How To Make Louisiana Boiled Crawfish | Southern Cooking | Chef AldenB

all right y'all today I'm gonna show y'all Louisiana style boiled crawfish we'll walk through every step in detail from how to clean them how I season them all the fixings that goes in to make all the flavor and everything in between so if you're not subscribed to my channel already make sure that you hit the Subscribe button like this and make sure that all your notifications on so you can get all these Southern videos that I'm about to be putting out I'm telling y'all it's pressure let's get into it so boom first you want to start off with our sack of crawfish a sack can range anywhere around 30 to 40 pounds this sack is about 28 pounds I got a smaller one because I'm using this to peel and we're gonna eat a few of them but most of them are going towards crawfish bits another video y'all need to look forward to but the first thing you want to do with crawfish is clean them everybody has the different methods and ways to clean them this is mine crawfish are Mud Bugs as you can see they're the bottom of the water is full of dirt it's filthy and you don't want none of that into your crawfish bowl or in your mouth so you must clean them a lot of people will tell you to purge your crawfish in water and pour soda in it to make them spit up all that dirt but crawfish aren't in salt water so what you're doing by putting the soda in it is killing them and you don't want dead crawfish so what I do is hose off the top with some pressure just to push that dirt to bottom as you can see they're already starting to get a little bit cleaner I'm cleaning mine in my Crawfish Pot so I'm opening the valve and letting the water flow through once I hose them off I close the valve and then I fill it up with the water and as you can see this water is dirtier than the Mississippi River you can barely even see the Crawfish in there and this is what you do not want and to reiterate there's different methods to cleaning your crawfish again this is just how I do mine and there's different ways you can buy crawfish cleaners that'll push this around but I just like to shake it around just to agitate the Crawfish to help them spit out that dirt and get that dirt out of there from there I'm gonna go ahead and strain the water out again and then we're going to redo that whole process all over again about two or three times after the first couple times you'll already start to see the water gets a little bit clearer the dead Ones Will flow to the top you can go ahead and take those out again you don't want to have dead crawfish going into your Crawfish Boil now we're going to go ahead and fill it up and then open the valve and let it just strain until that water runs clear this whole process will take 30 minutes to an hour really it's longer than actually even cooking them but it's a step you don't want to miss and as you you can see we didn't have to use any soda anything and the Crawfish are alive well and most importantly they're clean and since I'm boiling in this pot I want to remove the Crawfish so I can get the fixings ready you want to store your crawfish in a cool area until you're ready to use them and make sure that they have some oxygen to flow through because you don't want to suffocate them and out of this whole batch we only had three dead ones which is good and since I'm using my Crawfish Pot I want to go ahead and hose it out and make sure all that excess dirt is out of there because we don't want none of that in our boil once it's nice and clean again we're gonna fill it with distilled water and then we're going to go ahead and get started on our fixings when it comes to a crawfish boil you can literally throw anything in there from fruits vegetables proteins whatever but the most important things are the key things that people use in the Crawfish Boil in the South would be corn sausage and potatoes now you can use russet potatoes but I just prefer to use red potatoes I just it's just my preference they better for me now we're gonna come with our sausage you can use whatever sausage you like if you don't like heat use a mild one I like to use spicy and Mild but you want to cut them into bite-sized pieces about two or three biters this is just something to eat in between eating a crawfish and you can use whatever sausage you want you can use undouy sausage smoked sausage pork sausage beef sausage anything people even put turkey necks turkey wings I've seen somebody put a whole chicken in there so do whatever you want you could also put pineapples mushrooms string beans brussels sprouts all that but again for this boil we're keeping it down to the basics corn potatoes and sausage and as for the corn you want this Frozen salad we're gonna put this in after the Crawfish have cooked to cool down the whole pot these soak up flavors so quick so you don't have to put them in that long now they're gonna come with all our flavor boosters first we're going to start off with a sweet yellow onion you don't want to have to worry about taking the skin off it's all going to the same place so slice about three to four onions in half and then we're gonna put it to the side flavoring your seafood boil is kind of like flavoring a stock you use every pot that they have so we don't want to throw away any part of any of these vegetables we use in every single part the whole thing is going into the boil so go ahead and chop up your whole stalk of celery every single piece and throw it in there along with the onions you want all your fixings to be around the same size so we're going to cut this just how we cut those sausages now we have my favorite part of the boil the garlic sometimes I'll boil these down by themselves in some crab boil and then make some garlic bread with it you can see that one on my Instagram the handle is fly Chef Alden B but just like the onions we're gonna keep these whole and they're gonna cook down into the boil and you'll squeeze them right out so throw that whole thing in there as well now we're gonna come with our Citrus element we have some lemons I feel like a lemon goes with almost any Seafood it has the perfect flavor to all Seafood that zestiness mixed with that spicy is just it makes my water just thinking about it we're gonna go ahead and cut about three to four maybe five lemons based on the size just do it to your liking now we're gonna go ahead and put that to the side with our vegetables now we're gonna come with our oranges as you can see I got the sweetest ones possible that Citrus flavor to go with the lemons as well as the sweetness of the oranges and the spiciness of the boil the salting everything in it just works perfect together so go ahead and cut again about four or five oranges and then put those with the vegetables as well now that we have everything cut and prepped it's time to get the boil started now when I turn my