 COMMENT:
The crawfish boil is the premier social event in the spring time
here in Louisiana. Friends and family gather for an afternoon under
the shade of an oak tree to enjoy a delicacy unequaled in the Southland.
INGREDIENTS:
- 30 quarts cold water
- 12 medium onions, quartered
- 6 heads of garlic, split in half exposing pods
- 6 lemons, quartered
- 1 cup cooking oil
- 4 pounds salt
- 1/2 pounds cayenne pepper
- 4 (3-ounce) bags Zatarain's crab boil
- 6 tbls celery salt
- 24 medium red potatoes
- 12 ears of corn
- 50 pounds cleaned crawfish
METHOD:
Live crawfish may be purchased already washed from your seafood
supplier. However, a second rinsing in cold water would not hurt.
The purging of crawfish, or washing the crawfish in cold salted
water, has been found to be useless other than to place the crustacean
under unnecessary stress. So forget the purging - rinsing in cold
water will suffice. In a 60-quart stock pot, bring water to a rolling
boil. Add onions, garlic, lemons, cooking oil, salt, pepper, Zatarain's
crab boil and continue to boil for 30 minutes. This boiling of the
vegetables will ensure a good flavor in the boiling liquid. Add
red potatoes and cook approximately 10-12 minutes. Add corn and
cook 10 minutes before adding the crawfish. Once the water returns
to a boil, cook crawfish 7-10 minutes, turn off heat and allow to
set in boiling liquid 12 additional minutes. Crawfish should be
served hot with potatoes and corn and pitchers of ice cold beer.
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