Lifestyles
The Virtual Gourmand - Column No. 7: Crawfish, Crayfish, Crawdaddies or Mudbugs... It's all good!
Having spent ½ of my life in New Orleans, crawfish have become a part of my life. Every spring, between Mardi Gras and JazzFest, these lovely little crustaceans come into season. Neighborhoods gather, boil a few sacks of them in a spicy brine with corn on the cob, potatoes, sausage, garlic, artichokes, mushrooms and celery, They spread newspapers over a picnic table and take them directly from the boil and spread them out, everyone picking their own and chatting about the week's events.
Now that I'm living in Atlanta, live crawfish aren't nearly as easy to come by, but I've found that the frozen tail meat is readily available either at the local grocery store or at Wal-Mart. I can still enjoy the crawfish dishes I used to make regularly in New Orleans no matter where I am.
I'd really love to expound the virtues of Louisiana-caught crawfish as opposed to the Chinese or Vietnamese varieties. I'd love to tell you to support the native-caught varieties over those that are imported, if for no other reason than to keep alive a tradition that has spanned many generations. The fact of the matter is that Louisiana-caught crawfish aren't as readily available outside the state and I honestly can't taste a difference between the two. If you can find Louisiana crawfish and can afford the price difference versus imported, by all means do so. But don't let the fact that they might be imported chase you away from enjoying these treats.
The Cajun chef Miss Lucy (Lucy Henry Zaunbrecher) likes to tell a story that the Acadians, having been exiled from Nova Scotia, carried lobsters with them as they traveled to their new home in the Bayous of Louisiana. The story goes that the trip was so long and hard that by the time they arrived, the lobsters had shrunk to become crawfish, which were then released by the Cajuns into the bayous to multiply. The truth is that the little mudbugs are native to the area. In fact, they are indigenous to almost all of the lower 48 states. Believe it or not, Alabama is the state with the most native species of crawfish. More than 80 different species of the crustacean live in the state's waters, some so specific to their habitats that they are found only in a certain spot in a single waterway.
I'd love to give you a recipe for boiled crawfish, but the availability of live crawfish is so restricted it would be almost cruel to get your hopes up and then not be able to find them. So, I'm going to share with you a few favorite recipes I've either created or adapted that can be made using the frozen crawfish tail meat. I originally made these recipes when I had ready access to a lot of Cajun ingredients that aren't widely available outside of southeast Louisiana. I've included the original recipes here, but I've also noted substitutions that can be made if you cannot find the original ingredients. All of these Cajun ingredients can be ordered online.
Many people think that Cajun food has to be spicy (meaning hot from pepper). This is certainly not the case. Black, white and red (cayenne) pepper all have their place in Cajun cooking, often in the same dish. The three peppers are used together to excite all parts of the mouth (and throat, in the case of the red pepper), but they aren't supposed to overpower the dish. I'll address this in detail later in the article. If you are sensitive to the amount of pepper in the dish, add it gradually and taste it. If it needs more, add more. If it doesn't, there's no rule saying you have to use the full amount of pepper in the dish. Season it to your taste. You can always serve hot pepper sauce at the table if your family or guests desire more heat.
Crawfish, Corn, Crab and Potato Bisque
* 3 medium onions, diced
* 2 ribs celery, diced
* 1 lb. tasso, diced*
* 1 stick unsalted butter
* 1 red bell pepper, diced
* 5 ears fresh corn, cut and scraped from cob (or 1 lb Frozen corn)
* 2 lb. crawfish tails
* 1 lb. claw crabmeat
* 2 T. minced garlic
* 4 medium baking potatoes, diced**
* 2-14 oz. cans low-sodium chicken broth
* 1 qt. half-and-half
* 6 bay leaves
* ½ t. cayenne pepper
* salt and black pepper to taste
* 4 T. all-purpose flour.
In a large stockpot, sauté onions and celery in butter until onion is translucent (about 4-5 minutes). Add tasso and garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes. Add corn, potatoes, and bell pepper and sauté another 2 minutes. Add flour and seasonings, combine and then add stock and half-and-half. Simmer until potatoes are cooked through. Add crawfish and crab and simmer another 10 minutes. Serve with crusty French bread.
* Tasso is a spicy Cajun product made by cutting the fat away from a pork belly, seasoning it well and then smoking it. If you can't get tasso, you may substitute bacon. If doing so, render the fat from the bacon as the first step, omit the butter, and sauté the veggies in the rendered bacon fat.
** It is up to you whether you peel the potatoes or not. I think leaving the peel on gives the bisque a more rustic look.
Crawfish Etouffee
This is the classic Cajun dish. It isn't difficult to make, but it does require roux. Roux is a flour and oil mixture that is strirred constantly over medium heat until it browns. The darker the roux, the stronger the flavor it adds to the dish. Generally, Cajuns like their roux to be almost chocolate in color. There are several ways you can make it. You can start with cold oil and flour and stir it as it heats up until you achieve the desired color. This takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and carries with it the danger that a speck of the roux will burn and ruin the batch, forcing you to start over. You can also heat the oil first to about 400 degrees and add the flour and stir until it achieves the desired color. This is much faster, but it too carries the risk of burning the roux. There are a several brands (Savoie's, Richard's and Tony Chacherie's) that sell roux in either powdered or finished form. I would strongly recommend those if you can find them. The skill of making roux is passed through the generations in Cajun households, usually starting at about age 8. This recipe comes from Lucy Henry Zaunbrecher (from , a show she did for Louisiana Public Broadcasting), a close friend of my late mother-in-law. I've made a few adjustments of my own to the recipe, but it is mostly hers.
