about 1/3 of all the chopped onion, bell pepper and celery and let cook down for several minutes. Next, 1/2 the garlic and cook an additional couple minutes to blend the flavors.

After either chopping the tail meat or using a food processor, add this to the seasonings along with 1/2 the Worcestershire sauce and 1/3 the green onion and parsley. This will be fairly dry so add enough seafood stock to moisten so when the bread crumbs are added it tightens up but is wet enough to pipe into the heads. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature while making the sauce.

Making the sauce:

Put about 1/4 cup cooking oil in a large heavy pot, add the remainder of the chopped seasonings in the same order as above. Once they are cooked down and well blended, add the roux and mix it in very well. Then add the rest of your stocks and the tomato sauce to the pot. Add Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, bay leaves and any other wet or dry seasonings you prefer at this time. I will add about 1 qt. of plain water to the pot since the crawfish stock is usually fairly salty and this helps mellow it out. Allow the sauce to cook while stuffing the heads.

Stuffing the heads:

I save large heads and they are cleaned and dry prior to freezing until needed. Put the stuffing in a piping bag and fill the heads. I will have a pan of All Purpose Flour handy to dip the exposed stuffing on the heads to lightly coat them and place them in a baking pan to bake long enough to firm up the stuffing in the shells. Preheat your oven to 350 and once your heads are stuffed and coated, toss them in for about 1/2 hour.

I let my sauce cook for at least 3 hours before adding the heads and once they are in the pot I'll let them cook for about 45 minutes to blend the flavors. During this last part of the cooking process, I'll add the remaining green onions and parsley.

The flour coating on the stuffed heads will thicken the sauce a bit and I prefer a thicker sauce as opposed to a watery one. If it gets too thick you can add more stock.

Taste for seasonings and adjust from there. Serve over rice and enjoy.

Thanks for sharing. I assume you use all your tail meat in the stuffing?

Would a ziploc bag and the bottom corner cut off work the same for this?