madrussian said:
Butter and garlic?
Try cooking them Cajun style. You don't know what your missing. Here in South Louisiana we are experts at cooking crawfish (crayfish).
Great idea madrussian. Just need an authentic recipe (big hint)
I found a few when I was looking at cajun recipes a while ago. Some ideas to get you going;
Cajun Crawfish - Recipes
They are not the most authentic of recipes (French Onion Soup in a Jambalaya
) but gives a start.
Here is a really good recipe for a crayfish sauce to go with steak and other dishes. Really intense flavour;
Makes: 2 2/3 cups servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Ready In: 48 minutes
Perfect sauce to put on steaks like Steak Diane, baked fish, flounder, fried fish or crab cakes and stuffed crab.
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter divided (1 stick)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup bell pepper
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp dry white wine
1 pound peeled crawfish tails
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup mushrooms
dash of hot pepper sauce
Directions
Melt half of the butter in a heavy sauté pan over medium high heat. Add onions, celery, bell pepper and garlic. Cook until vegetables are wilted 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in wine, and then add crawfish, green onion and mushrooms. Cook about 5 minutes or until crawfish are hot and wine is slightly reduced. Stir in cream and hot pepper sauce and cook 6 to 8 minutes or until cream is reduced and thickened. Remove from heat. Cut remaining 1/4 cup butter into pieces and add a few pieces at a time stirring constantly. Adjust seasoning and serve.
A tip I use for getting even more flavour out of the crayfish is to flame the crayfish shells and use those to make a stock in a French style. Yum.
One recipe on my list for a BIG party is this one
Cooking Crawfish by Leonce Collins - How to boil crawfish Cajun style!
Now that looks the real deal
Finally a nice traditional French recipe which also has a snazzy video clip to go with the recipe (in French and English)
Crayfish Mousse in Aspic
You don't need to bother with the aspic/ jelly
Also whack it into a dish and serve warm on melba toast....
Follow the link on the page for the regional speciality 'Crayfish à la Bordelaise' where they also show the tip for flambéeing the shells.
Remember, like prawns, to remove the black central gut to avoid a bitter flavour (see video clip) and a bit more detail;
Cleaning and Cooking Crayfish
The freshwater crayfish not only looks like a miniature lobster, but tastes almost as good as its
salt-water relative. The first step to preparing crayfish for the table is to wash the live crayfish in
cool, clean water. After washing, the crayfish are blanched (par boiled) in hot water for about
five minutes. This process kills and cooks the crayfish, kills any bacteria present, turns the
crayfish a brilliant red color, and facilitates peeling the meat from the claws and tail. Next,
remove the intestinal track by twisting and pulling the middle flipper of the tail. Some prefer to
cook only the claws and tails. After simmering, remove the meat from the claws and tail, add
butter, salt, and pepper, and enjoy; crayfish meat may be served hot or cold.
Or split the cooked and cooled crayfish in two and remove with a knife. Also, the way to kill a crayfish (which you have to do in France before you can move them) is to pull and twist the tail as this breaks the intestinal track and kills the crayfish.
happy eating