Question on cooking Crawchie southern style | SouthernPaddler.com

Question on cooking Crawchie southern style

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dawallace45

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2003
1,067
1
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Oakhurst , Queensland , Australia , 4650
We've been having a bit of rain here lately and some of the small creeks are running and there are a few crawchie around and as soon as my brother gives me back my pots I intend to get some but have seen mention of cooking them southern style in a few places and would like to know more about it , so who are the experts here ?

David
 
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Wannabe

Well-Known Member
Apr 5, 2007
2,645
2
on the bank of Trinity Bay
David,
On time at Pipers we had crawfish and it was outstanding. I think that was the time you called and talked to a bunch of us. That was special. I do not know how much or what kind of spices was used nut they added corn on the cob, potatoes, mushrooms and garlic. Big ole garlics just cut in half and chunked in. It was so good. One lady there told me that when her brother boiled crawfish he would put several packages of winnies in the pot. After the crawfish was done, he would pull the basket out of the pot, dump the load on the table,separate all the winnies to one side and eat the crawfish. after they cooled he would put the winnies in zip lock bags and freeze them. When crawfish was not in season and he wanted the taste of crawfish he would thaw out some winnies. While boiling with the crawfish the winnies would take on the crawfish flavor and he could bring back precious memories of crawfish.
My Brother in Law used to boil 3 or 4 sacks every Easter and I would get a corn on the cob out of the first pot boiled. After about two bites your mouth would start to go numb. David, I think you would have liked it. I know I did. Don't forget to suck the head. That is where the good flavor hides.
Bob
 
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dawallace45

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2003
1,067
1
66
Oakhurst , Queensland , Australia , 4650
Bob

I think we may have a language barrier thing here , what the hell is a Winnie ? here winnie is a slang name for Winfield cigarettes and I'm pretty sure that you don't throw them in the pot , any idea of what sort of spice to cook them with and how long and how much spice per pound and such ,

Here when we cook them we just add salt to the water and no spice and I doubt there is a Australian alive that would suck the head of a crawchie unless at gun point , the whole concept just take a bit of getting used to

David
 
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seedtick

Well-Known Member
Jul 22, 2006
1,161
7
Denham Springs, LA
there are as many ways to cook crawfish as there used to be hair on my head

this time of year, with the weather warming up, the popular way is to boil them in water with enough seasoning to make your head sweat and your mouth burn. There's lots of prepackaged seasoning mixes around here, my favorite is Louisiana Brand crawfish, crab and shrimp mix. It comes in a big bag that they say is good for a sack of crawfish (~35 pounds). I use two bags plus about a pint of cayenne peppers for a sack. But there's no hard and fast seasoning, add what you like until the water tastes the way you want it to. The crawfish will not be as well seasoned as the water. Bring the water to a boil and boil them until they float and turn the fire off and let them sit until they sink. Most folks can't wait that long so they boil for about 10 minutes and soak for 20 or 30 minutes. When you put the crawfish in water, you can also put in whatever you want -new potatoes, corn on the cob, onions, lemons, garlic, hot dogs, sausage, etc.

the first person to suck the head must have been like the first person to eat a raw oyster, but i'm glad they showed us what good eating it can be

another way is to boil them with less seasoning and add seasoning on top of the cooked crawfish. It doesn't really season the crawfish like boiling does but the seasoning on the outside gets all over everything else and eventually gets into your mouth
 
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dawallace45

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2003
1,067
1
66
Oakhurst , Queensland , Australia , 4650
Thanks Seedtick , we don't get pre-packaged spice for crayfish here , will have to do some more research I suppose , still just can't even imagine sucking the head of a crawfish , as for oysters , yeah , I can just imagine it some one walking along and sees a oyster and says " look a rock with snot in it , lets try eating it " , must of been one of those guys that picked his nose as a child and never lost the habit

Still can't work out how any one got the word Winnies for frankfurters , now if you had said Weeners I would have had a idea

Jack , those look like the Sydney Crawfish , a medium size beastie , we have over a hundred different species of fresh water crawfish here in Australia , many would make those look like babies

Australia is home to the world's two largest freshwater crayfish – the Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish , which can achieve a mass of 11 lb and is found in the rivers of northern Tasmania, and the Murray crayfish , which can reach 4.4 lb and is found in much of the southern Murray-Darling basin.

