Crawfish Recipe

Prepare crawfish

Rinse the live crawfish thoroughly in cool water by repeatedly immersing and draining them in a large tub or sink until the water runs mostly clear. Remove any dead crawfish (soft shell, no movement). Keep crawfish cool and covered until ready to cook.

Prep vegetables and sausage

Wash potatoes and cut larger ones in half. Halve the corn cobs and the lemons. Quarter the onion. Slice the andouille sausage lengthwise or into 2-inch pieces.

Bring cooking liquid to a boil

In a very large stockpot, combine 8 cups water, sea salt, crawfish boil seasoning, smashed garlic cloves, bay leaves, and the halved lemons. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat.

Cook potatoes and sausage

Add the potatoes to the boiling seasoned liquid. Return to a boil and cook 10 minutes, until potatoes are nearly tender. Add the sausage pieces and cook 5 minutes more.

Add corn and aromatics

Add the corn and quartered onion to the pot and boil for 5 minutes to heat and infuse flavor.

Cook crawfish

Add the rinsed crawfish to the pot. Stir gently to submerge. Bring back to a vigorous boil and cook for 3-5 minutes, depending on size, until crawfish turn bright red. After cooking, turn off heat and let crawfish soak in the seasoned broth for 15-20 minutes to absorb more flavor.

Remove a few crawfish and a sample piece of potato and corn to taste; if more seasoning is desired, add additional crawfish boil seasoning or hot sauce to the pot and stir, then allow another 5-10 minute soak.

Drain the pot using a large colander or by lifting contents onto a large tray or newspaper-lined table. Discard bay leaves and lemon halves used in cooking (they are bitter after soaking).

Transfer the crawfish, potatoes, corn, sausage, and onions to a serving platter or spread on a newspaper-lined table. Sprinkle chopped parsley over the top and add lemon wedges and softened butter on the side. Serve hot with extra hot sauce and seasoning available at the table.

To eat: twist and pull off the tail from the head, peel the tail shell to expose the meat. Optionally suck the flavorful juices from the head if desired. Dip tail meat in butter or hot sauce as preferred.