Cleaning and Cooking Crawdads

[PrinceFisher]

Thought I'd chime in on crawdads. My family and I love to catch and dine on them each summer. We've become fairly proficient at cleaning a bunch of them quickly in a short amount of time. I always clean them BEFORE I boil them.

Here's how: Pick up a live crawdad, and firmly pinch (without cracking its tail) the sides of its tail between your thumb and forefinger. With your other hand, grab the middle scale of the crawdad's tail fan. (I believe there are five tail fan scales, so grab the one that's right in the middle.) Pinch the middle tail fan scale near where it connects on the tail. Next, while pinching firmly and pulling, disconnect the middle tail scale from the tail. If you do it right, a long, slender tube will pull out of the tail. The process is the same as deveining a shrimp.

I've read and seen evidence that crawdad's spoil very quickly, so we try to cook them as quickly as we can after catching them. We like to cut up red potatoes into chunks and get them boiling with salt and onions for awhile before we add ears of corn; the crawdads are the last things we add, because it only takes a few minutes to thoroughly cook them. Cooking the crawdads with the potatoes and corn gives everything a wonderful seafood flavor.

The DWR also has a small brochure on how to clean and cook them.

Hope this is helpful.

PF
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[fishluvr]

I've heard of people cleaning and de-tailing them before cooking them but have never tried it myself. I have always just purged them and then cooked them while they are alive. Supposedly it makes the tail meat better because like you said they spoil fast. Also, try putting some cajun crab boil in the water and it makes a world of difference in the flavor of the potatoes, corn, and crawfish. If you are more of a go getter than I am maybe we can get some people together and put together a BFT crawfish boil party like has been talked about in the past. It's good to see other people like crawfish as much as I do.
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[PrinceFisher]

I think a BFT crawdadfest would be great.
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[aquaman]

click on the link below there was a post put up yesterday about this very subject

[font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=145586;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread"]how about a crawdad cook up [/url][/size][/black][/font]
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[guppyslayer]

i used to eat quite a few crawdads many years ago when i lived in tennesee. i always separated the tail from the body, removed the exterior/scales, so that all i had was the flesh. I then cooked them in a skillet with butter and lightly salted. yum

[CATCHandreEAT]

I've cooked 'dads both ways with the vein and without the vein and IMO it's much better to remove the vein. It's my understanding that the vein will rupture when cooked and toughen or sour the meat. There is an iodine like fluid in the vein that turns the meat yellow and ruins the taste and texture. JMO your milage may vary.
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[southernman]

here's a good article:

[url "http://www.neworleansseafood.net/Recipe/boiling_crawfish.htm"]http://www.neworleansseafood.net/Recipe/boiling_crawfish.htm[/url]



sm
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[snagd]

Hey, check it out. there is a link at the bottom of the web page that links you to other recipies like, Baked Coon and Sweet Patato's" M M M M GOOD. (Now the only thing standing between me and this recipe is where to get a coon?
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[southernman]

raccoon always gives me gas, terrible

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sm
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[mikecromaine]

THEY HAD A RECIPE FOR GATOR SALAD ALSO NOW THAT I CAN SINK MY TEETH INTO UMMMMM
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[Gumbo]

From Utah's DWR Web site...

[#660000][size 4][url "http://www.wildlife.utah.gov/fishing/crayfish.html"]Crayfishing for fun and food[/url][/size][/#660000]

[scartinez]

Thanks for all the info. I'm heading down to huntington north res. and its filled with dads. Sounds like I'm in for a good dinner down there.
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[fishboy2]

you came up with the idea, you get to make it happen, lol. it is a good idea, and i would be willing to help whenever and however i can.
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