Maybe....I never really use recipes, and I always adjust to "taste," so this may not be exactly right. Also, I can't remember if I have a 60 qt. or 72 qt. crawfish pot, so the water may be WAY off....which would really affect the outcome. Still, this will give you an idea on proportions, and it will give you some ideas you've probably never heard of. The mushrooms are awesome! They soak up the flavors, and everyone who likes mushrooms and spicy food will love 'em. The butter helps with the flavor some, but it also really seems to help the crawfish come out of the shell easier. Where you get the crawfish is really important. I call The Crawfish connection at 281-369-2398 and ask for John or Cammie. You have to drive down 288 from Houston to Rosharon to get them, but it's worth the drive. They prepurge the crawfish in fresh water for a few days, and these are the cleanest crawfish I've ever found. Before, I used to cull my crawfish 'cuz a dead crawfish is a BAD crawfish. Now I don't worry....they're all good. Clean and alive!! Don't buy your spices in the store or you'll go broke. Buy them in bulk online, and you can get enough for the season (assuming you have several boils). I bought a bunch last season, and I still had enough for several parties this year, but it looks like that place is no longer in business. A quick search found www.bulkherbshop.com and it looks like they have pretty darn good prices. Now for the recipe: A 60 or 72 qt. aluminum stockpot with basket bring to boil for about five minutes: around 8 gallons of water 1 1/2 boxes of salt 2 cups 90,000 heat unit cayenne pepper 1 cup course ground black pepper 2 cups whole cloves 1 cup whole allspice 1 cup whole coriander 1 cup crushed red pepper flakes 1/2 cup dill seed 2 cups whole bay leaves 1 cup whole mustard seed half dozen bulbs of garlic (slice the bottoms off, so the cloves will slip out in the boil) half dozen lemons (sliced in half and squeezed in the water) 2 sticks butter after water boils for five minutes or so, add a five pound sack of small potatoes (petitoes are a name I see pretty often now), and the water will stop boiling As soon as the water comes to a boil again, add a couple dozen mini ears of corn (thawed or frozen or somewhere in between....it's all good), and the water will stop boiling As soon as the water comes to a boil again, add your crawfish; you should be able to get between a third and a half a sack of crawfish into the pot. throw a pound of mushrooms on top and use a strainer to push everything down into the water. Bring to boil and let the whole thing boil for about two minutes. Then turn off heat and let the whole mixture sit covered for about 15 minutes. Then pull the strainer basket out and dump crawfish onto a paper lined table. Enjoy with lots of cold beer. I usually use the same mix water for about two sacks of crawfish before I completely start over with a new mix. But I add a stick of butter for each new batch, and I usually adjust the seasoning. Salt, cloves, and the peppers are the important ones to adjust. I also add more lemons, garlic, potatoes, and corn of course, as those things come out in the basket. Sometimes a link or two of Polish smoked sausage is thrown in between the potatoes and corn. It sure is good. It's important to have clean crawfish or you'll have to change your water more often. I've never had to purge the crawfish I got from the place listed above, but it's a good practice for most crawfish. Simply put them in a cooler with a box or two of salt and fill it with water. Let them sit for five minutes or so, and then drain and rinse. And rinse and rinse and rinse. Don't let them sit in the purge water for too long though or they'll start to drown as they use up the available oxygen in the water. If anyone complains that they're too spicy, tell 'em to quit their b****ing and have another beer.
this is my and my wife's fave food, quite frankly...along with seafood gumbo! we usually eat it out, though...but thanks for the recipe...we'll look into it, i'm sure!! as for eating out...best boiled crawfish in town goes to Ragin Cajun. We've tried a TON of places, but this is my favorite. Unlike most things, the original is not as good as the new one. For some reason, it seems to taste better at the Gessner/Westheimer location!
Pole, I'm coming over this weekend. I don't care what your plans are, but I'll be there. Say 6 ish on Saturday?
thx Pole, I owe you my Fried Chicken recipe...but I don't know my proportions exactly, so results may differ.... Go measure that damn pot. Doesn't it say on the bottom? btw: how many people does that serve. You, me, MadMax and his wife, with the little ones tossed at Hangout Boy to eat. Also, what does 1 1/2 "boxes" of salt mean? Is that a standard size? Are you using Kosher or regular? just asking because the proportions are usually different between the two, wouldn't want to get the salt wrong. MadMax, what is Ragin Cajun charging right now? Do they have a happy hour?
That's pretty similar to what I use, except instead of the whole spices (cloves, mustart, allspice, dill, corriander) I've always used the Zatarain's bags (just seemed a little easier). I also throw in a couple of rings of creole sausage cut into 3-4" pieces. Never tried the shrooms though, that sound pretty darn good.
