Nealey, our Southern recipe columnist, just threw a huge crawfish boil for her boyfriend's birthday. It reminded me of my own favorite annual gathering, which also involves eating pounds and pounds of crawfish, on newspaper instead of plates, elbow-to-elbow with friends and strangers. It isn't easy or cheap to pull off, but if you can manage it, crawfish boils are the ultimate outdoor bash. Here are five tips from my friends' Annual Crawfish Boil.
The Annual Crawfish Boil has become a tradition among my friends, who take its organization and execution very seriously. (They even have a Crawfish Boil Committee!) This year marks their fourth annual gathering, so I turned to them for some tips on throwing a great boil.
1. Find a good source for your seafood. My friends buy live, purged crawfish from Louisiana Crawfish Company and have it delivered the morning of the boil. They estimate about one pound of crawfish per person, and as far as I know, there are never any leftovers. Crawfish season peaks in March and April and lasts through June, so keep that in mind when scheduling a boil.
2. Designate a boil-master. My friend Will is in charge of mixing up a big pot of boiling broth and cooking batches of crawfish throughout the day. Here's his recipe:
Well, let's see, I throw about 25 pounds of crayfish into a big pot seasoned with a ton of Zatarain's powder with a few gurgles of their liquid crab boil as well, then a bunch of corn on the cob cut small, mushrooms, whole heads of garlic, potatoes, onions, and a few lemons. You boil the potatoes and corn first for awhile then the other vegetables, then the crawfish for only about 6-8 minutes. Then let them sit in that goop for 30-40 minutes so they can suck up that sauce. That's it. Oh, and you need a big ol' stirring stick.
Will's preferred stirring stick is a clean baseball bat.
3. Give a quick lesson on how to eat. Everyone loves the moment when the steaming crawfish and vegetables are dumped onto the newspaper-topped table, ready to be devoured. But for the uninitiated, it's helpful to have a brief tutorial on how to tear apart a crawfish, eat its tail and suck out its head juices before everyone digs in.
4. Encourage guests to eat everything. The boil broth is so good, every ingredient that touches it turns to gold, so the potatoes, corn, onions and even whole cloves of garlic can and should be eaten. Little piles of Old Bay sprinkled on the table encourage dipping and eating of everything on the table. The more people loosen up and get messy, the better!
5. If needed, recoup some of your costs by asking for donations in exchange for a souvenir: There has been some debate about whether or not you should throw a party if you can't afford to pay for everything. My friends choose to order commemorative crawfish boil cups, which they give out at the party in exchange for a $5 donation. This has proven to be wildly successful — I couldn't even get a cup the first year they made them — and allows the planners to go all-out, buying extras like a whole turducken or smoked brisket. The bottom line: guests are happy to chip in a bit to make the bash its best. If you can afford to provide it all, then go for it! But lack of funds shouldn't stop you from having a truly amazing crawfish boil.
Do you have any tips for hosting a seafood boil?
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I think commemorative cups are a great way to cover your expenses. There are definitely some situations when it's quite understandable if the hosts need help covering the cost -- flying in many pounds of live crustaceans is definitely one of them.
Ask 20 people how to boil crawfish and you'll get 20 different responses.
The soak is the most important part - I don't usually boil them for more like 2-3 minutes, but a good half hour soak is a must, longer is OK if you can get your guests to wait.
Also, one pound per person is low. Even with corn, potatoes, and bread (get fresh French bread - it helps kill the heat for the noobs and is great with the garlic spread on it), we usually get enough for four pounds per person. At best, that leaves us with enough leftover meat for a batch of etoufee.
Crawfish boils are a great tradition in the coastal South. I don't even eat crawfish but I love the parties and eat the sausage and corn and potatoes!
yumyumYUM!
Re Louisiana Crawfish Co... Isn't farmed fish/shellfish supposed to be un-PC? Love the little buggers but just wondering...
@s7mylsup: actually, farmed crawfish is a sustainable seafood choice according to the Marine Conservation Society. So eat up!
Perfect! Thank you for letting me know!
No Old Bay!!! Ew!
People who live near crawfish and eat them regularly will shudder at the suggestion for that! Everyone I know makes their own or does a combo of powdered crab boil (lots) and the boil bags of spices. A couple lemons too.
