Link Family Crawfish Boil |
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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 0 Minutes |
Ready In: 0 Minutes Servings: 12 |
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Editor's note: Chef Donald Link of New Orleans restaurants Cochon and Herbsaint, shared this recipe as part of a special Mardi Gras celebration he created for Epicurious. Crawfish boils are the greatest outdoor cooking events in southern Louisiana, and they epitomize our way of life. These giant parties for adults and kids are all about having a good time, being with friends and family, and eating local food. To boil crawfish you need to have the proper setupnamely a propane tank, a stand to put the pot on, and a very large pot (crawfish are sold in 40-pound sacks). The pot needs to be fitted with a basket so you can pull the crawfish out and add more. My cousin Billy's crawfish are, hands down, the best I've ever tasted. When it comes to cooking crawfish, though, we aren't in total agreement. I like to soak the crawfish in their spicy cooking water; Billy doesn't. Some people prefer to drain the crawfish after they've been soaking in the spicy water for just 5 minutes, then dump them into an ice chest, and season the outside of the crawfish shells heavily. This method keeps the meat from getting overcooked, but the spices end up on your hands, not in the meat. To my mind, marinating the cooked crawfish in their cooking liquid allows more of the spice and salt to be absorbed by the meat and creates more juice in the heads. (Sucking the juice from the head before you eat the tail is the proper way to eat boiled crawfish.) Though no self-respecting party in Cajun Country would cook fewer than two or three sacks, I've given a smaller recipe here. Ingredients:
2 pounds salt |
8 medium onions, quartered |
10 lemons, halved |
6 heads of garlic, halved horizontally |
1 (4 1/2-pound) bag louisiana crawfish, shrimp, and crab boil, or an equal amount of donnie's spice mix |
3 pounds small red potatoes |
8 ears of corn, shucked and cut into thirds |
40 pounds medium crawfish |
Directions:
1. Bring a very large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the salt, onions, lemons, garlic, and spice mix and boil until the onions and lemon soften, about 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and boil until tender when pierced with a knife, approximately 15 minutes. Add the corn, cook an additional 10 minutes, then transfer the vegetables to a colander. Drain well, then spread the corn and potatoes on a table lined with paper. Return the water to a boil, then add the crawfish, and bring back to a boil once more. Immediately turn off the heat and allow the crawfish to soak, uncovered, in the spicy water for 20 to 30 minutes. Drain the crawfish and serve alongside the vegetables with plenty of napkins and cold beer.
2. A Smaller Boil: Follow the directions above, using 5 pounds of crawfish, 1 1/4 cups salt, 1 1/4 cups Donnie's Spice Mix, 6 bay leaves, 3 halved lemons, and 1 pound each new potatoes and corn.
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