propane on I know they might have some air left in there and that's not what you want so what I do is let it bleed I turn it on and for a couple of seconds to push out that excess air then I turn it off and then let it sit back for a couple of seconds so we don't blow ourselves up from Nobel turn it on slightly and then go ahead and press the ignite button and it should turn right on having a quality boiler is just so key and it's just it just makes your life better this stuff will get Harder Faster than you can put the Crawfish in there but now that we have a fire starter we're gonna come with everything except for the corn sausage and potatoes a lot of people tell you to squeeze the oranges and lemons into the thing but again don't waste your time all that is gonna come right down into the boil and cook out and you don't need to do all that just put them right in there now we want to wait for a pop to get some slight heat to it before we add our seasonings because we want it hot enough so the seasonings could dissolve into the water now everyone has their own seasoning blend for me I like to use four pounds of my favorite seafood boil seasoning along with about three ounces of garlic powder onion powder paprika cayenne pepper to your taste and then some bay leaves you can use Soda if you want but again your preference everybody has their own way do what you like just remember if you ain't sneezing it ain't seasoned throw the whole thing in there now we're going to add in some concentrated liquid seafood boil you can use half a bottle I like to use the whole bottle I like it as spicy as it could be then you want to come with a whole bottle of hot sauce you want to get the type that you can pop the top off and just pour it right in because you don't want to be there shaking it all day trying to get all that hot sauce out and again use as much hot sauces to your preference and this is why we don't understand why people have to put seasoning on top they crawfish in Louisiana that boiler is going to have so much flavor in it that you don't need anything other than what's in this water you don't have to sprinkle nothing on top you don't have to put no sauce there's nothing and another thing I know y'all already peeped the shirt out it's a pecan not a pecan if you don't agree argue with your mom let's get back into it we want this to cook down for about 10 minutes before we add our sausage and potatoes now we're gonna close this off and let it cook for another 10 minutes and this is why I said you do not need to squeeze the lemons all the pulp and everything is out of there and into that boil you would have been wasting your time squeezing a minute and then again with the onions and garlic look how the skin just easily peels off now you got this sweet tender onion to just I'm telling y'all it's pressure now for the main event the Crawfish we're gonna go ahead and add as much as the Lord allows I need all that go ahead and mix it all up and now you want your crawfish to come to a rolling boil and if you were wondering about the seafood boil I have I got this one from Academy they also have bigger ones but this one works fine for me and most of the the time you're eating your bowl outside so you want to make sure that you set up some tiki torches around the yard because ain't nothing worse than a bunch of flies bothering you while you're trying to eat your crawfish now back to the show Once your crawfish comes to a boil you want to only cook it for about two to three minutes set a timer that's all you need once those two to three minutes pass we're gonna go ahead and cut the fire off completely now this is one of the most important parts of a boil the soak time I have a different way of doing mine everybody has their own way but for me I do a hot soak and then a zesty soak for the hot soak I'ma let them sit as is for about 10 minutes you want them to start to soak up that flavor as you can see most of your crawfish at the top so that means they haven't even begun to soak up that flavor yet after that first 10 minutes you'll see them start to sink to the Bottom now it's time for the zesty soak some people like to hose down the side of their Crawfish Pot to cool it down I like to just add some ice it won't dilute it because we have plenty of flavor and you can also save some of the juice from this boil freeze it and use it in place of ice next time you have a boil and I keep having to reiterate this whatever you like in your crawfish boil or however you like to do it you do that now on top of the ice we're gonna add some frozen corn the corn is going to soak up all this flavor so quickly so it only needs about 10-15 minutes as well to cook down and to suck up all that Flavor now this is another optional thing I like to add just to put a little bit more flavor they're called boil boosters they have all different flavors of boil boosters from Citrus smashed garlic herbs and the best part about it is salt free so it just adds flavor without the soap this one is a citrus flavor so I'll pour it in there and then I'm just gonna mix it up into my zesty soap and then let all this soak for about 15 minutes maybe 10. the longest soaks the more flavor it'll soak up as you can see the corn has put up all the seasoning in the kernels in between everything already and it hasn't even been 10 minutes but once those crawfish sink to the bottom it's soaked up all the flavor you need those Heads Are Juicy it has every single thing you need and you want to go ahead and taste test it to your preference if it's not so saltier flavorful enough just let it soak a little bit longer now for the taste test I'm gonna show y'all how I peel a crawfish first you want to detach the tail from the head you go ahead and suck the head because that's where all the flavor is at if you don't do this you're missing out now you want to gently pinch the tail and pull apart your devein it just like that a lot of people will peel that first layer of the shell off first but I just like to crack it all the way and then just pull it apart just like that it may feel tedious at first but I've been eating crawfish my whole life so it's just second nature and therapeutic to me but once those crawfish have soaked to your liking pull them out and look at that yes Lord we're gonna pull them out serve them up for the family eat them piping hot with all your fixings and just like my name you're all done and if y'all found this video insightful or entertaining make sure y'all like And subscribe I'm new to YouTube so I want to start doing this more thank you all for watching

Channel: Chef Alden B

Views: 753,014

Keywords: cooking, recipes, home cooking, crawfish, crawdads, crayfish, seafood boil, crawfish boil, louisiana cooking, comfort food, new orleans, foodie

Id: V2LqOIiDd5E

Length: 10min 43sec (643 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 13 2023