Outdoor Boiled Crawfish – Texas Style!
My uncle Jack was a straight up cajun ‘man’.
A man’s man kinda cat, ya heard?
One of the coolest guys I ever met too.
There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do.
When I met him he was a shrimper, welder, horse trainer, hell, he was probably a river boat gambler and a buffalo hunter for all I know!
Don’t get me wrong though, he could be an ornery old cuss…
As Peanut the African Gray used to parrot, ‘Jack’s an asshole, Jack’s an asshole!’…I think my aunt taught the bird that…
His career was in the oilfields overseas though. He and my Aunt Brenda lived in Africa for several years, hangin’ with the who’s who of the industry of the 1980s. When I listen to her reminisce, which ain’t very often, the conversation usually turns to the many different foods and techniques they experienced in Africa, Spain and who knows where else.
Jack was also one of the best chefs I had the opportunity to sit down to eat with.
He died before I could get his roast beef and gravy tricks but it is just as well though, I prefer the memory.
When it come that time of year for shellfish and outdoor fryin’ or boilin’ of crawfish, I always think of him.
Now my brother Jason can th’ow down the best crawfish goin’, so I have guessed, tested and attempted his process, so here goes…
This is not only about time, but sequence…layering flavors so to speak…Now Jason does this with beer, so I guess, drink beer…
I for one prefer an ice cold tequila…but I hear iced tea does just fine!
Outdoor Boiled Crawfish – Texas Style!
- 30 lbs of Live Crawfish or 3-4 lbs per shucker
- 2 boxes Seafood Boil
- 7-9 Red Onions
- 1 Bag of New Potatoes
- Fresh Garlic
- 7-10 Ears of Corn
- Mushrooms
- 20-30 Serrano peppers
- 4-5 Lemons
If you bought the bugs from the market they may have been purged.
If not, in a plastic kiddie pool, place crawfish and a runnin’ garden hose till somewhat clean water results.
~ Keep an eye on them rascals! They know what’s up! ~
Purge the crawfish by submergin’ em in a salt bath for a while.
This gets all the crap out of em.
Set up your propane boiler and bring water to a boil. Put a lid on to speed up the process. Propane is gettin’ expensive these days, ya heard?
Just about any decent seafood boil will do, add about a pound or so to the water and let it simmer for a few minutes…
Drop in all the onions (halved), your potatoes and garlic.
Let this stew fer a bit, don’t over cook the taters, your eating outside with your fingers, leave em a bit under cooked, about 10 minutes.
Add the corn and mushrooms, cook for 5 minutes tops.
Place the vegetables in an ice chest to keep warm.
Add some more spice to the water and the lemons as well.
Th’ow in some serranos for a bit more heat! Save some to chew on later though.
When the water comes to a boil, drop the crawfish into the pot.
Put a lid on and let em boil for 4 minutes.
Then turn off the fire and let em soak for another 3 minutes before pullin’ em.
Kill the boil by adding cold water or ice, bout a gallon or so.
Then let the crawfish soak. Once they sink, pull em again and dump the basket of crawfish on top of a table covered with newspaper and sprinkle with leftover spice.
Dump the onions, potatoes, corn and garlic on top of the crawfish.
Grab a cold one and get busy.
Even Mama D gets into the peelin’ – Note the thumb protectors…a real pro!
December 10th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Now, THAT’s a recipie!!!