RMan95--the boss is going to have me busier than hell this weekend, but even if she wasn't, we're scheduled to be at a 50th wedding anniversary party Saturday evening. (I even have to shave and put on slacks....damn!) Crispee.....I'd love to see your recipe for fried chicken....but couldn't you have picked something that wasn't in my top five list of things I cook the best? If you tell me you deep fry it instead of pan fry it in a skillet, you know you'll lose all credibility. As for the salt, I just use the plain old round boxes of iodized Morton's salt (or whatever brand).....You know the one...plain old table salt that you can buy three boxes for a dollar most times. You use too damn much of it to buy the gucci stuff. Buck....I've used the Zatarain's bags too, but they just don't have enough clove or pepper. If you use the bags AND the liquid, you can usually pull out a little more clove flavor. Still, it just isn't the same.....maybe their spices lose flavor after sitting on the shelf for a while, or maybe they use different proportions. I don't know what it is, but I've never gone back after buying my own spices in bulk. Two additional pluses for bulk: Much, MUCH cheaper and the best part yet; the presentation is so much nicer. You have all the seeds and cloves and bay leaves mixed in with the crawfish, and then you have the yellow of the lemons and the corn contrasting with all the red of the crawfish and potatoes. It really looks impressive as hell.
Pole, you can get bulk kosher salt/sea salt, as well. Probably doesn't matter with the boil though...but other things it does. As for "deep frying" chicken, I presume you mean the turkey thing you do. Don't have one of those. I have a 12' Lodge that is developing a lot of character; it's my baby. In fact, I saw screw the wok; I've been doing my chinese in it, as well. Have you ever considered the Dutch Oven Lodge? OK, I'll have to come up with a recipe that you don't have. But damn, you do szhechuan, too. It is almost like you are one step ahead of me... ...except for maybe your love for Tex-Mex. hmmmmm
I got a Tex-Mex one for you guys, the greatest tortilla soup on the planet: 1/3 stick butter & 1/3 cup olive oil 1 large white onion (chopped) 1 jalapeno (de-seeded & chopped) 2 large carrots (chopped) 6 ribs celery (chopped) 1 red or yellow bell pepper (de-seeded & chopped) 4 cloves garlic (minced) cilantro (to taste) 1.25-1.5 lbs diced chicken breasts & thighs (either/or/both) 2 tsp. cumin powder 2 tsp. chili powder 1 tsp. lemon pepper 3 tbs. hot sauce (pref. Cholula) 1/2 cup flour 42+/- ounces low-fat chicken stock 1 - 10 oz. cans of corn (drained) 2 - 10 oz. can Rotel 1 small parmesan rind corn tortillas, avocado, sharp cheddar cheese, 2 limes - Melt butter and make light roux w/ flour - Saute onion, jalapeno, carrots, celery, bell pepper & garlic until soft - Add chicken & saute for 5 minutes +/- - Add spices & saute until chicken is no longer pink - Add stock, Rotel, corn, parmesan rind & cilantro - Simmer for 1 hour - fry tortilla strips in oil Garnish w/ tortilla strips, cheese, fresh cilantro, avocado, hot sauce (to taste) & lime juice.
who said Tortilla Soup. You do understand that, primarily, Tortilla Soup is Chicken Soup. It is all about the stock.
I did. Who said "Tex Mex"? You did. Did you spend a couple of years at the CIA in order to gain this cutting-edge culinary insight? Didn't understand the attitude in your post.
Ha Ha.....boys, boys.... I have to agree that stock is key to any good soup. Still, the recipe looks great, so I'll have to try it. That parmesan that Central Market sells as their "house" brand is pretty darn good for the money, and they sell the rinds by themselves if yall are interested. Here's another great recipe for a tex-mex flavored soup. It uses Cauliflower as the base, but you can trick people with it. Most people would never guess that it's even in the soup....much less the main ingredient. I'm doing this from memory, so forgive me if I'm wrong. I'll double check later. 1 head cauliflower cut up five cups of chicken stock (you veggie-tarians can use veggie stock; I've used mushroom stock with great results) half cup shallots (chopped) 1 celery stalk (chopped) clove garlic (minced) 2 T comino seeds (toasted and ground with a morter and pestle) 3 T uncooked white rice 3 T olive oil red bell pepper (roasted) Saute shallot, garlic, and celery in olive oil. add cauliflower, stock, and rice and cook until soft. Put in food processor with toasted comino seeds and blend until smooth. Remove skin from red bell pepper and jullienne. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with red bell pepper and a little chedder cheese. I also like to garnish with some avacado and pico de gallo sometimes.
Best crawfish in the world huh? I think we need to hold a Houston clutchcity.net crawfish boil to see if you are telling the truth. I'll throw in some bucks for ingredients if someone wants to hold one. Or perhaps there are some others who'd like to prove that Pole is wrong?
