Crawfish Boil Seasonings

[Colorado Cowboy]

Later this month I'll be heading to a lake here in SW Colorado that is loaded with crawdads. I'll be taking a couple of traps and should catch a lot of them little buggers. I was wanting to hear from any of you that do a boil on them...what is you favorite spice to use. Our local markets don't have much, so I plan on ordering some. Might do a big boil with sausage, corn, etc, so your concoction for that would be appreciated too.

Thanks........

 

[Hilltop]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiXhNOv8IbNAhVLK1IKHYLOAaIQFggyMAA&url=https://www.tonychachere.com/&usg=AFQjCNE2PAOvIUkLplw-YUkeUM9Q5G9Hdw&bvm=bv.123325700,d.aXo

I love this one- go with the original imo. I add a little more spice if its me and the guys drinking beer.

 

[Ikeepitcold]

We have only done it a few times. We like to use Old Bay.

 

[Dark Mavis]

Louisiana fish fry products crawfish crab and shrimp boil or zatarains crab boil is what we use to cook with. After boiling, drain, put in a icechest, and sprinkle cayenne pepper to your liking. Close the lid and let the pepper steam in for 10 or 15 minutes. Deploy frosty cold beverage of your choice and dig in.

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

We boil them in well salted water (about the salinity of sea water), peel them and dip them in butter.

I am not a spice guy, because the flavor is so delicate, but if you lean that way Old bay is what I have heard the most about.

Before you boil them if you take the center part of the fan on the end of the tail, twist it 1/4 turn and pull, the vein will come out and you will have a veinless tail after it is boiled.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Thanks for the vein tip!

 

[Tim McCoy]

I love a spicy boil, like them plain too, but prefer spice. Most any will work. We don't add in other foods with the spicy boil, usually. But to a couple packets of the boil mix, I always add 2-3 cups apple cider vinegar, powdered all spice, powdered cinnamon and cayenne pepper, 3-4-5 tsp or so of each. Occasionally we add red pepper flakes/seeds and often powered cloves, if more spice is desired. I have a big pot and usually have about 3 gallons of water (sea water or salted the same).

Our most popular boil mix is just good old pickling spice, with the additions above, we dump a bunch in, a cup or more. If you have a smaller pot, scale accordingly, but better to have too much me thinks... We remove the vein just before cooking, bring water to a boil, dump them all in, bring back to a boil, cool and enjoy. If you really like spice, try this, use strainer to remove about 1/2 of them out of the pot. Leave the rest to soak, as the boil cools, it will pull more spice into the meat. You can actually dump in more vinegar in as it cools and leave it for a long time. Tasty.

The boil works great with Crab too. The only different thing we do with crab, is after 10 -12 minutes of boiling, quickly remove and layer ice, crab, ice, crab, ice... to cool quickly, keeps it very moist and tender. We do leave a few crab to soak as the boil cools, dump in more vinegar and water to start it cooling. Never done the ice deal with crawdads, they have a very different meat, little lobsters. Yum...I need to go crabbing soon.

 

[arwaterfowler]

I've used the Louisiana fish fry products, switched and came back to them again. You can find great prices online. I would recommend using both the dry spice and liquid concentrate. The liquid helps penetrate the potatoes. You can add bay leaves and thyme for a greater depth of flavor.


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[buckbull]

Another vote for Old Bay.

 

[packmule]

Ragin Blaze seafood boil. Boil in clean, put spice blend with a little mustard in cool water in a cooler, strain and dump crawfish in the cooler to soak it all up...they'll stay warm but not ruin from overcooking..beer should be cold. Tinkle ahead of eating time.

 

[Sawfish]

Later this month I'll be heading to a lake here in SW Colorado that is loaded with crawdads. I'll be taking a couple of traps and should catch a lot of them little buggers. I was wanting to hear from any of you that do a boil on them...what is you favorite spice to use. Our local markets don't have much, so I plan on ordering some. Might do a big boil with sausage, corn, etc, so your concoction for that would be appreciated too.

Thanks........

Don't forget to purge them before boiling.

 

[packmule]

You can throw just about anything in the boil to act as fillers to keep folks off the crawfish. Hot links, dove breasts, mushrooms, cubed deer/stew meat, squirrel, frog legs, etc.

 

[BleuBijou]

I spent 3 days catching these critters here in N. Colorado and then purged and used Zatarans and used a little of the Zataran's oil as well...Turned out awesome for the first time. Waited until the Olathe Sweet corn was out and mixed sausages,taters,shrimp and some pieces of gator.There was a store in Brighton that gets fresh gator shipped in.

 

[geargrinder]

I have an odd-ball favorite. Rib-rub. Yep, a smoky/spicy dry rib rub make a great crawfish boil.

Just don't use the kind that is a brown sugar base.

 

[wavygravy]

Not sure if you can get it there, but Slap Yo Mama boil seasonings are my hands down favorite. And I eat them 20+ times when they're in season down here in TX. And there's no such thing as a quick purge, the real way it's done it to leave them in water for 2-3 days while they get it out their system. Rinsing them however is always a good idea.

I always get the water boiling hard, add the seasonings, potatoes and bugs. Bring back to a rolling boil for 5 minutes, then cut the gas off, add onions, a couple handfulls of ice, corn, sausage chunks and some lemon wedges. Stir it all in then steep for another 20 minutes for 25 minutes total in the water time. I don't bother with a cooler, but I do like to shake a little extra seasoning once they're out. You've got me hungry now...

Have fun!

 

[wy-tex]

Slap Ya Momma Seafood Boil.