goin to Louisiana

[wanderingbob]

Silly question , I would like to try for the first time in 70 years them crawdads the catch in the swamps . Everything that I read says how "HOT "they are . I can not eat " HOT ". Can ya get " Mild "?

[bucky]

I've always thought that they tasted more like lobster than shrimp. Yum Yum.

[rodknocker]

K3WE wrote:

rodknocker wrote:
From a resident expert -----
Most are mild when bought at seafood restaurants. Some local party boilers turn up the heat at private boils. Also, the first batch in the pot is usually much milder. The veggies in the boil is a different story. Taters and corn soak up the spice a lot.
Right now they are about 5 bucks per pound, boiled. After Lent, price drops way down.

Any chance you would share "the secret" to making really good crawfish?

(And be careful- I've spoken to three or four experts- and get varied and conflicting advice- and personally now consider myself "above average" at cooking them)...

Just haven't hit that awsome level yet.

(And to be clear- I like heat- but there's heat and there's flavor, and they don't substitute for each other).

My secret is to go where real experts cook them!!!! I have some pals that are great cooks, I bring the beer......
Seems to be a lot of variance in when and how long the dads are in the pot. General rule is not to over cook the mud bugs, so most take turn the fire off as soon as the pot returns to boil. Let them soak about 20 minutes before serving.

[Laman]

traveylin wrote:
Head sucking is all about flavor, not filler. The very rich light brown fat is there for the scooping with a finger.

pops

That might be but we make sure we have enough flavor in the tails!:)

[bluka43]

wanderingbob wrote:
Thank y'all . I like shrimp but those crawdads look ugly . Time will tell !

Never mind ugly.....you know the old saying, "you can't judge a book by it's cover". :B
If you like shrimp, you'll love crawdads. And I agree with rodknocker. It's the private boils that tend to crank up the heat, and besides the potatoes and corn as you would get at business establishments, they also tend to add other ingredients to their boils like sausage, onions, whole garlic pods, and that's where most of the spices are soaked up and will be hotter than the crawfish itself.
Kenny

[Cloud_Dancer]

"sucking on crawdads" makes my wife and I sick (just looking at it). And, she's from Lousiana.
If you're like me, and get heartburn if eating very spicy foods, I recommend the saut-taid crawfih tails at Commanders Palace in the Garden District of New Orleans. And, don't fail to order the bread pudding soufle with bourbon/cream sauce.

[traveylin]

Head sucking is all about flavor, not filler. The very rich light brown fat is there for the scooping with a finger.

pops

[Kit_Carson]

rodknocker wrote:
From a resident expert -----
Most are mild when bought at seafood restaurants. Some local party boilers turn up the heat at private boils. Also, the first batch in the pot is usually much milder. The veggies in the boil is a different story. Taters and corn soak up the spice a lot.
Right now they are about 5 bucks per pound, boiled. After Lent, price drops way down.

Cold adult beverage will take away some of the heat in the taters & corn. My choice is Coors Light when the mountains are blue!!!

[Laman]

I am making reservations this morning for our annual Good Friday crawfish boil by in La., a 25 year tradition. Also bringing the new son-in-law to get him a taste of our culture and food, crawfish, boudain, andouille, real gumbo, hope he doesn't become an ex-son-in-law!.

rodknocker has it right, resturants serve generally mild boiled crawfish but ask for a small sample first, I have seen people do that. Also as he said watch the vegetables as they do soak up the seasoning. At our boils usually the first two batches are for kids and women then they finally get right (hot and seasoned) from then on.

One key to good boiled crawfish is nice fresh crawfish, we get ours from a cousin who is in the business, kept wet and purged before boiling, a good burner that can keep up a boil and experience for just that right moment to get them out of the water.

BTW my family has never sucked crawfish heads! Never even heard of that until I went to LSU. We always made sure that we had plenty of tails so no need to suck a head!

[K3WE]

rodknocker wrote:
From a resident expert -----
Most are mild when bought at seafood restaurants. Some local party boilers turn up the heat at private boils. Also, the first batch in the pot is usually much milder. The veggies in the boil is a different story. Taters and corn soak up the spice a lot.
Right now they are about 5 bucks per pound, boiled. After Lent, price drops way down.

Any chance you would share "the secret" to making really good crawfish?

(And be careful- I've spoken to three or four experts- and get varied and conflicting advice- and personally now consider myself "above average" at cooking them)...

Just haven't hit that awsome level yet.

(And to be clear- I like heat- but there's heat and there's flavor, and they don't substitute for each other).

[wanderingbob]

Thank y'all . I like shrimp but those crawdads look ugly . Time will tell !

[rodknocker]

From a resident expert -----
Most are mild when bought at seafood restaurants. Some local party boilers turn up the heat at private boils. Also, the first batch in the pot is usually much milder. The veggies in the boil is a different story. Taters and corn soak up the spice a lot.
Right now they are about 5 bucks per pound, boiled. After Lent, price drops way down.

[K3WE]

I tend to like hot food.

However, my experience with crawfish is that they are generally towards the mild end of the spectrum. I don't mean to say no heat whatsoever at all, but no comparison to a jalapeno slice or hot sauce.

[traveylin]

I have had crayfish with to much salt more often that to much hot. The supplier should be able to demonstrate how much seasoning with a crawdad or two. Beer is an effective antidote to well seasoned craw fish

[coolbreeze01]

They can be any degree of spicy you want. Bland to gasping for breath. Tell 'em to leave the heat off so you can taste the 'dads and the rest of the meal. Enjoy.