Host a Crawfish Boil: How to Prepare & Cook Live Crawfish During Crawfish Season by Donna John

It's crawfish season again! Thinking of having a crawfish boil but not sure how to do it? Here's how to prepare and cook live crawfish, plus some extra tips to make your get-together a success. A crawfish boil is perfect for Mardi Gras!

How to prepare crawfish:

• Store live crawfish in a cool, shaded location. Keep them in the sack until you're ready to cook.

• You’ll need to purge the crawfish before cooking. Put the crawfish into a large bucket or cooler. Cover them heavily with salt and fill the cooler with water to submerge the crawfish. Stir the crawfish for about five minutes with a large paddle or spoon.

• After five minutes, remove any crawfish that are floating. The dead crawfish must be thrown away.

• Continue purging until the water is mostly clear. Drain the water from the cooler.
  

How to cook crawfish:

• Fill a large metal pot (60 gallons works well) with water. Season the water with crawfish boil seasoning of your choice.

• You can also add lemon halves, garlic and even fresh herbs, if desired. Bring to a boil.

• Add potatoes and corn. Cook until almost tender.

• Add the crawfish. Return to boil and cook about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover and let the crawfish sit about 15 minutes.

• Remove crawfish, potatoes and corn from liquid, draining well. Continue to cook more batches of crawfish. 

More crawfish boil tips:

• Cook 3 to 5 pounds of crawfish per person.

• For easy cleanup, cover large tables with newspaper and dump the crawfish directly on the table.

• Give guests crawfish trays or cut cardboard boxes in half and use those instead. When you're done, simply toss them in the garbage.

• Serve with bottled or homemade remoulade sauce and/or cocktail sauce. Some people like tartar sauce, too.

• Put out rolls of paper towels and wet hand wipes (it gets messy!).

• Along with the corn and potatoes, you can also throw in mushrooms and even hard-boiled eggs (they are delicious). 
• Learn how to peel crawfish. 

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