The Cajun Ninja Crawfish Boil
Author: 
 
Makes 10 to 20 Servings
Ingredients
  • 8 lemons, halved 6 navel oranges, halved
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 1 (63-ounce) container seafood boil seasoning
  • 2 cups salt
  • ½ cup liquid crab boil
  • 1 (35- to 45- pound) sack live crawfish
  • 6 small yellow onions, quartered
  • 6 heads garlic, halved
  • 1 bunch celery, cut into 4-inch pieces
  • 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 4-inch pieces
  • 2 pounds smoked sausage, cut into 4-inch pieces
  • 3 pounds small red potatoes, halved
  • 1 pound fresh whole button mushrooms
  • 1 cup spicy Cajun seasoning
  • 12 to 24 frozen half ears corn
  • Optional add-ins: asparagus, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, frozen tamales, boudin, cayenne pepper, to taste
Instructions
  1. In a 25-gallon pot with a basket, fill to the halfway mark with water. Turn burner on high.
  2. Squeeze in all lemons and oranges. Add orange juice. When the water looks like it’s at a slight boil, add seafood boil seasoning, salt, and crab boil. Stir, cover, and bring to a rolling boil.
  3. Rinse crawfish by dumping them into an ice chest, spraying them with water, and let drain. Keep doing this until the water looks clear.
  4. Once pot is boiling, place onions, garlic, celery, carrots, sausage, potatoes, and mushrooms into boiling bag, and drop into pot. Cover, and let boil for 20 minutes. For other fresh items, such as asparagus, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts, you’re going to want to add those to the bag with about 8 minutes left. When the 20 minutes is up, remove bag to a large tray; set aside. Let drain, and then dump fixins into a couple other trays. This will make you a great host, as your guests can munch on this while the crawfish cook.
  5. Next, remove the basket from the pot. Discard lemons and oranges. Set basket aside, and add spicy Cajun seasoning to the pot. (You do this because all the fixins have soaked up much of the initial seasonings. If you like even more kick, add cayenne pepper.) Make sure the pot is still at a good boil. Add crawfish to basket, and slowly place the basket into the pot, and cover. Boil for 3½ minutes from the moment you drop in the basket and cover. Once the time is up, turn the burner off, and let the crawfish soak for 37 minutes.
  6. At this time, if you have frozen tamales, be sure to individually wrap them in foil, slightly clamping the ends. With about 30 minutes of soaking left, add frozen corn, frozen tamales, and boudin. Doing it this way will cook the frozen items to a great consistency. Furthermore, the temperature will drop, which will prevent the crawfish from overcooking yet still allow them to soak up the seasoning. Be sure to stir everything from the bottom to the top every 10 minutes.
  7. When the time is up, pull the basket out of the pot. Hold for a moment as remaining liquid drains back into the pot. Once you barely see anything draining from the basket, dump crawfish into a clean ice chest. Be sure to have something that slightly props open the ice chest so it doesn’t completely close. You don’t want them to overcook in there.
  8. Have a large scooping shovel and serving trays available so people can serve themselves a desired amount.
Recipe by Louisiana Cookin' at https://louisianacookin.com/the-cajun-ninja-crawfish-boil/