cooking crays
Submitted by randall df223 on Wed, 2015-11-04 19:29
Ok.
My preferred method to cook crays is on the bbq. But on occasion i want to boil them and have them cold with salad or reheated in a mornay.
My aunt was a home economics teacher and in retirement lived six months a year on their boat at narrow neck, rottnest is. Her method of cooking crays (which was almost every day was):
(Cook them in the water they were caught in)
Bring it to the boil
Add the cray(s)
Bring it back to the boil
Turn it off, and take off the heat
Let the water cool with the cray in it.
When it has cooled, the cray has cooked.
Anyone have different methods of boiling crayfish?
____________________________________________________________________________
Fish! HARD!
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
Steaming
We steam ours rather than boil them in their own shit, or boil the shit out of them!! Once we are in the thick of it I have the steaming basket going non stop, I prefer to under cook them just to the point of opaque right in the middle. Wife loves cray & salad, I enjoy taking cray salad rolls to work & getting the stink eye from everyone
sea-kem
Posts: 15016
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Ha ha stink eye. I do have
Ha ha stink eye. I do have to try steaming though.
Love the West!
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
With the bamboo steamer?
With the bamboo steamer? How long?
Fish! HARD!
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
Depends on the sizes of cray,
Depends on the sizes of cray, pot etc. small crays don't take long for me (5 mins). I use bamboo steamer for bigger crays & metal for smaller ones, bit of trial & error I imagine to begin with but once you have sussed it... nothing like steamed cray over boiled
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Fish! HARD!
Vinesh87
Posts: 2751
Date Joined: 02/04/11
Yeh i have a small steel
Yeh i have a small steel steamer for double butner cooktop of if i am doing a few then its a big stainless pot with a wire section inside. Def still boil salty wateror the water they came from if possible.
Swompa
Posts: 3900
Date Joined: 14/10/12
Cut into cubes, crumb and
Cut into cubes, crumb and shallow fry.
Delicious as it gets rid of the shit crayfish taste.
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
Shit crayfish taste!!
Shit crayfish taste!! Blasphemy.
Once you are killing it Randall you start to get inventive, nothing like mates popping over for dinner & you drop a half tail on their steak. I don't mind beer battered cubes, goes down well with a few coldies on sunset.
Another for left over cray is to do them like an 'american chicken salad', if you google that you get the idea. Essentially I shred the cray meat, finely slice spring onions, celery & diced red onion which I chuck in a bowl then combine with a sauce made separately of mayo (love kewpie), tobasco & drop of worcestershire. Don't go tight arse on the bun, proper multi grain fancy bakery stuff is the go with crisp green lettuce
sammy85
Posts: 831
Date Joined: 31/08/10
steam
I mostly like to steam mine and dip in mix of soy sauce and chilli. Pretty bloody good I am keen to pickle some this year and try that
Plumber and gas fitter- 0415489103
sammy85
Posts: 831
Date Joined: 31/08/10
steam
I mostly like to steam mine and dip in mix of soy sauce and chilli. Pretty bloody good I am keen to pickle some this year and try that
Plumber and gas fitter- 0415489103
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Ha ha. Up until now they
Ha ha. Up until now they have been a rare treat. Having an abundance will be a great opportunity to try new ways. Like the idea of the salad and the bun.
Fish! HARD!
Chinbald
Posts: 317
Date Joined: 21/02/09
Old school boiling
Bring a pot or copper to hard boil, add plenty of salt, add crayfish to the top and once water boils, 12 min ,remove cold water or slurry skewer face, hang upside down to drain shit out into the fridge and ready for Christmas salad or crayfish and salad roll, cooked 8 on Sunday night, no complaints from the recipients. Same with Prawns just remove after 2 or 3 minutes when the meat separates from the shell. Secret is the heat in the boil similar to steaming if it's really hot. family has had a Mandurah shack for 60 odd years so have cooked plenty of crabs/ Crays and prawns in the copper.
catchalittle
Posts: 1875
Date Joined: 04/09/08
On the bbq rubbed with a bit
On the bbq rubbed with a bit of butter and fresh garlic then wrapped in foil mmmmmmm or straight out of the cray pot crack them open sashimi style bit of soy and wasabi or some fresh chilli mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Nathan
hezzy
Posts: 1521
Date Joined: 27/11/09
have boiled them in the
have boiled them in the copper for years also with good results ,
then as lamby mentions cut up with any home recipe mayo, or thousand island sauce , good crusty bread , crisp iceburg lettuce and enjoy
green ??