Necessities for boiling with the crawfish vary but for us its corn, red potatoes garlic onions and smoked sausage.
And to agree with the other comment, yes a lb a person is insanely low. Its not unheard of for a hungry group to eat up to 10lbs a person. Its mosty body and shell, remember. The meat is tiny.
yummmm my favorite. i'm from the MS coast so crawfish and i are no strangers. we used to trick our college friends into eating the "bad" crawfish with the straight tails...(it only means they died before being boiled) mean, but we got a good laugh! headed to the beach this weekend - hope i get to eat a ton of these little critters
Only 1 lb. per person? I think people eat on average 2-3 lbs.. at least.
Seems newcomers really can only manage 1-2 lbs (the sheer act of peeling slows them down) but if everyone knows what they're doing...3-4 at least.
As an alternative to the cups you could get a bunch of coozies printed up (whats a boil without beer?)...
And our new thing is throwing in halved Texas grapefruit - honest you can taste the difference, and its amazing!
I so want to go to a crawfish boil!! This sounds amazing!
My parents used to buy pounds of blue crabs or lobsters and we'd sit around cracking and eating when it was the season but that was growing up on the East Coast and now I'm landlocked in the Midwest.
Do people get frustrated at the meat:shell ratio difference in crawfish if they're used to the larger crustaceans? Or is it the ones who've never cracked any kind of crustacean before who have bigger issues?
It makes me happy to see delicious red craw-dads on thekithn.com. I am originally from New Orleans, Louisiana and also posted a mini photo series on "how-to boil crawfish" on my blog at http://natsknack.blogspot.com/2010/04/laissez-les-bons-temps-rouler.html
Also - we have a 5 lbs (unpeeled crawfish)/person standard where I come from :)
I have only had crawfish (which I know as crayfish) at a few buffets because I am from the northeast. However, my Texan girlfriend is always telling me how good and fun they can be.
Anyone want to host one in the Baltimore-Washington area? I'm game to help!
We live in Oregon wine country and host a 4th of July crawdad boil. This will be year 6 or 7. We get about 100 people. The cost of admission is a bottle of everyday wine. While this does not directly offset the costs, we rationalize the expense of the party by having our summer wine needs met. The first year we ordered from the Louisiana Crawfish Co. and most arrived dead. The company was very good about crediting us, but I learned July is very late for southern crawfish. We have since found local sources and summer is the best time for Oregon crawdads. It is a great party and I highly recommend it to anyone with a back yard and a propane burner.
Yep, only do it in season, *definitely* count on more than 1 lb/person (more like 5), and a good trick for boiling small things like mushrooms and garlic heads is to tie them into a pantyhose leg (unused of course), so they stay relatively intact and are easy to pick out of the mess.
Personally I'm a little goobed out by tips on how to get your guests to pay for a party you invited them to. Please tell me this is not becoming the norm, or I'll be forced to sic Miss Manners on y'all.
They look delicious....I am allergic to lobster (no doubt about it) but not crab, shrimp, etc. My insurance co. will not pay for allergy tests so that I can find out if I am allergic to crawfish (they look so much like little lobbys that I am afraid to try). And I'm going to LA next month. So sad.
Hey NW Cajun, forward me that local source baileydotcandice@gmaildotcom
The trick to a great crawfish boil is the other stuff that goes in the pot. Potatoes, corn, and whole garlic are the standard, but try these too:
Lemons and oranges. Cut 'em in half and toss them in with the first batch.
Broccoli. Rough chop and seal in a mesh bag.
Cans of long green beans. Peel the labels off and punch holes all over the cans. Toss them in for the boil, then use a can opener to enjoy!
Button Mushrooms. They soak up every last bit of that spice!
Sausage. Hot Dogs. Something for the meat-eaters.
@s7mylsup: Where I'm from in south Louisiana, "farmed" crawfish is harvested out of flooded rice fields. It's not like farmed fish, where the animals are fed commercial pelleted food and antibiotics. I am, however, a little dubious about imported Chinese crawfish (usually already cooked & frozen).
And edamame pods! These are a tasty addition to what tinyviolin already listed above, not to mention a good crowd pleaser for any vegetarian guests willing to eat sides from the pot.