Question for you master boilers - boil crawfish or crabs first? (1 Viewer)

[d3cyph3r]

My brother tells me that crabs really dirty the water and it isn't good to cook crawfish after crabs in a boil. He also suggested not to boil all your fixins with the crabs either. Supposedly they puke like crazy once they get in the pot and it messes up the fixins (corn, potatoes)

I've got 2 sacks of crawfish and a bushel of crabs. The easiest way would be to boil the sacks then the crabs. However if I did the crabs in the middle I'd have to change the water for the last sack of crawfish.

What say you masters of the boil? I think my brother is full of it, but he has been right a few times on things.

I'm rolling with Captain Sid's seasoning, oranges, lemons, onions, garlic, green beans, corn, potatoes, more garlic, onions, shrooms, conecuh sausage. First boil of the season for me, so I want it to be perfect!!!

 

[BIG E]

I always boil my vegetables first. That's a lot of seafood for the same pot of water unless you got one of those fancy 2 sack boilers. I would use 2 pots are change water once.

 

[gboudx]

It was me, veggies first, then both sacks of crawfish, then crabs. If you were boiling shrimp I'd say either boil those first to have clean water.

 

[bayoubadboy]

Captain Sid's is good stuff.
Use half of the first boil bag and all the seasoning vegetables to boil those vegetables that take longer, such as potatoes. Pull the potatoes and add the well-rinsed (fresh water only) crawfish and the rest of the seasoning bag. Cook crawfish as you normally would. (for what it's worth, I add the vegetables that don't take much time to cook such as mushrooms, corn and asparagus to the pot during the soak when the fire is off. 20-25 minutes in hot water is enough to cook them.)
Remove the crawfish and add the half bag of Capt Sid's boil. Use this to boil your crabs in.
Btw, unlike crawfish, you can purge crabs in salted water. This is recommended so that the crabs "throw up" .

 

[jbourque]

Btw, unlike crawfish, you can purge crabs in salted water. This is recommended so that the crabs "throw up" .

Just out of curosity, I've got friends who purge crawfish in salt water and some who purge in fresh water. Both swear their way is right. What is your opinion on purging with saltwater, or rather, why you can't?

Thanks

 

[bayoubadboy]

Just out of curosity, I've got friends who purge crawfish in salt water and some who purge in fresh water. Both swear their way is right. What is your opinion on purging with saltwater, or rather, why you can't?

Thanks

Simply put, crawfish are fresh water. If you put them in salt water they cannot breath and they die. All they need is to be rinsed well where they don't muddy the water they are boiled in since that is what you are ingesting when You blow the heads.

Crabs on the other hand can handle salted water, although the high salininty will cause them to purge themsleves. Also, they are usually not that muddy and you are not sucking in the water they cooked in.

 

[gavinj]

Dirt and crab puke are my secret ingredients.

 

[krushing]

I've always purged my crawfish in salt water for about 30 seconds and then washed them down good with fresh water. That's the way everyone I know does it. They get sluggish for sure, but the mud gets out of them. When I re-wash them with fresh water, it's full of mud even if I had washed them before I purged them which I usually do.

 

[antipop]

get an ice chest with a drain plug....put the crawfish in it and fill it with water...let it sit for a couple of minutes then drain it....repeat until the water is clear...no salt required

 

[SaintBiz]

LSU aquaculture dept put out a controlled study they performed several years ago. Salt purging crawfish has no advantage at all. It has several disadvantages. The study can probably be found online. As for crabs, as previously posted, they are not usaully muddy and can be rinsed off fairly easy. However you do it, invite me over and I'll eat my fill.