July/August 2010
For 35 to 40 pounds of crawfish. Ingredient amounts may vary to taste and size of pot.
- 3 16-ounce bottles of Zatarain’s Liquid Crab Boil
- 1 16-ounce bottle of lemon juice
- 1 16-ounce bottle of Cajun Power Garlic Sauce or Tabasco Garlic Sauce
- 8 ounces cayenne/red pepper
- 8 ounces garlic powder
- 10 lemons, halved
- 10 garlic pods, halved
- 3 pounds of mixed white, red, and yellow
- onions, halved
- 16 ounces of salt for the pot (or more to taste)
- 8 ounces of salt for crawfish purge process
- Small red potatoes, whole (two per person)
- Small frozen corn on the cob, whole (two per person)
- Hillshire Farms Polska Kielbasa, cut into 1-inch pieces (four pieces per person)
Optional
- 8 ounces Zatarain’s Creole Mustard
- 10–12 bay leaves (do not eat)
- 2 Zatarain’s Crab & Shrimp Boil seasoning bags
Purge crawfish by adding 8 ounces of salt to large tub or cooler of cold water, then gradually emptying live crawfish from bag into the saltwater. Throw away any dead ones. Leave live crawfish in tub until purged and ready to cook.
Fill 80- to 120-quart pot just over halfway with water. Start fire on high and bring water to a boil. As water heats, add all liquids and spices, then cut vegetables and other ingredients to size. Put all remaining solid ingredients other than the crawfish, corn, and potatoes into crawfish cooker’s interior strainer. Set aside. Taste water periodically as it comes to a boil to ensure mix is to your liking. Add more spice for heat, more water to dilute. Once boiling, put strainer in the water. Squeeze lemon halves into pot, then drop in. Stir with a small paddle to evenly distribute ingredients.
Add potatoes. If the water stops boiling, bring back to a rolling boil before adding crawfish. If the water stops boiling again, bring back to a rolling—not splashing—boil. Boil crawfish 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then turn off the fire, add frozen corn, and let soak. Since the crawfish are still cooking, add a bag of ice to pot and spray the pot’s exterior with cool water to allow the crawfish to soak up more of the seasoning.
Soak crawfish 40 to 45 minutes. After 25 minutes of soaking, pull out a few to check: They should peel easily and have some flavor. If not to your liking, soak for another 5 minutes and check again. Continue to soak until they have the flavor you want. If they start to get hard to peel, the meat isn’t slipping right out of the tail, or the meat is beginning to get too soft and sticking to the shell, they are beginning to overcook. Add more ice to the pot for more soak time.
Serve and enjoy.
