When you ask our Saltgrass customers about the food, chances are (depending on the season) you’ll hear the Crawfish (or Shrimp) Boil!  Many times, we’ve introduced our guests to their first crawfish boil (and even taught them to peel the shell like a pro).
Peeling them is easy, when it comes to perfectly boiled crawfish, there’s a scientific way to time how long to let them sit before draining the water.  I’ve kept this secret for many years, but on occasion, I’ll share it with our customers.
Years ago, I heard it on authority from a very famous New Orleans Chef (Paul Prudhomme) that the key to perfectly boiled shrimp was that once you turn off the burner, you let them sit, until they float.  Once they float, they are done.  This works the same for both crawfish and shrimp.  To be sure it’s the right bite of spice, I always taste the first one before it hits the table (quality control!).  Now you know how to Boil it like a pro!

Zatarain’s Liquid Crab Boil
1 sack of live crawfish
Water (you’ll need 5 gallons for each 10 pounds of crawfish)
1 pound mushrooms
4 lbs. new potatoes
8-10 onions cut in half
5-6 whole garlic pods (cut off just the tops to open them up
8-10 lemons cut in half
10-12 ears of corn cut in half
4 smoked sausage links cut into 3-4″ pieces

Rinse the crawfish with running water in a large pot or ice chest.  Take a large crawfish boiling pot add water and crab boil seasoning bring to a rolling boil.  Add your crawfish, potatoes, onions, lemons, garlic, mushrooms, corn and smoked sausage to the strainer basket and place in the boiling water.  Turn the burner on high and bring to a boil.  Turn down the heat for approx. 5 minutes after it begins boiling.  Turn off the water and let it sit until the crawfish start floating.  Taste them for spice level, leave them sit a bit if needed.  (Just not too long!  Over boiling and letting them sit too long will result in overcooked crawfish that are mushy and hard to peel.)