Why does some local frozen crawfish taste fishy

Vacuum sealed foods sometimes have an odd smell or taste. You see it sometimes with other meats like lamb or goat and sometimes large cuts of beef.

Rinse the crawfish in a colander. Or you can soak them in some ice water before using. You can put a little lemon in the ice water if you want, but don’t soak them in straight lemon juice.

For large cuts of meat you can normally let it air out or rinse it and pat dry.

To me all frozen crawfish taste fishy. I've bought them several times and am always disappointed. I won't even buy frozen crawfish anymore. They just don't freeze well.

That’s because crawfish taste fishy.

#teamboiledshrimp

#teamboiledcrabs

wash the fat off and they'll taste fine.

Consensus seems to be to rinse the fat off but that’s so important to have in something like an etouffee. Of course, it’s no good if it makes it fishy. I’ve been lucky but then again, I don’t use frozen crawfish very often at all. Maybe once or twice a year.

I’ve had frozen crawfish tails for 30 plus years and never had this issue. Rice field crawfish that my parents would par boil at the end of each season to put up in the freezer. This was before vacuum sealing was popular. I’ve found spillway crawfish to be a bit fishy even when boiled. But who knows with what I see putting in a pot of crawfish these days. My great grandfather was born in 1919 and my fondest memories are eating crawfish in his screened in porch on newspaper. I was lucky if he put a clove garlic and an onion from his garden in the pot. Never any liquid seasonings or lemons, etc…