July 4th Crawfish, Jambalaya, *BANG*
Jul. 11, 2009 1:41 pm
Updated: Jul. 11, 2009 7:52 pm
Our second installment of summer cook outs happened on the 4th of July. We closed our store for the day, roped off the parking lot and invited friends and family to join us. We ordered in 40 pounds of live crawfish, frozen alligator tail, and crawfish boudin (a crawfish and rice sausage) from the Kyle LeBlanc Crawfish Farms in Raceland, Louisiana. 40 pounds may sound like a lot, but there is quite a bit of waste in that weight - you don't eat the shell or the head (although many do like to suck the juices from that cavity). Figure 2-3 pounds per novice (and 4-6+ for a seasoned eater).
Kyle made all the arrangements to have the delivery on July 2, just in case there was any problem (and he could re-ship). I picked them up at the airport cargo office on the 3rd (our cargo office has a refridgerated storage area) and took them to our refridgerator. With the bottom shelves removed, they fit fine. When we opened the sack to start the cooking, there were only 8 dead out of several hundred, which was amazing! These crawfish were some of the biggest I've ever seen and nothing like those we used to catch in the creek when I was a kid.
Kyle included a bag of the seafood seasoning mix that is critical to achieving the true Louisiana taste. You need a heavy duty propane jet burner and a HUGE pot. Plenty of water and seasoning are brought to a boil, then potatoes, onions, lemon halves and elephant garlic are added in to begin cooking. After about 10-15 minutes, several half ears of fresh corn are added in for about 6 minutes more boiling, then the heat is turned off. You can leave things sit for a while, which will add more of the heat from the spicy seasoning mix, or pull them to a warming tray.
Now the water is cranked back up to boiling and the crawfish are added. Most folks will cook in two shifts because the size of the pot needed to cook 40 pounds of crawfish and all the accompanying vegetables is extremely huge. Our pot is 10 gallons, and it took 3 boils to get all of the jumbo crawfish cooked. Cooking the veggies first also helps flavor the water, and the batches of crawfish get better and better with each pass.
While the vegetables were cooking, I started on the jambalaya by browing several pounds of gator tail that I coated lightly with cayenne pepper in some olive oil. If it sounds disgusting, you have to open your mind (and your mouth) to try some before snubbing. Gator is very tender and takes on the flavor of things cooked with it. Most of the people there had never tried gator before, and everyone did (less one person for special dietary reasons). ALL went back for seconds and most were very surprised at just how delicious gator tastes. Admittedly, the gator could have been chicken and the dish would have been just as good - but the shock value of seeing guests served jumbo lizzard meat (and knowing they would love it) was just too appealing.
After browning, the gator is removed while the juices are used to saute a mix of onion, green peppers, and celery (referred to as the "trinity"). When translucent, a concoction of spices are added in that include ground bay leaves, cayenne pepper, white pepper, black pepper, kosher salt, paprika, cumin, and file powder (ground sassafrass leaves - the secret ingredient and a thickening agent).
After the spices have had a chance to permeate the vegetables, stock (we use low sodium vegetable stock because it's easier) and long grain white rice are added in the ratio of 2:1, the lid put on (I use an 8 quart cast iron dutch oven), heat turned to low, and everything left alone for 15 minutes. Resisting the temptation to peek is very difficult, but necessary to allow the rice to cook completely. At 15 minutes, the rice isn't done, but the shrimp needs to be added. As quickly as possible, the lid is popped, shrimp added, and lid replaced (no lingering looks of admiration).
With the added cold shrimp, the heat can be boosted slightly and things left for another 5 minutes until done. This is the part where knowing your equipment - the pans and the stove - are extremely important. Cooking time for rice (along with the proportion of liquid to rice) are rather precise. Over- or undercooked rice can ruin a meal. The fun thing about cooking outdoors (especially cooking rice or baking anything where controlled temps are required) is the wind, which plays into the settings on your heat source. Knowing how big a flame you need, or whether to wrap a bit of foil around the pot to insulate come only with screwing up several times in the past - or being extremely lucky/talented. I happen to have learned from years of mistakes, and have it down (almost) pat now, I think maybe.
When the cooking is done, the lid comes off and you gaze upon the beauty of the jambalaya. There will be a seasoning ring on the top of the now nicely colored rice and much of the meat content will have settled on the top. Tradition is to fold things around with a big wooden paddle (mine looks like it could very well propel a small sized canoe, and I have an even bigger one when working with the boil pot - size big enough to row row row a boat). Lift from the bottom and flip things over a few times, then put in a big spoon, lay out some plates, french bread and enjoy!
With the crawfish, tradition has the picnic table covered in newpapers and the pot dumped right in the middle. Guests stand around picking and choosing - no plates necessary (just a couple boxes set about for the discards). We slightly 'citify' the process by offering little baskets for guests to fill and refill (and refill again). The food is set up in steaming trays to keep it warm (and make the meal a little more civilized looking for those who just don't get into the communal eating (that really is much more fun, I think).
We also had some fresh mango salsa and raita (a yogurt and cucumber dip with a few light spices and cilantro). Although the heat level of the crawfish and jambalaya were tamed way down from Cajun standards, these two sides helped anyone with "heat aversion" put out any mouth fires. In case the gator was too much for anyone, we also had grilled chicken and grilled salmon, and there were special requests made for hot dogs "without all those black lines all over them" which was accomodated by *shudder* boiling them on the burner next to the jambalaya.
Dessert was a Mississippi Mud cake - chocolate decadance at its best, with a big heaping of mini marshmallows to lighten up the appearance (but only the appearance - it was a choco-holics nirvanna!). Because it was our country's birthday (and they were on sale, and boys will be boys - and some of the girls ended up acting like boys) there was a fireworks show that impressed everyone (except a few of the parrots in our store - but with a bit more volume on the radio inside, they settled in behind the blackout drapes and didn't even notice the grand finale).
Here's hoping you had a great 4th of July celebration with some of your friends and family, and that you maybe even made a few new friends in the process!
The Kitchen
Crawfish Handler in Training
Miss Crawfish (the one with the claws)
Gator Tail - The start of the Jambalaya
Shrimp & Gator Jambalaya
Crawfish - The Final Swim
How-To Clinic - The fine art of consuming crawfish.
A great day ends with a B*A*N*G!
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