Crawfish Scampi Recipe (Garlic Butter Crawfish Tails) (2024)

FAQs

Do you rinse crawfish tails before cooking? ›

Crawfish is packed either with fat-on or it may be rinsed/washed to remove the fat. The yellow substance is the fat. Most cooks prefer crawfish with fat-on since it enhances the flavor of the finished dish. You may remove the fat simply by rinsing the crawfish in cold water.

Yes, you can cook frozen crawfish tails without thawing them first. In fact, it is often recommended to cook them directly from frozen to preserve their texture and flavor.

If you cook it too long, the texture turns from smooth and meaty to mushy or rubbery.

Helpful Tips On How To Boil Crawfish

Adding the ice or the fresh water from a hose to the boiled crawfish while still in the cooker helps cool them slightly and push water into the shell for a juicier bite and easy peel.

That mysterious blob is actually the crawfish's hepatopancreas, which according to the Louisiana State University Agricultural Service, functions somewhat like the human liver, filtering out toxins and other substances that could potentially harm the crawfish.

FROZEN - thaw in chiller overnight. Cooking: To boil: Keep the cray in salted boiling water for about 10-12 minutes or until their shells turn a bright orange colour. Put in cold water immediately afterwards to arrest the cooking process.

If the tail meat is rubbery, the crawfish is undercooked, if mushy and falling apart, it is overcooked. You are looking for a firm tail, juicy head and great spice. The crawfish will begin to sink. The sinking means they are ready to eat and have absorbed all of the flavor.

Never eat crawfish meat that is mealy, mushy, easily tears apart or has an off color or flavor. These conditions indicate that the crawfish was dead prior to cooking. Crawfish meat will sometimes darken or turn "blue" when cooked in etouffee or stews. There is really nothing wrong with the meat.

You can safely eat all the meat in the body of the crawfish, as well as the head. Most people avoid eating the shell, tail, and antennae.

Are crawfish tails healthy? ›

Crawfish are a great source of lean protein

When it comes to whether or not a crawfish boil is healthy, the crawfish themselves certainly aren't the issue. "A serving of crawfish, which is about three ounces of peeled crawfish tails, is a very low-calorie, low-fat source of protein," says Snyder.

Crawfish do have a dark vein that you should remove before eating. *It will not hurt you to eat it*. In young crawfish, that vein will turn semi clear once the crawfish is all purged. But as they get older, the vein stays a dark color, so it makes it look like it is dirty, which usually is not the case.

Cut the Crayfish in half and clean. Season flesh with salt and pepper, then place in a bamboo steamer ready for steaming. Steam the Crayfish for 5 to 7 minutes over a wok of gently boiling salted water.

Clean The Crawfish

That isn't just a name, it's a description. Clean them thoroughly by rinsing them in fresh cool water. Need a container large enough to rinse them in? That's where your trusty ice chest (and an outside hose) comes in handy!