This kind of place is very popular in Las Vegas and actually looks pretty good IRL.
I think the first one was Hot N Juicy Crawfish
A lot of the Vietnamese places in Houston’s huge Chinatown use the bag method often with a garlic butter sauce.
Do they boil them in a bag or just toss them in a bag and mix with spices? It would seem the best way would be to boil them with seasoning and then if going with the bag, shake them up so there is some seasoning on the outside for taste and show. At least from my crab cooking, this would seem to be the best way but I’m definitely not putting my crabs in a bag!
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I am not a fan of putting seasoning on after being boiled. If the water is seasoned properly and the Crawfish soak then they will be spicy. I don’t like having a bunch of seasoning on my hands.
I have been boiling Crawfish for over 35 years and am a purist. Lol
I also don’t think king cakes should be sold or consumed before Jan 6th and after Mardi gras day.
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https://www.yelp.com/biz/crawfish-and-noodles-houston
Yes they boil, place in bag with seasoning and emptied in a bowl at the table.
Yeah I understand. I’ve never cooked a single crawfish in my life but I’ve eaten some on several occasions (whole ones I mean.) I’m just curious as to how these things are cooked and the methods they use. The Asian cultures around here cook crab different ways too so it’s neat to see and try different styles used.
Let me sift through this and report back.
How many people do you think 100lbs would feed? Obviously this is just a very rough estimate. I’m intrigued. I might have to plan something out and if doing it I’m going big! Maybe a camping trip, family gathering, hodown. I think if I can cook some damn good crab, I can make a half decent crawfish pot. Maybe lol
I have a friend who used to have at least 100 pounds shipped in every May for his annual crawfish fest here in NJ-let me ask him how much he ordered…
Just got a quick answer (he’s with his cooking society tonight)… He orders from Louisiana Crawfish Company and the last time, he ordered 80 pounds. That was in May—I don’t know if the time of year makes a difference. I’ll get more details from him tomorrow, but he used to have at least 40 people there (and an insane amount of other gorgeous d).
It’s hard to say, people eat from 1/2 to 5 pounds plus. The ones at my friend’s place have 80 pounds with around 15-20 people who eats lots but there’s plenty left over.
The tradition is they’re thrown on ice and the next day everyone is free to come over and peel and take what they want to take home. I prefer making an etouffee or creole dish. It’s usually 2 or 3 guys with plenty more beer.
How do you cook crab? You can over salt crawfish but not over season, lots of options on line.
The time of year makes a huge difference. April to mid-May is prime, after that the shells get hard and are very difficult to peel.
You know, I think I’ve only had crawfish at two places in my life. Chinese buffet in Edison and in New Orleans. It’s crazy how much better the ones I had in New Orleans were. Not sure if it’s the spice or the product. Probably both.
I’m not sure how or why this is a thing, but there are Chinese restaurants that are doing seafood boils (including crawfish) in Edison now. Like literally they advertise the New Orleans/cajun spice. They also serve them in different ways/Chinese seasonings too. I’ve been meaning to try them but haven’t had a chance.
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/seafood-boil-dunellen?select=Ugw8fGikmsTFvMxFLnkRQw
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/spice-24-edison?select=Gc4iSdKFf9s0A_eqCsufpQ
There’s are many Vietnamese places here in Houston that do blue crabs. One does/did one of our favorites, crab in black bean sauce. We’d order it and they’d say no, you want black pepper sauce, no we want black bean sauce, this would go back and forth for about 30-45 seconds until we got what we wanted.
The black pepper sauce is good, but alas the bean sauce is no longer available. A margin issue?
The last time I was in Louisiana was in peak crawfish and oyster season. We ate at two places in Metairie, Bozo’s and Deanie’s. Both sold crawfish that were cool, not to order like here in Houston and it was early in the day. To ad insult to injury the raw oysters at Deanie’s were pasteurized from Florida completely lacking in flavor.
A couple had just driven in from Nevada wanting raw oysters and I advised them to run, not walk away.
We did have some good ones at Felix’s in the Quarter.
We were driving the mind numbing 350 mile trip from Houston on I-10 and couldn’t take it any more and got off on US 90 driving through small towns. Everyone had a small crawfish stand but not open until 5 so we couldn’t stop, and there were flooded fields with crawfish traps everywhere.
Wow I’m really surprised by that, especially the pasteurized oyster part. I never even knew that existed! This article is old but has some interesting info: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120391035
Why anyone would choose to pasteurize their oysters is beyond me.
This was the place we went: https://www.yelp.com/biz/cajun-seafood-new-orleans-2
Nothing fancy about it, it’s in a shitty neighborhood and had the perfect ambiance for the food. Everyone was absolutely delicious, exactly my kind of spot. I need to get back there. I really wish I got to check out those crawfish stands you mentioned, that’s the stuff right there.
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. The pasteurized oyster has a stronger flavor and firmer texture than unprocessed oysters.
That from the article. I disagree vehemently, by the second oyster I knew something was amiss. I asked the server about the product and was told they were pasteurized which is why I warned the road weary couple from Nevada away.
Seafood Boil in Dunellen is good! We always get “#4 Choice Combo” with Boom sauce and an extra lb of dungeness clusters.
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