Thursday, March 01, 2007

Louisiana Crawfish Boil

Mardi Gras
What else! We went down to Findlay Market as usual on Saturday, and they were having their own early celebration. Luken's Fish had a crawfish boil with little servings for everyone, and though it was completely without seasoning (what might have happened had Cajuns come way too far up the Mississippi), we were sold . . . sold a 5 lb. bag of crawfish, already cooked unfortunately, but still mighty fine as it turned out.
So here are the authentic recipes. You know they're authentic, cuz they're completely different.
You might need to cut the amounts a tad. Here's the Gumbopages recipe for the spice mix, and it's excellent. We just cut it half.

We followed their advice, cross-referencing with Emeril's from back when he was content just to be a cook, in Julia's Cooking with Master Chefs.
Here's what we did.
In a big pot filled with lots of water toss:
2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
1 1/2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoons whole allspice
1 tablespoons dill seeds
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper
4 bay leaves
(Sure you could tie it up into a bouquet garni, but since you're going to be in there up to your elbows, why bother?)
Bring it to a boil.
Open pot and inhale deeply.
Toss in :
A couple of potatoes, sliced into eighths.
2 onions, sliced into eighths through the root end.
3 mild andouille sausages, sliced into . . . slices.
4 cloves of garlic, unpeeled but cut in half.
1 lemon, cut in half.
Boil till the potatoes are almost done.
Toss in the frozen, precooked mudbugs.
Cook for about 5 minutes more, after the pot comes to a boil.
Didn't need any extra salt or spices, since the andouille had provided all it really needed.
Serve in bowls. With beer. And extra napkins. And a bowl for the detritus. And Queen Ida and the Bon Temps Zydeco Band.

How to eat a Crawfish:
Twist the body.
Suck the head.
Pinch the tail.
Eat the meat.
It's just that simple.

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