Crawfish Boil Chowder Recipes

CRAWFISH BOIL CHOWDER

Steps:

• Make stock by peeling all your crawfish. Reserve tails for later, and throw all the peelings into a stock pot. Cover with about 8 cups water, bring to boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. Strain through fine mesh strainer and discard solids.
• Brown sausage in large stock pot, add onions and garlic, sauté til translucent. Add stock and bring to boil, simmer for 20-30 minutes.
• Add corn and potatoes, bring back to simmer. Add crawfish and cream, heat through. Check seasonings.
• Stir in parsley.
• Serve with hot bread and enjoy!

CRAWFISH CHOWDER

Steps:

• Cook the bacon in a frying pan; drain on paper towels and crumble when cooled slightly.
• Put the bacon grease in a dutch oven.
• Add in the butter, onions, celery and green onion; saute until soft.
• Add the shrimp stock, corn and potatoes.
• Bring to a boil and then simmer until the potatoes are tender.
• Add in the crawfish (and shrimp is using).
• Simmer until heated through.
• Add in the whipping cream and seasonings.
• Simmer about 10 minutes for the flavors to meld.
• Just before you get ready to serve, add in the butter, cayenne and parsley.
• Ladle into bowls and sprinkle each serving with the crumbled bacon.

CRAWFISH CHOWDER WITH CRAWFISH BEIGNETS

Steps:

• In a heavy skillet over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until rendered. Add the butter, celery, onions, bell peppers and red pepper flakes. Cook together, stirring occasionally, until softened. Sprinkle the flour over the bacon and vegetables and stir together well. Cook for an additional 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer, stirring, until thickened slightly. Add the crawfish, parsley and scallions. Season the soup with salt and pepper. Serve with the Crawfish Beignets.
• Heat the oil in a deep-fryer over medium-high heat to 365 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until frothy. Sprinkle the crawfish tails with the seafood seasoning and add to the eggs. Stir in the green onions, garlic, salt, flour, baking powder and milk. The mixture should be like a thick pancake batter.
• Using a large metal tablespoon, drop the beignet mixture into the oil and fry until crispy and golden brown, about 3 minutes. Do this in two batches. Using a slotted spoon, remove the beignets and drain on paper towels. Makes 16 beignets.

CRAWFISH BOIL

Steps:

• Place the peppercorns, coriander, clove, and allspice into a spice grinder and grind for 10 to 15 seconds.
• Fill a 40-quart pot with 5 gallons of water and add the freshly ground spices, salt, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, paprika, onion powder, thyme, oregano, dry mustard, dill weed, and bay leaves. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, approximately 40 minutes.
• Rinse the crawfish thoroughly in the bag in which they arrived to remove excess dirt and mud. Put the crawfish in a large container and fill with cool water. Stir to remove dirt from the crawfish. Transfer small batches of crawfish to a colander and rinse under cool running water. Pick out any debris or dead crawfish. Once all crawfish have been rinsed, discard dirty water, and return the crawfish to the container. Repeat this process 6 to 8 times, or until the water is clear.
• Once the seasoned water comes to a boil, add the potatoes, corn, garlic, and sausage. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
• Add the crawfish, cover, and cook for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the pot to sit, covered, for 10 minutes. Drain well and serve immediately.

CRAWFISH BOIL RECIPE FOR 40 TO 45 POUNDS OF CRAWFISH

Steps:

• Leaving the crawfish in the broth for a longer time results in more spiciness. Sprinkling additional spice mixture on the crawfish after draining also will increase the spiciness.
• Crawfish Crab and Shrimp Boil: There are many manufacturers to choose from. This is a spice blend of salt, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, lemon juice, and additional spices. Typically a bag of spice mix costs about $5.00. The brand used for the show was Lousiana Fish Fry Products Crawfish Crab and Shrimp Boil.
• Instructions:
• Place the cooking pot with its basket on the propane burner and fill with 11 gallons of water, about halfway. This should be about the right amount of water to protect against spillage when the potatoes or crawfish are added later. Add the 2 sticks of butter and 2/3 of the bag of Crawfish Crab and Shrimp Boil, and the 5 pounds of red potatoes. Cover and bring to a boil. Cook potatoes for 15 minutes and, while the potatoes are cooking, rinse the crawfish.
• Place the bag of crawfish in 1 of the coolers, or, on the ground and hose down the bag until the water runs clear, about 5 minutes. Open the bag and pour the live crawfish into 1 of the coolers. With the drain of the cooler open, continue to rinse the crawfish for 5 minutes or until the water runs clear.
• After the potatoes have cooked for 15 minutes, add the corn and continue cooking the corn and the potatoes for 15 minutes more. Remove a potato and test for doneness, continuing to cook, if needed. Remove the basket and dump the corn and potatoes into 1 of the coolers. Close the cooler in order to keep the corn and potatoes warm.
• Pour the crawfish into the cooking basket and lower the basket into the pot. Bring to a boil and cook the crawfish for 15 minutes. Turn the heat off and allow the crawfish to simmer in the liquid for an additional 15 minutes.
• Remove the crawfish and serve with the potatoes and corn. Traditionally, the crawfish is dumped onto a newspaper covered table (we used a door on 2 sawhorses). Additional spice mix can be sprinkled on the crawfish, if desired.
• Variation: Some cooks add 1 to 2 pounds of sweet onions, peeled and cut in wedges, and/or the juice from 1 dozen lemons to the cooking liquid.
• Variation: With proper ventilation, several pounds of shrimp could be cooked with approximately 1/2 to 1 cup of the spice mixture indoors. However, without proper ventilation the spice mixture fumes will overwhelm the typical house.

CRAWFISH BOIL

Steps:

• Place the crawfish in a large cooler, cover with cold water and add 1 cup of the salt. Allow the crawfish to purge in the salted water for 5 to 10 minutes. (This Southern tradition is said to remove mud and impurities before cooking.) Strain the crawfish and set aside.
• Fill a 42-quart stockpot fitted with a boil basket halfway with water. Add the crab and crawfish boil seasoning and remaining cup kosher salt. Then add the sausage, corn, onions, lemon juice and rinds, garlic, butter, thyme and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Add the potatoes and boil until just cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Carefully add the crawfish to the stockpot and cook until they're bright red, about 8 minutes. Immediately remove from the heat and add the ice to the stockpot to halt the cooking. Allow the crawfish and other ingredients to sit in the iced water for 25 to 30 minutes (the longer the crawfish sit, the more flavorful they become).
• Pull the crawfish, sausage and vegetables from the water using the boil basket. Serve over newspaper spread out on a table and sprinkle with seafood boil seasoning.