1 cut into pieces and tempura batter them with a chilli mayo
2 cut in half and bbq with garlic and butter
3 green tails cut into pieces, stir fried in oil/butter combo , garlic , spring onions, cream and any cooked pasta added at last min reduce and eat from the pan with crusty bread and salad
hezzy
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing
Vinesh87
Posts: 2751
Date Joined: 02/04/11
I never boil them anymore.
I never boil them anymore. Always steam them or sous vide if i have nothing better to do!
crasny1
Posts: 7003
Date Joined: 16/10/08
Anyone in Mandurah want to deckie for a cray bash or 2??
Mmmmm. Makes my mouth water so have to give it a go.
Other half (normal deckie/overall skipper LOL) doesnt like to get up at a sparrows fart to go out.
"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk
uncle
Posts: 9488
Date Joined: 10/02/07
I mostly boil
Some times barby, cant see the point of adding crap to take away that unique crayfish taste only boil tails not heads
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
timmy k (not verified)
Posts: 16
Date Joined: 01/01/70
Steaming is the go! 18
Steaming is the go! 18 minutes to do a bit bigger then size cray. I did 3 at once in my bamboo steamer @ 18 minutes and they were perfect!
Sulo
Posts: 256
Date Joined: 13/08/11
18 mins to steam seems like a
18 mins to steam seems like a lot, I am keen to give steaming a try this season, always just boiled them myself..
Really salty water (if I use sea water I still add extra salt for 5 lires of tap water I add about 250 grams of salt ) and a dash of white vinegar. Boiling water add crays, bring back to the boil and then 7 minutes (size cray). Take Crays out and quickly jet off the white goop from the cray under cold water then hang tail on the edge of a bucket or sink head down and allow to drain, or crack and eat hot and fresh out of the pot.
Warm cray legs straight out of the pot are still up there, never get sick of them!
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
IMO steaming is a quick
IMO steaming is a quick process, make sure the boiling water is cranking. Head removed, antenna up the shit chute & in she goes. As mentioned right in the middle as slight opaque & it's a cracker, I hate an over cooked cray.
Adding more crays will increase cooking time but not sure on 18mins, depends what people's tastes are I suppose. I always cringe at how long the pro's have to cook their crays for our market here
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Antenna up the shit shoot,
Antenna up the shit shoot, twist and remove to pull it out before cooking?
Fish! HARD!
Sulo
Posts: 256
Date Joined: 13/08/11
So you take the head off for
So you take the head off for steaming?? Interesting is that what everyone else does as well?
I agree about cooking time, 7 minutes for me in water is about perfect. Big crays 9 minutes.
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
Yep, shit chute removed.
Yep, shit chute removed. Process is easy as, why piss about pulling it out after.
Heads off when I steam, nothing in the head that I want & I can fit more tails in. Sharp flexible knife around the membranes so that I can get the head meat out after some twisting action. Heads can be saved for a stock, burley etc
Rob H
Posts: 5806
Date Joined: 18/01/12
I agree, I have a good mate
I agree, I have a good mate who is 3rd gen crayfishing and heavily involved in the Coop about it as we get those crays at xmas at work.
And it disappoints me that someone who splashes out to buy them once a year would be thinking how flavourless they are.
He said thats how they have to be done...
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.
Deckie
Posts: 1296
Date Joined: 03/04/09
Boiled
I prefere them boiled in the water they come out of. Nice fresh crays cooked in clean ocean water is hard to beat.
For something different, try BBQ cray chunks in a Ceasar salad. But don't forget the hint of Anchovy. Lol
Great summer lunch & quick to knock up.
But always keen to try others ideas ....
Cheers & Stay safe
White Lightning
Posts: 27
Date Joined: 08/10/13
fresh caught crays straight
fresh caught crays straight onto the weberQ with butter, garlic and sweet chilli sauce. Cook flesh up for the majority then flip at the last minute to caramalize the sauce. Cut them in thirds, chuck em on a platter with some coriander, sea salt and olive oil drizzled on top. Stand back and watch the hordes dig in. A few beers/wines whilst moored up at rotto with friends...nothing better.
