Boiling Fresh Crayfish - a Timeless Tradition

Warning living things will not be living by the end of this instructable!

This Is my entry for the Hunter Gatherer Contest.

Just to get it out of the way, Crayfish refers to: crawfish; crawdads; freshwater lobsters; or mudbugs.

Step 1: Get Some Crayfish

So fresh they're crawling out of the bowl

One morning while camping me and a friend thought, "crayfish for lunch?" It ended up being a great idea and I learned they taste like mini lobsters.

We spent a few hours before lunch flipping flat rocks near the shores of Raccoon Lake, IN. Quite a few managed to get away from us and as the hunger of lunch time wore on, we ended up with twenty of these succulent shellfish to split between us.

Keep the big ones and let the small ones go back to grow more and repopulate.

Step 2: Into the Pot

Back at camp we were fortunate enough to have an aluminum pot and some potable water and also salt. Throw salt into the water if you have any, this will raise the boiling temperature a little bit, toss the crayfish in too.

Step 3: Boil Till They Float

Cooking crayfish is really simple, merely bring the pot to a boil. By this time, the shells should turn red and the crayfish will float to the top.

Step 4: Bon Appetit

Carefully pour out the water (save it for more cooking later, water conservation is important in the wild) and pick out the crayfish into your serving dish.

How to eat a crayfish:

Hold the crayfish on both sides of the tail joint, your thumbs on one side of the shell and your index fingers on the other, twist and snap the head and tail apart. Hold the tip of the tail and gently tug the tender meat out with your fingers or your teeth. Ingest and enjoy.

I suggest eating with butter and saffron rice, If you can find it in the wild. (Yes, you can find rice in the wild).

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19 Comments

kineticman

8 years ago on Introduction

As a native of south Louisiana let me say ,cooking crayfish is like a religion in LA, not a bad way to do it but let me give you a few tips.

1. You should soak them in some saltwater for 5 mins in order to purge them. It should be 1/2 teaspoon for each quart of water.

2. Next soak them in some clean water for a few minutes.

3. The water you cook them in should be boiling before you put them in it. And if you can season the water with some cayenne pepper.

Last you should not eat any crawfish that does not have a curled tail after you take out of the boiling water. That is a sign it was dead before you cooked it and you might not know how long it was dead.

jmcdonald23

8 years ago on Introduction

You need to bring the water to a boil first before putting the crawfish in. They dont become waterlogged and taste even better and its a bit more humane on them because its an instant death rather than a slow death.

unclelar

8 years ago on Introduction

With time permitting you should try to let them sit in a bowl,pot,etc. of clean water,this will flush out the mud vein that runs down the back of the tail.Helps a lot to improve the flavor.I have done this hundreds of times,tastes so much like lobster,love it.Great job on your ible !

Ricardo30

7 years ago

Thanks my brother and I have a trap but I didn't know him to cook it? But thanks!

Cade_Restle

7 years ago on Introduction

i know there are 2 kinds of crayfish, the grayish ones in this 'ible and the dark red ones, is there any difference in cooking them?

bbatenchuk

8 years ago

Thank you for using the proper name.

rkensparc

8 years ago on Introduction

Here's a trick I use to devein the little critters before dropping them in the pot of boiling water.

Their tail fins consists of 5 little fins. If you separate the middle fin from the remaining four, and twist it to the right until your hear/feel a snap, then twist it to the left until you hear/feel the same snap, then pull the middle fin is attached to the vein and it will come out. Then I drop them in the pot. I recommend the salt water soak followed by the fresh water soak before the the deveining.

My kids think it's kind of gross and looks like something that comes out of your nose. After they are cooked, there's no vein to be found. Which I consider a big plus.

nothandsome.nottrue

8 years ago on Introduction

i think it is much better to release the big ones instead of small ones. the big crayfish will produce offspring in a short time, while the small crayfish will still need to grow and mature first before they lay eggs. it might be possibly applicable to other species too.

pharaon87

8 years ago on Introduction

You forgot to remove the big instestines before cooking them.

You can do that by gently remove the central scale (not sure of the name ) by cracking it then remove carefully the scale and the intestine. It is quite easy to do by hand. and that way you will be sure to taste the fine quality of the meat in the tail of the crayfish.

PhilippeG1

8 years ago on Introduction

si vous n'êtes pas dans la nature ou alors en Alaska tuez les en les plongeant dans l'eau glacée, avant de les plonger dans l'eau bouillante (vous pouvez essayer à la vapeur sur récipient contenant lait de coco)