So it’s been a while since I’ve been to New Orleans and so when I saw a Good Eats episode where Alton had a huge crawfish boil, I immediately started salivating and planning on cooking it myself.
However, the family is less enlightened. They find crawfish to be too much work for too little meat and are more shrimp fans. This is ok by me but I’m just wondering how to incorporate shrimp into a boil. Mostly I’m concerned with the timing of it all. I’m planning on having potatoes and corn boiling in the pot, then adding the crawfish, where it cooks for 3 minutes and then 10 minutes off direct heat. Does anyone have any advice on when to add shrimp to the mix? I don’t want to overcook the shrimp.
Also, and I know I’m going to start a huge cajun debate, but should we purge the crawfish beforehand or is it not necessary?
I always recommend shrimp be added to boiling water which is then immediately removed from the heat. Even 10 minutes off heat is going to be too long, though the total time will depend on the size of the shrimp. I’d just cook them separately if you want them to be tender.
Since you have a big pot full of other stuff it’s not going to cool quickly. You could take the pot off the heat and let it cool down to 165F then add the shrimp, at the lower temp they won’t toughen up easily, and you just need to let them sit until they’re done.
I would say throw the shrimp in about halfway through your 10-minute off-the-flame steep time. Give them 5 - 6 minutes to cook and they should be fine.
And most definitely purge the crawfish before cooking. Failure to do so will usually lead to muddy tasting crawfish. And it should go without saying to hose them off well when you empty them out of the sack and before purging to further get rid of potential muddy flavors before cooking.
This is exactly what I do and they come out perfectly. I throw the corn in at the same time as the shrimp. I even had some alligator boudin in the mix last year.
Also, I’ve never purged the crawfish, just several dunks in clean water and vigorous hosing down. Never had any complaints about muddy flavor.
Going to disagree with most of you. Having learned from experience, cook the shrimp when the boil’s ready…**before **dumping in the crawfish. Hopefully you have or can borrow a(nother) basket just for the shrimp; makes it easier. You might want to add only half of your spice concoction at first, cook the basket of shrimp, remove from pot, then throw in the rest of your spices with the crawfish. Because shrimp soaks up the cayenne a lot more…
Please purge your crawfish!
And throw in plenty of mushrooms and garlic in the boil. Sometimes that’s my favorite part, especially at the end of the night…
P.S. Where are you going to get live crawfish from this time of year? Or are you just dreaming for next spring?
cook the shrimp when the boil’s ready…**before **dumping in the crawfish. Hopefully you have or can borrow a(nother) basket just for the shrimp; makes it easier. You might want to add only half of your spice concoction at first, cook the basket of shrimp, remove from pot, then throw in the rest of your spices with the crawfish. Because shrimp soaks up the cayenne a lot more…