ABACO'S COOKING!
It's crawfish season again and time to enjoy those delicious maritime morsels.
Crawfish, being a lobster, is rich meat and needs little dressing. Simple
cooking and perhaps the addition of lime butter is all that is needed.
Unless you catch your own, your fresh crawfish tails will already be deveined
because crawfish come with their own deveiner - their whips. Whole tails
can be boiled by dropping into roiling water, bringing back to simmer and
cooking for 7 - 10 minutes, according to size. Once the crawfish are cooked
you can take the meat out of the shell by pressing a straight knife (not
serrated) along the length of the back. The addition of a sauce made from
a quarter pound of unsalted butter and the juice of one full and juicy
lime is all that is needed to bring out the delicate undertones of your
crawfish.
To barbecue your crawfish, cook them shell side down after halving the
body lengthwise. Cook over medium coals and baste frequently with lime
butter sauce until the meat turns white.
There are other ways to serve crawfish, of course, but fresh crawfish should
have the plainest, simplest of preparation.
If you are using frozen crawfish you can place your defrosted split crawfish
tails shell down in a shallow dish and cover the meat with minced fatty
bacon. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, basting now and then with
lime sauce.
Crawfish toughens with overcooking but, being shellfish, should always
be cooked through. Being both rich and delicate, crawfish needs no salt,
pepper or herbs. It does need to be kept moist while being cooked and that
is where the lime butter sauce and bacon comes in.