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Crawdads aka Crawfish, Crayfish

I've got family that live in on the Gulf coast in Mobile, Alabama. On every visit, I always get treated with "crawdads." The locals there have their favorite spots and most I've tried are amazing. I don't think that the food has a long history there, but something that crept across from the bayous of Louisiana. Regardless, they are cooked with various recipes of spicy "crab boil." Certainly not a staple food here in my Palmetto state. Had lunch today with some buds at a better local Chinese buffet. They had crawdads and I indulged on a gluttonous three plates full. They were very good to my surprise but not "great" like the ones I had in Alabama. The spice was heavy Jalapeno as you can see in the pics. I have been told that there is a place locally that has bags of frozen crawdads. All of that to ask this simple question...
 
Does anyone here have a good recipe they will share? My palette has been activated. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.. - Reggie
 

 
 
Click to expand...
This is one we did a bit back.

Crawfish, crab legs, shrimp, andouille, red potatoes, corn and charred green onion compound butter.
I also baked some crusty French baguettes that worked well for cleaning up the melted butter and bug juice.

image.jpg
 
I prefer Louisiana crab boil over Zatarains, it's not as salty. https://www.amazon.com/Louisiana-Crawfish-Crab-Shrimp-Boil/dp/B007Z89KRE?th=1
 
Here's how I boil
about 3/4 of that bag of seasoning to a 100qt pot filled about 3/4 with water
3 lemons halved and squeezed, put the lemons in the water too
10 jalapenos halved
1/4 cup cayenne pepper
2 heaping tablespoons of pepper chow chow, I make my own using what ever peppers I have at the time.
 
I use this for crabs, shrimp and crawfish and I always add sausage, potatoes, onions and mushrooms.
 
HopsNBarley said:
This is one we did a bit back.

Crawfish, crab legs, shrimp, andouille, red potatoes, corn and charred green onion compound butter.
I also baked some crusty French baguettes that worked well for cleaning up the melted butter and bug juice.

attachicon.gif
image.jpg
Click to expand...
 
After giving it some thought, it brought to mind a dish that I eat a couple times a year, usually at a party of some sort. It is sometimes called "Frogmore Stew" or "Beaufort stew." I've never made it myself, but I think your version would kick this one out of the park. To my recollection, it contains only shrimp, smoked sausage, potatoes and corn. I do remember a few "better" dishes that had spicy crab boil or maybe some shake or two of old bay. I am gonna try your recipe with a few buds and I know it will be great. Thanks for sharing! It will likely become an annual event for me..
 
Rajun Gardener said:
I prefer Louisiana crab boil over Zatarains, it's not as salty. https://www.amazon.com/Louisiana-Crawfish-Crab-Shrimp-Boil/dp/B007Z89KRE?th=1
 
Here's how I boil
about 3/4 of that bag of seasoning to a 100qt pot filled about 3/4 with water
3 lemons halved and squeezed, put the lemons in the water too
10 jalapenos halved
1/4 cup cayenne pepper
2 heaping tablespoons of pepper chow chow, I make my own using what ever peppers I have at the time.
 
I use this for crabs, shrimp and crawfish and I always add sausage, potatoes, onions and mushrooms.
Click to expand...
 
Never seen mushrooms, what kind? I could see maybe whole criminis, or sliced in half, but not slices right?
 
One corn, one potato, no filler all killer!
 
Houston crawfish restaurant uses reapers . . . . 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks34upxPqo0&authuser=0
 
Yes! you gotta get some mushrooms in there...my favorite part other than the crawfish.  And some whole heads of garlic.
 
Rajun Gardener said:
I prefer Louisiana crab boil over Zatarains, it's not as salty. https://www.amazon.com/Louisiana-Crawfish-Crab-Shrimp-Boil/dp/B007Z89KRE?th=1
 
Here's how I boil
about 3/4 of that bag of seasoning to a 100qt pot filled about 3/4 with water
3 lemons halved and squeezed, put the lemons in the water too
10 jalapenos halved
1/4 cup cayenne pepper
2 heaping tablespoons of pepper chow chow, I make my own using what ever peppers I have at the time.
 
I use this for crabs, shrimp and crawfish and I always add sausage, potatoes, onions and mushrooms.
Click to expand...
 

Nice!
Do you purge them before the boil?
And how do you boil them?  Some people like to cut the boil a bit short and then let them soak for 10min or so before pulling them out.  I've also seen people boil them, then dump them in an ice chest, tossed with more dry seasoning, and let them steam for a bit.
 
Sometimes I purge them depending on where they came from. Most places now will clean and cull them to sell different sizes at different prices, the restaurants pay top dollar for those big ones.  If I buy from a farmer I'll usually purge them in a cooler filled with water and I add about a 1/2 cup of salt and let them soak for about 5 minutes then drain and refill with fresh water only for a few more minutes then drain again, sometimes you might need to do this again if they're really dirty.
 
 
Boiling crawfish depends on the time of year, in the cooler months the shells are softer than the hot months with the sun beating down on them all day in a shallow pond. When the shells are soft the seasoning penetrates faster. I usually bring the water to a rolling boil and drop them in and start timing when the water comes back to a boil. I boil for 5-7 minutes and let them soak 10 minutes. I start tasting them after I smell the fat cooking inside the crawfish, if they're peeling easy then I cut the fire and start soaking. The soaking is to let them cool so they suck the flavor in and sometimes I dump a bag of ice to cool the water faster or spray the outside of the pot to cool it off. Most restaurants will use one pot to boil in with light seasoned water and have another pot with all of the seasoning that's warm then they pull the crawfish at 7 minutes and soak in the seasoned water. 
 
I don't like pouring seasoning over the crawfish in a cooler, it gets all over your hands, lips and usually the cooler is ruined for anything else. With the seasoning on the outside it's usually hotter and not as flavorful in my opinion.
 
 
There's many ways to do it, it just depends on what works for you. I should be boiling again this weekend!!!!
 
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