Cooking crayfish

[Stanleythecat]

Please can anyone give me some hints or tips on their favored method of cooking crayfish.

I have 27 sitting in a bucket of water in the garden!

 

[Colin.W]

I'm a bit lazy and un adventurous cooking crafish I either just drop them into the pot of boiling water or line them up on the embers around the edge of the fire

 

[Ruvio]

put em in the freezer for a bit till they stay still
then lob em in the hot water
eat with liberal amounts of butter

 

[scubapauly]

we steamed some by the side of the river at the weekend. Plain and simple and tasted great

 

[troy ap De skog]

chuck them straight on to some realy hot embers.

 

[Buckshot]

Change the water a couple of times a day to keep them fresh

We have frozen them to kill before the hot water treatment but the last time I put a knife through the head.
I have to admit they tasted much better than the frozen ones.

I'll try the hot embers method when I can

Mark

 

[DFCA]

Hi,
Just reading this and are you keeping them in the bucket of water to "clean" them?
I remember seeing or reading somewhere that you should keep them for a while in clean waterr before cooking them or eating them (was it a River Cottage episode???)
Can anyone shed light on what it is that I am trying to remember! LOL!

All the best

Dave

 

[Bushwhacker]

Hi,
Just reading this and are you keeping them in the bucket of water to "clean" them?
I remember seeing or reading somewhere that you should keep them for a while in clean waterr before cooking them or eating them (was it a River Cottage episode???)
Can anyone shed light on what it is that I am trying to remember! LOL!

All the best

Dave

To purge all the crap out of their digestive system.

 

[SMOKOE]

I do as buckshot and use a knife in the back of the head and then a tip that was on Ray Mears, is to take hold of the very final tail fin with thumb and finger, hold the cray by the body with the other hand and turn the fin from right to left hearing a light snap as you go each way. Then gently pull the fin and it will produce a black thread which contains all the guts and digestive system.

Sounds tricky but quite easy to do.
I like them boiled with a nice brown bread and butter.

 

[Melonfish]

I do as buckshot and use a knife in the back of the head and then a tip that was on Ray Mears, is to take hold of the very final tail fin with thumb and finger, hold the cray by the body with the other hand and turn the fin from right to left hearing a light snap as you go each way. Then gently pull the fin and it will produce a black thread which contains all the guts and digestive system.

Sounds tricky but quite easy to do.
I like them boiled with a nice brown bread and butter.

i was going to say, this is in my river cottage book too, knife to the back of the head, central fin, left then right then pull out the guts.
you can then use the hole to skewer them and plant em by the fire

 

[Stanleythecat]

i was going to say, this is in my river cottage book too, knife to the back of the head, central fin, left then right then pull out the guts.
you can then use the hole to skewer them and plant em by the fire

Which river cottage book is that buddy?

We didn't mean to purge them but found having bolied them (plopping them in live to kill) upon opening them up to remove the colon (or whatever a crayfish has!) they were clean having been left for around 16 hrs. Would like to try the straight to coal version but liike I said we had quite a few to dispatch, I imagine the flavour is stronger this way too, cooked in their own juices.

Leo

 

[Melonfish]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/River-Cotta...=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251906448&sr=8-8

that one

its quite a good book actually, some good tips in there

 

[cattyman]

i just put them into boiling water fo 4 minutes , remove claws and tail discard the rest, remove shell then remove black intestine from inside the tail, then use flesh from claws/tail any way you like ....salad/ curry/fish pie the worlds you crayfish so to speak....mack

 

[Chinkapin]

Google "Cajun crawfish recipes." The Louisiana Cajuns are the masters of cooking crawfish. (crayfish) Once you eat them the way they cook them you won't want them any other way.

Warning: They are HOT and Spicy!

 

[nicodiemus]

Depends how much effort you're prepared to go to.
I like lemon juice, butter, garlic, and a dash of Dave's "Temporary Insanity".

 

[scubapauly]

For a change we fished up a bucket load. Took them home, steamed them then put the into a stir fry with some sweet n sour sauce. FANTASTIC

 

[locum76]

chuck the whole lot in a pot of steaming water and then, when they are cooked, eat them guts and all.

Maybe use the shells to make a bisque.