How to Purge or Clean Crawfish: It is very important that you clean your crawfish before you boil them.  After all, they do live in the mud.

• Take crawfish out of sack. Place crawfish into an ice chest or container with a plug.

• Fill ice chest with fresh water. Let the crawfish sit in the ice chest for about 10 minutes (not longer). Stir. This gets rid of some of the mud in them.

• Let sit for about 5 to 10 minutes, pull plug and drain water. Spray off crawfish again with hose.

ATTENTION: Purge the crawfish right before you are ready to boil them. Purging them too early will actually kill them. DO NOT PURGE THE DAY BEFORE!!

How to Boil Crawfish: Remember, you need to clean your crawfish before you boil them or they will taste muddy.  (See “How to Purge or Clean Crawfish”)

1.)   Get a large pot.  The pot has to be large enough for all of your live crawfish to fit into.  If you do not have a pot that large, and don’t want to buy one, you may use a smaller pot, but you will have to do two batches.

2.)   Fill the pot about half way with water.

3.)   Add the whole bag of Louisiana Crawfish, Crab and Shrimp Boil. All of your seasoning is in the bag.  You do not need to add anything extra like salt or pepper.

4.)   Turn the fire on high and let the water and seasoning come up to a hard boil.  The boiling water will mix the seasoning for you. (If you want to stir it anyway, you can.)

5.)   Dump all of the live crawfish in the pot. (If you are doing two batches, dump only half of the crawfish in the pot.) Wait for the water to come back up to a hard boil.  Once the water is boiling again, boil your crawfish for about 6-7 minutes.  Keep an eye on the time, and stir them once a minute while they are boiling.

6.)   After about 6-7 minutes, shut the fire off.  If possible, run a little of cool water on top of them while they are in the pot to stop the cooking process.

7.)   Let your crawfish soak to pick up the seasoning.  The longer you let them soak, the more seasoning they will pick up.  Normally, we let ours soak for about 15-20 minutes.  Keep tasting them every few minutes though – you don’t want them to get too spicy without you knowing!

8.)   After they pass your taste test, take them out of the pot and start eating. 

9.)   If you need to boil your second batch, you can bring your already seasoned water back up to a boil again, and repeat the process.  You do not need to empty the water out and start all over again.  The same water will be fine. However, I would not recommend you do more than two boils in the same water.  If you need to boil more, let the water out and start all over again.

How to Peel Crawfish:

• Grab the body of the crawfish in one hand and the head of the crawfish with the other hand. Twist in opposite directions as to pull the head off of the crawfish.  Throw away the head. (Many Cajuns suck the juice and seasoning out of the head before throwing it away.)

• Grab the tip of the tail. Twist the top part of the tail for some of the crawfish's shell to come off from all the way around the tail meat.

• Pinch the bottom part of the tail. This should take the crawfish meat out. If it doesn't, finish peeling the shell from around the meat.  Remove the black vein on top of the tail and discard.  The meat is now ready to eat.

How to Boil Crabs: If possible, soak the live crabs in an ice chest of ice cold water for about 30 minutes before you boil them.  Then pull the plug and let the water and ice drain out.  This will shock the crabs and tend to make their claws stay on them instead of falling off during the boil.

• Get a large pot.  The pot has to be large enough for all of your crabs to fit into. You can do two batches if necessary.

• Fill the pot about half way with water.

• Add a whole bag of Louisiana Crawfish, Crab, and Shrimp Boil. All of your seasoning is in the bag. You do not need to add anything extra like salt or pepper.

• Turn the fire on and let water and seasoning come to a hard rolling boil.  The boiling water will mix the seasoning for you.

• Dump all of the live crabs in the pot. (If you are doing two batches, dump only half the crabs) Wait for the water to come back to a hard boil.  Once the water is boiling again, boil your crabs for about 8 minutes.  Keep an eye on the time.

• After about 8 minutes, shut off the fire.  If possible, run a little cool water on top of them while they are in the pot to stop the cooking process.

• Let your crabs soak to pick up the seasoning.  The longer they soak, the more seasoning they will pick up.  Normally we let ours soak for about 10-15 minutes.

• Take them out and start eating.

How to Boil Shrimp:

• Get a large pot and fill it with enough water to cover the seafood.

• Add a whole bag of Louisiana Crawfish, Crab and Shrimp Boil. All of your seasoning is in the bag. Don't add anything else.

• Turn fire on and let water and seasoning come to a rolling boil.

• Pour all of the fresh shrimp in the pot.  Wait for the water to come back to a rolling boil.  Once it's boiling again, boil your shrimp for about 1 minute.  Keep an eye on the time.  If you boil them too long, they will be hard to peel.

• After about 1 minute, shut off the fire.  Run cool water on top of them to stop the cooking process.

• Let your shrimp soak to pick up the seasoning. Normally, we let ours soak for about 20 minutes. Keep tasting them every few minutes though - you don't want them to get too spicy without you knowing!

• After they pass the taste test, take them out and start eating!

How to Peel Shimp:

• Grab the body of the shrimp in one hand and the head of the shrimp in the other. Twist in opposite directions as to pull the head off. Throw away the head.

• Peel the entire shell off of the body. It's kind of like "unwrapping" it.

• All you should have left is the meat for you to eat.