crayfish

[ratcatcher]

went crayfishing a few weeks back, since Im not doing much shooting at the moment, Ive really got hooked on these little critters, taste is somewhere between prawns and lobsters, easy enough to cook/boil ready for eating,

it ended up taking me around 3 hours to boil just over a hundred crayfish, using the wifes 2 biggest pots, so Ive taken the plunge and ordered a king kooker boiling pot from the usa,which they use outside with a propagne gas ring to boil crawfish (just different spelling,)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FMugAo0LbM

 

[santaman2000]

went crayfishing a few weeks back, since Im not doing much shooting at the moment, Ive really got hooked on these little critters, taste is somewhere between prawns and lobsters, easy enough to cook/boil ready for eating,

it ended up taking me around 3 hours to boil just over a hundred crayfish, using the wifes 2 biggest pots, so Ive taken the plunge and ordered a king kooker boiling pot from the usa,which they use outside with a propagne gas ring to boil crawfish (just different spelling,)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FMugAo0LbM

LOL. Actually that's how we pronounce it too, "craw-fish." That or sometimes, "craw-dads."

 

[Rod Paradise]

Ive taken the plunge and ordered a king kooker boiling pot from the usa,which they use outside with a propagne gas ring to boil crawfish (just different spelling,)

You could do a deep fried turkey with one of them as well - CAREFULLY!!!

I've wanted to try one for ages - I'll just have to stick to a smoked one.

 

[ratcatcher]

LOL. Actually that's how we pronounce it too, "craw-fish." That or sometimes, "craw-dads."

prepair to get inundated with cooking questions now then, I couldent belive that no where in the uk stocked the turkey/crawfish boilers, and I searched the internet in uk high and low, ordered yesterday from states, delivery is costing twice the price of the pot,lol

after watching clips on u tube, I like the american way of cooking them better than my attempt

do you guys ever deep freeze them, then thaw out and cook at a later date?

 

[santaman2000]

prepair to get inundated with cooking questions now then, I couldent belive that no where in the uk stocked the turkey/crawfish boilers, and I searched the internet in uk high and low, ordered yesterday from states, delivery is costing twice the price of the pot,lol

after watching clips on u tube, I like the american way of cooking them better than my attempt

do you guys ever deep freeze them, then thaw out and cook at a later date?

Yes we do occassionaly; the tails anyway. I've even bought 2 pound bags of frozen crawfish tails (cleaned and peeled) at the grocery store to use in my jambalaya.

 

[The Ratcatcher]

If you're catching freshwater crayfish, make sure you know which ones you're catching, as the native British crayfish, the White-clawed Crayfish, is an endangered species. There are three non-native species, which happen to be the biggest threat to our native crayfish after pollution, and I don't think anybody would complain about you thinning them out a little.

For a free downloadable identification guide, go to the GB Non-native Species Secretariat website, and find 'Identification Sheets' in 'Toolbox'. (www.nonnativespecies.org).

Happy fishing

Alan

 

[Mesquite]

If you're catching freshwater crayfish, make sure you know which ones you're catching, as the native British crayfish, the White-clawed Crayfish, is an endangered species. There are three non-native species, which happen to be the biggest threat to our native crayfish after pollution, and I don't think anybody would complain about you thinning them out a little.

For a free downloadable identification guide, go to the GB Non-native Species Secretariat website, and find 'Identification Sheets' in 'Toolbox'. (www.nonnativespecies.org).

Happy fishing

Alan

So long as you're properly licensed by the environment agency... if you're not then you can face prosecution

Details about legal trapping can be found here

 

[tartanferret]

That looks like a good catch

 

[The Ratcatcher]

Sorry, I missed that bit, but my information came from a local authority whose area I cover, so they may well have the paperwork sorted, and were just looking for someone to do the actual trapping.

Alan

 

[nuggets]

are these boilers any good for cooking them in ???

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BABY-BURC...0?pt=UK_BOI_Restaurant_RL&hash=item20bf21fd60


keep them in a mesh container, should do a good few of them at a time ??

 

[santaman2000]

are these boilers any good for cooking them in ???

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BABY-BURC...0?pt=UK_BOI_Restaurant_RL&hash=item20bf21fd60


keep them in a mesh container, should do a good few of them at a time ??

It's big enough for a small batch but it really doesn't look like it will get hot enough. To properly cook crawfish you need to bring the seasoned water to a rolling boil before dropping the crawfish (preferably live) into it. The crawfish only take 3-5 minutes or so to cook so the corn on the cob and potatoes should already be in the water cooking for 10 or 15 minutes prior to dropping the crawfish.

 

[Tank]

that must have been a task to get all the meat out the shells and de-poopshout them.

 

[nuggets]

that must have been a task to get all the meat out the shells and de-poopshout them.

After you have removed the tail from the head - twist and pull on the centre of the tailpiece at the very end of its tail ,it will remove the poopshoot !!

 

[ratcatcher]

So long as you're properly licensed by the environment agency... if you're not then you can face prosecution

Details about legal trapping can be found here

you probably didnt read my first post, explaining my home made traps, and tags from the enviroment agency, or the fact Im a fully quailified pest controller too,
I doubt very much if tags would be issued in locations where our native crayfish were living, but yes I do know the difference/identification

the burco, as already stated, would not get hot enough, reading up on them, you'd be looking around 2hrs for it to heat upto boiling, then on dropping an ammount of crays in, it would take it off the boil, but take to long to get back to boiling, could even be classed as inhumaine way of killing crays

using a outdoor gas ring with propagne, around 8/9kw or 30000 btu, you can as already stated, get a rolling boil going

 

[ratcatcher]

had frozen last weeks batch that we caught, as we attended a bbq last night, started thawing them a good 30 hours beforehand, we removed the rear intestine before placing on the barbie, its quite an easy way of cooking them, although the meat is very dry and flaky, a dip is needed to add some moisture, at least when boiling, the claw meat stays in one piece

 

[wattsy]

that must have been a task to get all the meat out the shells and de-poopshout them.

grab hold of the middle fin bit on the tail and turn it left and right until it clicks both times then gently pull and it all slides out

 

[santaman2000]

How do ya'll eat your crawfish? Do you just eat the tails? Or do you eat them Cajun style too?

 

[Pict]

I used to catch them as a kid in PA. We never had enough of them to worry about buying a new pot to boil them in though. I once did a 10 day canoe trip in Canada with very little food. We foraged for crayfish on several occasions and had a big boil. Good food for sure.

Incidentally in Pennsylvania we call them crayfish, not crawfish or crawdads. If you did everyone would know what you meant, but also that you're not a local.

 

[TurboGirl]

ratcatcher, can you point me to the thread with your net design plz? Am trawling BCUK but missing it!

I've sent for the info pack from the environment agency and researched the crayfish surveys in my area- there was 1 solitary sighting of a native about 30 miles away, in 1994 but apparently the eastern european/ tukish crayfish is commen round here. Not found any figures/ research on the signal although the university of leicester had an interactive map of their findings, not much use as it didn't specify species!

Are there any sites you'd recommend for finding UK population spreads of the different kinds of crayfish please?

 

[T1Viper]

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82498&highlight=

there ya go Turbogirl