crawfish boil

[woodrow1]

need a little help. having a boil and was wondering what the rule of thumb was for pounds per person. same with the sausage, new potatoes, and corn. also, does anyone have a favorite recipe that they like.
thanks for the help.

[Greenhead22]

$5-7 lbs/person

[River Hunter]

need a little help. having a boil and was wondering what the rule of thumb was for pounds per person. same with the sausage, new potatoes, and corn. also, does anyone have a favorite recipe that they like.
thanks for the help.

3lbs per person 1 ear of corn per person and who knows on the sausage. This has always been the norm for me If you are having alot of people. If it is just men and small crowd you could go 5lbs per person. You will have some that eat alot more and some will not eat many at all so a safe call for the majority is 3lbs per person. Hope this helps I cooked at Crawfish City (my place along with my father) for 5 yrs and we also did some private parties.

[Jeff]

If kids are involved and a few women I would go 3 lbs/ person at the most, if all men, 5 lbs/person

[duckamateur]

Here is what I figure. Not that anyone else is wrong, just what we figure when cooking for a crowd.

5# per person
Per sack cooked is, 6 eggs, 1# sausage, 1/2 pound taters, 1-small pack mushrooms, 6 ears corn. Onions, lemons, and garlic to taste.

[BAY KINGFISHER]

ditto what Jeff and River said...3lbs plus the extras should be more than enough (5lbs if mostly guys or a mix of experienced crawfish eaters)...I usually cook two batches, a spicy and mild...I like to use Cajun Land seasoning(liquid and powder), salt, lemons, garlic, onions, celery..( I boil in the water, no steaming than seasoning, I dont care for the stuff to get all over my hands while eating, but thats just how I like em.
I dont mind the left overs if Im in the mood to make some bisque the next day..honestly 7lbs would be a little over zealous...I also give you this recommendation from my experience boiling for many parties and special events.so Im not a neophyte to all this..

[MudHog]

I agree on the 3 lbs per person for a mixed crowd. Then if you have alot of veggies and other stuff, people tend to fill up on that as well.

We use Zatarain's liquid and powder. Boil (not steam) for 3 minutes with liquid seasoning and then put in ice chest and dust lightly and let sit for 5 minutes. Total cook time is 8 minutes as they continue to cook in the ice chest. Veggies and everybody else gets cooked first and put in an ice chest. We start with taters first as they take longer to cook.


Has anyone seen folks boil crawfish using bags of ice? Supposedly once they boil, they throw a full bag of ice in the pot and it makes the meat shrink and suck up juice into the shells. Never tried it, but some people here swear by it.

[Wildfowler]

Has anyone seen folks boil crawfish using bags of ice? Supposedly once they boil, they throw a full bag of ice in the pot and it makes the meat shrink and suck up juice into the shells. Never tried it, but some people here swear by it.

That's one method of cooling the pot down after the fish have been sufficiently boiled. Cooling the pot down allows the fish to soak up all that goodness without letting the fish continue to cook in near boiling water and become overdone. Without allowing the fish to soak, they will taste like raw fish if you take them off the fire and dump them into a cooler right away. You want and need them to soak that crab boil flavor internally.

I prefer to take the whole pot off the burner and lower the pot into a larger vessel of water that I can keep cool with the garden hose to accomplish the cool down and extended soaking process. The water in the crab boil pot doesn't need to get cold, but you need to get that intense heat out of the water as quickly as possible. Putting ice on top of the water will work too if a larger pot or can is not available.

Good luck.

[BAY KINGFISHER]

yeh Ive seen the ice deal...and have done it boiling shrimp, but I just usually try to get the seasonning right up front...I still use the old "boil them to the float, soak them to they sink" after a few beverages I usually get to bs..ing and forget about times... Ive seen people add butter or oil to help the seafood peel, but I dont ever do that stuff...if you just pay attention and sample a little as you go boiling seafood is pretty easy

[rustypjr]

my wifes uncle uses the frozen corn to bring the temperature down. that is the last thing he puts in. He uses some sort of bag of seasonings in his. I will find out.

[River Hunter]

The best season I have ever seen or used is a mix from a guy we bought from do not even remember the name but it melts on the crawfish when putting it on the cooked fish in the cooler that way it does not clump up on them. It was the had the best flavor and was very warm. It came packaged in a bag with the outline of the LA state on it. This is not it but it looks pretty good http://www.lacrawfish.com/Merchant2/mer ... ry_Code=SS.

[Jeff]

I ALWAYS use ice when cooking shrimp, IMMEDIATLEY when they are cooked I fill the pot with ice to stop the cooking and let the shrimp soak for 10-15 minutes and allow them to get spicy and still peel nice.

As far as crawfish, I normally don't use ice but I spray the outside of the pot while they sit.

My boil changes with each batch slightly but it's something like this:
1 container pro boil
6 peppercorn bags
approx 1/4 gallon liquid boil
1/2 cup cayene pepper
1-1.5 cans salt
12 lemons
onions
garlic
potatoes

let that boil for about 20 minutes then add fish boil for approx 3-5 minutes add sausage when comes to boil. Turn off heat add corn and mushrooms, taste in about 20 min and remove from water when taste right.

[r.c.a.1971]

woodrow1...
Everyone will have different opinions on this, but this is mine. I'm originally from Louisiana and I would have to say most people from LA. are big crawfish eaters and will probably eat 5-7 lbs. per person on average. I noticed you're from Alabama and I now live in Alabama also. I've noticed that southerners from other states besides LA. "on average" will not eat quite as much in most cases. I boil a good bit of crawfish during the season and most of my customers are from MS and AL. From my experience, 3-4 lbs. per person (for a mixed crowd) is a good average, providing you have extras (i.e. corn, potatoes...etc.) to go with it.
As for as extras....( on average)
1 corn per person
2 or 3 (small) potatoes per person
sausage...figure 3 to 4 people per lb.

As for as a recipe........hhmmm.?.....let's just say some of us "coona$$es" don't know how to tell time.....so we just cook on instinct, if you know what I mean!

Hope this helps!!

P.S. ...woodrow1...is this crawfish boil you're having for a big group? If so, let me know if I can help. ....Have tools .....will travel!!

r.c.a.1971