Ericl
Posts: 475
Date Joined: 02/05/11
Crayfish Sous Vide
Hi Vinesh
Can I ask your Cray Sous Vide recipe please
Cheers
Eric
Don't spend all your money on beer, boats, and fishing. Save some to spend foolishly
randall df223
Posts: 6454
Date Joined: 08/08/11
Great input everyone, thanks
Great input everyone, thanks for sharing! No need to stop though, keep them coming!
Fish! HARD!
sammy85
Posts: 831
Date Joined: 31/08/10
crowd favourite
Whipped up a head of popcorn cray last year. tail the crays and cut up into popcorn(chicken) sized bites, cover in panko breadcrumbs and shallow fry serve with garlic aoli and fend off with a stick from everyone else
Plumber and gas fitter- 0415489103
Guardy
Posts: 381
Date Joined: 09/08/12
Steaming or boiling
How many of you have had the cray turn grey or black the following day after its been in the fridge overnight and what have you done to solve this problem when boiling or steaming? Other than barbequing etc.
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
You mean tainting from that
You mean tainting from that dark jelly substance in the head?
Guardy
Posts: 381
Date Joined: 09/08/12
Boiling or steaming
No, its not the tainting from the jelly but more the enzymes in the blood reacting to the heat but thats getting into the technical side of things. All I know that the crays that have been looped seem to have the meat become blackened when boiled or steamed. Like most of the guys here I have used seawater for boiling or steaming. My cooking methods are similar to everyone else here but I still get that same result. I thought it might be like bruising from the loop but then I was given a cray from my mates pot with the same result. It has me stumped.
Lamby
Posts: 3145
Date Joined: 04/08/09
Can't say I have had the same
Can't say I have had the same issue Guardy, would assume the loop also but given the pot one was similar. Interested if anybody else has experienced this
Madmerv
Posts: 672
Date Joined: 24/01/15
Crays for lunch
Mmm had fresh cray nice and hot in a sandwich for lunch today. Cracked pepper and a touch of lemon. Mmmm
Sometimes when the water is quiet, you can hear the fish laughing at you !
Mack1
Posts: 104
Date Joined: 26/01/17
crayfish mornay
per cray tail,
1/2 nip brandy
cream,1/4 - 1/2 cup
about 1 teaspoon corn flour in a talbespoon,
salt
cheese if you want.
butter
method
cut raw tail through down the middle lengthwise, pull meat out and cut it into small/medium bits
melt some butter in a frypan. add cray meat, stir gently on low til 1/2 cooked..2-4 mins
add brandy, stir,
add cream, not too much , more can be added for more runny sauce later.
add cornflour/water mix and stir to combine
cook 3-4 mins while sauce thickend
add some salt and ( some grated cheese) if you want.
serve with chips
Paul H
Posts: 2104
Date Joined: 18/01/07
Boiling craysBoiled - use
Boiling crays
Boiled - use seawater - get it to the boil
Once boiling add half to three quaters of a cup of brown sugar and then crays
Bring back to boil and once boiling again 18 min for a 1.5 kg cray (14 min for a kilo cray) - no more
once cooked remove immediately and place in a seawater ice slurry to cool / prevent them from continuing to overcook
Did this two weeks ago and tasted great.
In the past have cooked them on the BBQ with butter/garlic (or whatever you choose) as above.
Halve tails and rub in butter/garlic - cook shell side down (flesh side of half up).
As soon as the flesh in the centre of the shell starts to show it's nearly cooked flip them over for a minute to caramelise the flesh them take off heat and eat
Youtube Channel - FishOnLine Productions
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbUVNa-ViyGm_FTDSv4Nqzg/videos
sea-kem
Posts: 15016
Date Joined: 30/11/09
With the BBQ crays Paul I
With the BBQ crays Paul I seperate the meat from the shell before cooking leaving just the end of the tail attached and the head. So much easier to eat, I got good brownie points from the missus for this so it must be a good idea lol
Love the West!
Paul H
Posts: 2104
Date Joined: 18/01/07
will try it
Youtube Channel - FishOnLine Productions
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbUVNa-ViyGm_FTDSv4Nqzg/videos
surge
Posts: 212
Date Joined: 17/08/09
poch them is the go, criovac
poch them is the go, criovac them place in boiling water remove from bag butterfly tail make a paste of melted butter,cream,cornflour,parsley,dijon mustard,grated cheese,brandy optional.smear over tail cheese ontop under grill till cheese goes golden brown....premo....