* " C. flour* 1 C. oil (use any kind you like, but olive oil burns more easily)
* 1 C. onion, chopped
* " bell pepper, chopped
* ½ c celery, chopped
* 1" pt. low-sodium chicken stock (seafood stock is better if you have it)
* 2 lb. crawfish tails
* ¾ t. black pepper
* " t. white pepper
* ½ t. cayenne pepper
* salt and pepper to taste
* A few jiggers of Lea and Perrin's worcestershire sauce (to taste)
* A few jots of Louisiana hot sauce (to taste)
* " C. chopped green onion tops
* ½ C. chopped parsley.
Make a roux with the oil and flour (or, if using jarred roux, melt it over medium heat). Add onions, bell pepper and celery. sauté until limp and shiny. Add stock and bring to a medium boil. Slow boil for 30 minutes. Add crawfish tails, seasonings, onion and parsley. Allow to slow boil for another 10 minutes. Serve over jasmine rice.
Jasmine Rice
* 2 C. jasmine rice* 3 C. water
* pinch salt
* 2 T. butter or margarine.
Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir, cover and reduce heat to low. Check in 10 minutes. Rice is done when all liquid is absorbed, 10-15 minutes.
Crab and Crawfish-Stuffed Whole Fish
This recipe is particularly good with Redfish, but it isn't really available outside of coastal areas. You can really use just about any fish, but I prefer flounder or grouper when I can't get redfish. Make sure the fish is fresh (clear eyes and lack of a fishy smell are good indicators) and that your fishmonger has cleaned and scaled it thoroughly. In the case of flounder, have your fishmonger make a pocket in it for stuffing. For purposes of photographs for this dish, I stuffed Rainbow trout with this recipe.
* 1 2-3 lb. fish, cleaned and scaled* ½ stick unsalted butter
* 1 C. onion, finely diced
* " C. red bell pepper, finely diced
* ½ C. celery, finely diced
* 2 T. minced garlic
* " lb. Claw crabmeat
* " lb. crawfish tails
* 2 tubes of Ritz crackers, crushed
* 2 dashes Lea and Perrins worcestershire sauce
* ½ t. black pepper
* 1/8 t. white pepper
* 1/8 t. cayenne pepper
* 1 egg
* " t. thyme
* salt to taste
Melt butter in a small skillet. Add onion, celery, bell pepper and sauté until the onion has become translucent. Add garlic and sauté another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. In a mixing bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients, adding the sautéed mixture at the end and combine thoroughly. Using your hand, stuff the mixture into the body cavity of the fish. Place the fish in a glass baking dish and cover the bottom of the pan with water or white wine. Cook at 400 degrees until fish becomes flaky and stuffing has set, about 15-20 minutes. Extra stuffing can be molded into patties, dredged in a corn meal and flour mixture and pan-fried like crabcakes.
Crawfish and Shrimp Jambalaya
Andouille is a Cajun sausage made with pork loin that is roughly ground, seasoned heavily, and smoked. If you can't find it, substitute your favorite smoked sausage and add a little more cayenne pepper to the mix. If you're observing Lent and avoiding meat on Fridays (as we were when I made the batch for the photos), you can omit the sausage altogether and it is still very tasty.
This is almost the ultimate "taste as you go" dish. Rather than following a strict recipe, you should experiment with it. Want more onion? Add it. Want it to be more spicy? Add more pepper to it. The only part of the dish that is non-negotiable is the rice-to-stock ratio. If, at the end of cooking, you think the rice is still crunchy, add a little more stock and cook it some more. Improvisational cooking at its very basic.
* " C. oil* 2 C. onion, chopped
* 1 C. bell pepper (green and/or red), chopped
* " C. celery, chopped
* 2 T. minced garlic
* 8 oz. can tomato paste
* 1 lb. andouille or smoked sausage, sliced
* 1 C. green onions, chopped
* salt and pepper to taste*
* 2 C. uncooked rice
* 4 C. chicken stock (seafood stock is better, if you have it)**
* 1 lb. crawfish tails
* 1-" lb. shrimp, peeled
* 2 t. dried thyme leaves
* Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce, to taste
* This is an individual measure. Generally, you will follow a ratio of 1 part black pepper, " portion white pepper and ½ part red pepper. This will make a very hot pot of jambalaya. The pepper flavor builds with each bite, so the idea is to minimize the pepper in the first bite and maximize it by the end of the bowl. It is a balance thing.
** You can make your own seafood stock by taking the shrimp shells, covering them with water and bringing them up to a boil and simmering them. Once they have reached a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Cool, strain and augment the amount of seafood stock you have with the chicken stock to make 4 cups.
Sauté the onions, bell pepper and celery in the oil until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté another 2 minutes. Add sausage and sauté for another 2 minutes. Lower heat to low, add tomato paste, stir to coat and simmer for 5 minutes. Raise heat to medium, add the rice, green onions, stock and shrimp. Bring it all to a boil, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer. When the rice has almost absorbed all the liquid, add the crawfish tails and allow them to heat through, about 10 minutes. Taste and add more stock as needed to finish rice to 'done' status.
With a green salad, this is a meal all by itself.
I hope these recipes have inspired you to try one of the great ingredients of southeast Louisiana. Crawfish... fresh or frozen is a great flavor to add to your table year-round.
Contributing Editor and CW Executive Chef Jason Clabaugh (BigO) hailed from New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina devastated the city and has settled in a suburb of Atlanta. With the addition of a new baby to his family he's refocused his energies on fatherhood and a new project bringing his famous mango-habanero salsa and unique barbecue sauces into commercial production.