# Cajun Country Boil



## dogboa (Dec 26, 2013)

A couple times a year, when crawfish are in season, I order a 40# sack from my supplier in LA. We do a traditional boil. Drink Abita beer, pick crab and crawfish. The boil water is seasoned with my suppliers secret spice mix, liquid boil concentrate, bags of Zatarain's crab boil spice, lemon halves that get squeezed first and then dumped in and finally heads of garlic that have been cut in half. Vegis include red skin potatoes, sweet onions and ears of corn. Generally that will suffice, but if it is a big crowd, I might do a side of seafood stuffed mirlitons. I also add chunks of homemade andouille sausage.













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__ dogboa
__ Dec 26, 2013






Craig


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## bmudd14474 (Dec 26, 2013)

Looks great.


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## dogboa (Dec 26, 2013)

Thanks!

Craig


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## leah elisheva (Dec 27, 2013)

Well how fabulous! The mound in your picture looks terrific!!!!! What a fun thing!

I've never been properly introduced to that experience and would love to learn the real way! 

Happy Friday! 

Cheers! - Leah


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## foamheart (Dec 27, 2013)

Looks like Pond crawfish, easier on the fingers..... sweeter meat too. really looks good.

Thank you for sharing.


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## dogboa (Dec 27, 2013)

The last two sacks I got were supposed to be wild harvested. There wasn't much "extra" in with them as there was with the known pond raised I got once. That sack had snails and grass mixed in. The color reminded me of Gulf brown shrimp.


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## papap (Dec 27, 2013)

It just depends on the fisherman.  Some use grading tables in their boats.  This lets all the trash and small crawfish fall out before getting to the sacks.  The season is just getting going.  Can't wait to have some. We usually have them at least twice a week either in resturants or at home.


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## papap (Dec 27, 2013)

You need to try you some mushrooms in your veggies.


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## dogboa (Dec 27, 2013)

papap said:


> You need to try you some mushrooms in your veggies.


Thanks papap! Do you use white button mushrooms or creminis? Maybe some wild mushrooms?


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## papap (Dec 27, 2013)

The small button ones.  If there really big I cut them in half.   They really soak up the spices.    So be careful. LOL


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## dogboa (Dec 27, 2013)

Ah, just found a shot of another boil. This time the crabs are deep water, golden crabs which were done separately and steamed Maryland style. We also had some steamed clams.













clams crabs crawfish.JPG



__ dogboa
__ Dec 27, 2013


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## leah elisheva (Dec 27, 2013)

Holy Wow, that's beautiful! Looks terrific! Cheers! - Leah


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## papap (Dec 27, 2013)

You made me hungry.  Our first ones of the season.[ATTACHMENT=1078]image.jpg (678k. jpg file)[/ATTACHMENT]


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## ajbert (Dec 27, 2013)

papap beat me to the punch on mushrooms.  They are a MUST in any boil.

Went to my cousin's house earlier this year for a crawfish boil and he threw something in the pot that I've never seen before.  A whole pineapple!  Well, actually a few whole pineapples, minus the outer "covering".  Talk about the best pineapple I've ever had!

Keep in mind these were big pots and we went through about 200 lbs of crawfish.


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## dogboa (Dec 28, 2013)

Dang papap, I didn't realize they were available this early. I'll have to check with my supplier and see if I can get some. You got my mouth watering now!

AJBert, my wife reminded me that we have had mushrooms in a boil at our daughters. My SIL is a registered coona$$. My daughter loves the mushrooms, my wife does not. Pineapple wow, my wife would probably love it, but I'm allergic to fresh pineapple.

When I do a sack at home for just the wife and myself, we purposely end up with about 2# of tails. One of our favorite things to do with the tails is to make a grilled pizza.


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## aeroforce100 (Dec 28, 2013)

Foamheart said:


> Looks like Pond crawfish, easier on the fingers..... sweeter meat too. really looks good.
> 
> Thank you for sharing.


Foamy,  How can I, (a non Cajun), tell a pond crawfish from a wild bayou raised one?


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## papap (Dec 28, 2013)

Wild are usually darker.   But unless they are side by Side it's hard to tell most of the time.


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## foamheart (Dec 28, 2013)

Pond crawfish are smaller, and like Papap said, the swamp crawfish are darker in color with a lot of black on their shells with much larger claws. ROFLMAO they are free range crawfish! The swamp is a hostile environment to live in. When I was a kid we crawfished along the train tracks and got the same type as the pond crawfish. Everyone complained about the size but at the end of the day your thumbs appreciated the smaller crawfish. Swamp or devil crawfish have very hard shells and tear your thumbs up even with the most experienced peeler. Crawfishing like crabbing always involved a days trip away from the house and was always a day of fun while gathering food for the family and neighbors. You could not go crabbing/crawfishing if you could get enough to feed the family and neighbors.

Sorry for hijacking Dogboa, my apologies.


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## papap (Dec 28, 2013)

Not sure about pond crawfish being smaller.  We have some farmer around Lake Arthur that their crawfish are much larger than any caught in the wild.


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## dogboa (Dec 28, 2013)

Foamheart, Useful information is never hijacking! These were from the last sack I got, after purging.













Le mudbugs2.jpg



__ dogboa
__ Dec 26, 2013


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## leah elisheva (Dec 28, 2013)

These pictures are unreal! Fabulous! Cheers! - Leah


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## papap (Dec 28, 2013)

They are selling for about 3$ a pound live right now.  Not cheap.


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## foamheart (Dec 28, 2013)

See how excited they are, they are all happy happy after the bath and ready to make your tummy happy happy.


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## ajbert (Dec 29, 2013)

I would guess any crawfish available now would have to be pond raised?  Folks around here don't even start to go after them until late Feb at the earliest.  These would be spillway or Atchafalaya Basin crawfish.  Best time to buy them is always after Easter as the prices drop considerably.


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## papap (Dec 29, 2013)

Yes it's pond season kicking off.


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