There are a lot of things I miss from Mississippi, but one of the biggest things is crawfish. Down in Georgia, these mudpuppies are just steamed. They’re nothing special.
So, we went all Mississippi on the live ones we got last night. We bought eight pounds of crawfish from a nice little fresh seafood market in the dirty Brunstank—and here’s how we boiled ‘em.
First, you need to purge your crawfish. What does that mean? Clean ‘em out! It’s best done by putting them in a cooler or a plastic box and circulating water through it. This helps get off all the dirt grained in their shells. If you do this and notice some floaters—yea, they’re dead. Will they hurt you? I’m still alive.
Some people also believe you should purge crawfish in saltwater. The saltwater is supposed to make them regurgitate, hence cleaning them out more—but everyone knows the flavor in the guts is the best part.
Now, if you boil them in salty water, I hate you. Don’t be dumb. Be smart and get Zatarain’s crab and shrimp bowl or get fiesty and buy a bag of Swamp Dust (swamp dust is for those who want their lips to be raw from heat).
If you have a big stockpot or a steam kettle, use it. If not, a small pot will work. Crawfish only take a couple of minutes to cook so you really don’t need a big pot. And, if you have a large plastic box that can be covered, letting them steam in their own heat afterward keeps them moist and tender.
Now, use half the bag of boil and guess what doesn’t hurt? Thanks, Paula Deen, it’s butter. Butter never hurts anything.
Also, we had chorizo boiling in our crawfish water. I’d suggest adding cut up andouille sausage, red bliss potatoes and whole artichokes to your boil if you need some substance beside just the crawfish tails. Craw hard!
Coleman used to be a chef in Oxford; you can follow his blog here: http://feedcoleman.com and on Twitter here: @FeedColeman
This article was published in The Local Voice #153 (April 5-19, 2012)…Click here to download the PDF of issue #153.