We have two main species up around here , a smaller species that only grows to about 3 inches or a little more but under the right conditions can grow to over 6" and the red claw , now the red claw is a bit of a funny one , many of the things I've read about them reckon that they only grow to about 5 inches or so , now I'm just talking body length here not claws included , and many others reckon that they can reach about 16" long in the right conditions , all I know is that conditions for them are considered marginal here and they only grow to about the size seen in the clip on Jacks link but up at Clermont and Emerald where conditions were better for them they grew to over 14" and some people speared then in the shallows of a night with good spot lights , I've caught a goodly number around the 12" to 14" length

We use what we call Opera House traps for them http://www.aabio.com.au/documents/Trapp ... eTraps.pdf , the ones we use have a ring in the entrance as a turtle extruder that is 90 mm in dia , [ about 3 1/2" ] , I've seen pictures taken on the dam at Emerald where the Redclaw have been so big they got stuck in the ring and couldn't get in or out , don't know how long they were as the guy who took the pictures never bothered to measure

David
 
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hairymick01

Well-Known Member
Mar 12, 2011
304
1
Fraser Coast, Queensland, Australia
David,

Lakes Borumba, Boondooma and Somerset (and the creeks below then now after the floods) are alive with big redclaw. I have seen a lot of them pulled from Borumba with a body length in excess of 12 inches. Those in the know down there cut them in half lengthwise, season to taste and cook on the barbeque. Personally, I much prefer cherubin or long armed shrimp.
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Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
I dunno, Mick, they look to me like a fella would have to drink WAAAYYYYyyyy too much beer washing those down to make it worth his while. :wink: Ya probably oughta just stick with either spam or tofu. :roll:
 
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dawallace45

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2003
1,067
1
66
Oakhurst , Queensland , Australia , 4650
Mick

Awoonga dam has quite a few at times but you have to keep your eye on your traps as a lot of people like to help you out by checking them for you

I just checked my traps down the back and only have three in them , I'm trying boiled potato as bait for the first time as recommended by a mate of mine , not at all sure about it , mainly use pilchards or dry dog food

Good to know about the dams , I hear tell that the Mary river and Tinana creek have them too , I surely hope so , when we move most of the places we're looking at are close to Tinana creek , looks to be a good place to paddle as well

I don' mind the cherubin , I ate them a lot up north , good if the water is well salted but a bit bland when you run out of salt , have to admit that I'm finding crawchies and crab a bit bland these days and really like the idea of a Louisiana style crab or crawfish boil ,

Found a few sites with spice recipes for Craw fish and crab boil , when I next get some I'll give it a go

Have tried the Redclaw split down the middle and cooked on the Bar-B-Q with Cajun seasoning and butter and they weren't bad at all

While looking for spice recipes I come across the info that Qld Red Claw crayfish are now grown commercially in the USA

David
 
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dawallace45

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2003
1,067
1
66
Oakhurst , Queensland , Australia , 4650
Growing up we always cooked the crabs whole but recently most of us have been cleaning the crabs first , I shied away from it first off as I thought that it would detract from the flavor but I'm coming around as I've been finding that the taste tends to be cleaner , really want to try it cooked with the spices

Been looking on youtube as to the southern style crab and crawfish boil and there doesn't seem to be any sort of set pattern as how to do it , some throw the corn and potatoes in and cook in the spices and then take them out when cooked and then cook the crawfish but others cook them all together and still others cook the corn and potatoes after , how do you fellers do it ?

David
 
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Kayak Jack

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2003
13,976
171
86
Okemos / East Lansing Michigan
David, I have no opinion on sequencing the food, except for maybe heating capacity of your heat source. Putting all the food in at one time may over ride the stove's ability to keep up the boil? If the fire can keep up, I''d be tempted to do it all at one time for convenience and flavor sake.
 
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