Memorial Weekend Crawfish Boil

There's not many things that I enjoy more than good friends, a good laugh, and good food. A crawfish boil is about as good of a way to put all three together as can be found. The acquisition of the mud bugs last year required a long and arduous journey by myself and a great philosopher into the heart of Mississippi. This year, the crawfish arrived by truck thanks to a hookup by a good friend. Some have asked about how that someone who lives in middle TN without a bit of coonass blood running through his veins became a crawfish cook. Well it's pretty simple, we like cajun food; we like to cook outside; and we like to have a big time. It's simple and it's a great way to feed a group of folks.

If you want to do a crawfish boil yourself here's how we did it for approximately 40 people

Equipment Needed

• Propane tank
• Propane burner
• Big pot with a straining basket
• Water (garden hose preferably)
• Large cooler (for multiple boils to keep the food hot)
• Paddle to stir the crawfish
• Board to lay across the pot to allow draining

Ingredients

• Live crawfish  (approx 35 - 40 pounds)
• Smoked sausage (20 pounds)
• Corn on the cob (96 small ears)
• Red potatoes (50 pounds)
• Full stalk of celery
• Bag of lemons
• 4 - 6 garlic cloves or equivalent amount of garlic powder
• Crab boil in bag (4 packs)
• Liquid crab boil seasoning (2 bottles)
• Powdered crab/crawfish seasoning (7 pounds)
• Butter (4 sticks)
• Ice (40 pounds)

If you get the crawfish a day or two early, lay the bag(s) of crawfish in a cooler on ice. Do not remove the ice from the bag. Prop the lid open slightly to allow air in the cooler and tilt the cooler so that the water can drain out of the drain hole as the ice melts. 

When your are ready to start the cooking the first move is to purge the to get the mud out of them. Gently pour the crawfish out into a large cooler, childs pool or other similar container. Next pour a 26 oz box of salt over the crawfish and immediately cover with water for approximately 3 minutes. Stir gently with the paddle. and then pull the plug on the cooler letting the water out. Keeping the crawfish covered with water too long will kill them. Set aside in a cool area until you're ready to cook.

Now it's time to get it on! At this stage, you should have a group of friends and family around the pot telling lies and jokes.

• Pull the strainer basket out and fill the pot about 1/2 full of water and place it on the propane burner and crank up the heat, bringing it to a rolling boil. 
• While it's beginning to boil
• Put some red potatoes in your strainer basket
• Cut the smoked sausage up into pieces about as long as your index finger and set aside.
• Cut the lemons into quarters and squeeze the juice into the pot and throw the lemon quarters into the pot.
• Throw a stick or two of butter into the pot as well along with the whole stalk of celery

The butter, lemons, and celery don't help with the flavor but it does help loosen the meat from the shell

When the water is at a full boil add the following and stir well

• 5 lbs. crab/crawfish powdered seasoning
• 1/2 bottle of shrimp / crab boil seasoning
• Garlic
• 2 bags of crab boil in bag (do not open the bag)

Next

• Take the strainer basket with the potatoes and drop into the boiling water; cover and bring back to a boil. Boil potatoes until tender.
• Once the potatoes are tender add sausage & crawfish; cover pot & bring pot back to a boil. Stir gently. Boil for 3 minutes and then cut off the heat.
• Add 10 lbs. of ice to the pot; cover; and take the hose and spray water around the pot for approx 5 minutes. Let sit covered for 20 minutes. The ice and the cooling of the pot will help get the flavor into the crawfish, potatoes, & sausage.
• Pull pot out and place board on top of pot and drain.
• Pour into a cooler to keep hot.
• Repeat cooking as needed depending on the quantity you plan to cook. For each batch you need to add more seasoning to keep the flavor up.Usually 1/3 to 1/2 of the original batch.

To cook the corn

• Bring water back to a full boil and cook corn for 3 minutes. Some people include the corn in with the whole mixture but I find that during the wait time the corn absorbs so much seasoning that it's too soggy.

When the corn is cooked, pour into cooler with everything else and take to the table and pour contents out on newspapers.

I use a table that I made out of a sheet of plywood with holes cut. I cover with plastic that I staple down and then newspapers. Cover the holes as well with plastic and cut the plastic after you pour the food on the table. That way no food goes in the holes. I place garbage cans under the holes. It makes clean up a snap.