Louisiana Crawfish Boil

About This Recipe

A Louisiana crawfish boil is less a recipe than a backyard ritual: live crawfish are purged in fresh water, then boiled in a heavily spiced bath with corn, red potatoes, sausage, and whole heads of garlic, and finally dumped onto a newspaper-covered table to be peeled by hand. The crucial technique is the soak, not the boil. Crawfish cook in just a few minutes, but they absorb the cayenne, lemon, and spice during a 15 to 20 minute rest in the hot, seasoned water after the heat is cut. This version layers the vegetables in by cook time so the potatoes are creamy and the corn still snaps when the tails are ready.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 20 lbslive crawfish(rinsed in fresh water)
• 1 bag (3 oz)dry crab boil seasoning (Zatarain's)(plus 1 tbsp extra for finishing)
• 4 tbspcayenne pepper
• 4 wholelemons(halved)
• 2 largeyellow onions(quartered)
• 2 headsgarlic(halved crosswise)
• 2 lbssmall red potatoes(halved)
• 4 earsfresh corn(cut into thirds)
• 1 lbandouille sausage(cut into 2-inch chunks)
• 2 tbspkosher salt

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare

   Rinse live crawfish in a tub of fresh water, changing the water until it runs clear, and discard any dead ones. Skip the old salt-purge myth; plain water rinses do the actual cleaning.

   A dead crawfish has a straight tail after boiling; a curled tail means it went into the pot alive and is safe to eat.

2. 2

   Cook

   Fill a 60-quart pot halfway with water, add crab boil seasoning, cayenne, halved lemons, onions, and garlic heads, and bring to a rolling boil for 10 minutes so the spice fully dissolves into the liquid.

3. 3

   Combine

   Add red potatoes and boil 10 minutes, then sausage and corn for 5 more. Add the crawfish, return to a boil, and cook just 3 minutes; longer makes the tails tough and hard to peel.

   Use the basket insert so you can lift everything at once the moment the soak ends.

4. 4

   Serve

   Kill the heat and let everything soak 15 to 20 minutes, tasting a crawfish every 5 minutes until the spice level is right. Drain and dump onto a covered table with extra seasoning dusted on top.

Variations

• •

  Add whole mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, or artichokes to the boil; they soak up the spicy liquid beautifully.

• •

  Substitute shrimp for crawfish out of season, cutting the cook time to 2 minutes before the soak.

• •

  Do a Viet-Cajun style finish by tossing the drained crawfish in garlic butter with lemongrass and extra cayenne.

• •

  Throw in smoked boudin or hot links alongside the andouille for a meatier spread.

Storage

Peeled tail meat keeps refrigerated in an airtight container for 2 days and freezes in its fat for up to 3 months, perfect for etouffee or pasta. Whole boiled crawfish should be eaten the same day; reheat leftovers briefly in steam, never a second boil.

Frequently Asked Questions