Crawfish (seasonal) Recipe

Purge and rinse crawfish

Place live crawfish in a large cooler or container. Cover with cool water and add 1 cup coarse kosher salt. Stir gently and let sit 10 minutes to purge grit. Drain, then repeat rinsing with fresh cool water until water runs much clearer (2–3 rinses). After final rinse, drain completely and keep on ice or in a cool shaded place until ready to cook. Discard any dead crawfish before cooking.

Prep aromatics and vegetables

While crawfish are rinsing, quarter the yellow onions (leave root end intact if you like), smash the garlic heads horizontally, and halve the lemons. Wash potatoes and keep small whole or halve larger ones. Cut corn into halves or thirds. Slice the Andouille sausage into 1/2-inch rounds.

Bring boil to a rolling simmer

In a very large stockpot or seafood pot, add 6 quarts of water, Old Bay or seafood boil seasoning (1 cup), bay leaves, whole black peppercorns, and optional cayenne pepper. Squeeze the juice of two lemons into the pot and toss the spent halves in as well. Bring the mixture to a vigorous boil over high heat.

Cook potatoes, onions, garlic and sausage

Once the seasoned water is boiling, add the potatoes and simmer 10 minutes. Add the quartered onions, smashed garlic heads, and sliced Andouille sausage and simmer 5–7 minutes more until potatoes are nearly tender when pierced with a fork.

Add corn and par-cook

Add the corn pieces to the pot and simmer 3–5 minutes until heated through and nearly tender.

Boil crawfish

Add the purged crawfish to the pot by the handful. Cover and bring back to a full rolling boil; boil for 3–5 minutes, stirring once to ensure even cooking. After boiling, turn off the heat and allow crawfish and vegetables to steep in the seasoned liquid for 15–20 minutes (longer steep yields more seasoned meat).

Drain and finish

Using a large strainer basket or slotted scoop, lift crawfish, vegetables, sausage and aromatics out of the pot. Drain well and transfer to a large serving tray or newspaper-lined table. Sprinkle additional Old Bay seasoning to taste and toss with the melted butter if desired.

Garnish and serve

Scatter chopped fresh parsley over the pile and serve immediately with extra lemon wedges and melted butter for dipping. Provide mallets or tools for cracking if desired and plenty of napkins. Serve with cold beer or iced tea.