# What to do with crawfish tail meat?



## Kayelle

I know I could Google for recipes, but I'd rather ask my educated Buddy's  here for ideas and/or advice.
I bought a new frozen item in the local grocery....."Boudreaux's Crawfish tail meat, fully cooked, peeled & deveined, wild caught, 8oz". It was sure not a budget friendly item, so I don't want to mess up. Being on the left coast, I have no experience at all with this.
Thanks in advance.....


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## ChefJune

I would make a light cream sauce and put the whole thing over pasta. 

Or, you could saute onions and etc. in olive oil and then toss the crawfish tails in with the veggies and serve it over rice.

Whatever you do, don't cook it very long. Like shrimp and scallops, they can turn rubbery with even a smidge too much heat.


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## Constance

Crawfish etouffee

When I lived down on the bayou, the neighbor lady made this, and it was delicious! Use Perry's version, which starts with a roux.


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## Bigjim68

I use crawfish tails in crawfish salad.  Substitute for shrimp or crab.  The crawfish I buy is precooked, so no cooking necessary.


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## GrillingFool

Gumbo! Paella! Jambalaya! Crawfish Creole!


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## Kayelle

Thanks so much, June, Constance, Jim, and GF....

Constance, I'm going with Perry's recipe for Etoufee......I've often wanted to taste that, and I'm always glad to have a trusted recipe.  I'll put the  crawfish meat in the last thing, as it's already cooked.
When I buy it again, I'll try the rest of the suggestions.....again, thank you.


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## JGDean

Wontons with a little sprinkle of Old Bay Seasoning.


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## buckytom

i'm with june on this one. 

a local restaurant serves a dish called pasta le'ruth's. it's sort of a lightly spicy linguini alfredo with crawfish tails mixed in, topped with chopped scallions. yummm!


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## TATTRAT

Cubed blackened(or bronzed) chicken, andoullie(or Chorizo), julienne of peppers, red onion, dglaze with white wine, add some cajun spice, heavy cream, splash of Worcestershire, reduce, finish w/ Parmesan, a little bit of lemon juice, crawfish tails and a hearty(big) pasta like a penne, or riggatoni.

Take softened butter, add chopped parsley, roasted garlic, grated parm, crawfish tails and a little bit of liquid smoke for a nice compound butter. Re-form and keep in the freezer to put on top of steaks or fish, even chicken or pork.

Make Manhattan Clam Chowder, but sub out the tails and add some crushed red pepper for some kick.


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## Iburnwater

*Crayfish tail meat*

Hello, This is my first post.

When my cousin and I were between 12 and 16, we use to go on hiking day trips. One small river we visited often was full of crayfish. We'd hand catch them until we got about a gallon of tails. In a small pot we kept hanging there in a tree, we'd cover the tails in water, and boil till the turned red. We'd shell the tails into a skillet. Them sauté in butter with salt and pepper. They were the best!


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## taxlady

Kayelle, I grew up on the left coast. We vacationed at Lake Tahoe. My parents met some other Swedes. They had caught a bunch of crayfish in Lake Tahoe and they shared with us. They were served, Swedish style, like small lobsters with melted butter for dipping. Yum.


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## Steve Kroll

I realize this is kind of an old post, but...

One of the very first dishes I ever cooked for my current wife when we were first dating was baked pasta shells with crawfish and a gruyere cream sauce. Elegant, unusual, and tasty. Don't let naysayers ever tell you that cheese and fish don't go together. It was awesome, and the woman ended up marrying me. So there!


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## Zhizara

Crawfish Pie!  Just Google "Crawfish Pie Recipes".   There are quite a few recipes.  I'd go for one with 5 stars.


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## Roll_Bones

Since these are already cooked, I would find a way to heat them without cooking them anymore.


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## CraigC

We make a rustic pizza that uses precooked crawfish tails. They have to be spicy from a boil and good soak to taste right. If you buy frozen tails, make sure they come from Breaux Bridge, LA. The crap that comes from Asia is just sickening and stinks right out of the package.

For extra zing, sprinkle some Tony C's creole seasoning on before use.


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## Roll_Bones

Sometimes at Costco they have Langastinos at a very reasonable cost.
I bought a big bag once, cooked and cleaned ready to go.

Get home and cannot think of any way to prepare them.  I think I ended up lightly tossing in hot EVOO and fresh garlic and adding a cup or so of marinara.
Then over some linguine.

I was not impressed.  Probably would not buy them again unless I had a solid plan.


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## taxlady

I have only had langoustines in restaurants - butterflied and broiled or grilled and cover in garlic butter. 

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Discuss Cooking mobile app


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## Cheryl J

Funny, I always thought langostinos and crawfish were the same, the names used interchangeably. I need to research out of curiousity, as I think I'm very wrong.


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## taxlady

Cheryl J said:


> Funny, I always thought langostinos and crawfish were the same, the names used interchangeably. I need to research out of curiousity, as I think I'm very wrong.



Well, they both look a bit like little lobsters. 

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Discuss Cooking mobile app


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## Andy M.

Cheryl J said:


> Funny, I always thought langostinos and crawfish were the same, the names used interchangeably. I need to research out of curiousity, as I think I'm very wrong.




Your confusion is understandable.  This is a clip from Wiki.  "In Spain, it means some species of prawns. In Cuba and other Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands, the name langostino is also used to refer to crayfish."

Langostino - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


I guess we can conclude it's some kind of small crab/lobster/crustacean.


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## Cheryl J

Thank you, Andy!  

It's been many decades since I've had them, and it was indeed a yummy dish.    Back then, you couldn't get them frozen in the supermarkets.  There was a popular chain restaurant in CA (can't remember the name) that offered a 'steak and langostino' dinner.  I probably wouldn't have ordered that if it were called 'steak and mudbugs'.


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## Cheryl J

taxlady said:


> Well, they both look a bit like little lobsters.


 
Yes, they do!


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## CharlieD

Gosh, last time I had them was in 1985. I was working in camp and there was a lake on the territory of the camp. That lake had millions (ok maybe less) of them. Couple of friends and I went "fishing" for the craw-fish. We end up with two big buckets full, huge ones, almost as big as a lobster. The chef cooked them for us. After campers went to sleep, we went and bought a lot of beer, oh my that was some feast.


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## Andy M.

Charlie, you eat shellfish?


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## taxlady

Andy M. said:


> Charlie, you eat shellfish?


1985, before he started keeping kosher.


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## CharlieD

Andy, I started keeping Kosher in 1999. Long after I came to America, where information and life is free.

P.S. the only one thing I knew about kosher was that we are not supposed to eat pork.


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## Andy M.

CharlieD said:


> Andy, I started keeping Kosher in 1999. Long after I came to America, where information and life is free.
> 
> P.S. the only one thing I knew about kosher was that we are not supposed to eat pork.



I did not realize this was a recent change.


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## CharlieD

yeah, it was a major life change, probably just as drastic as move from Soviet Union to USA.

So before that I had a chance to taste all kind of things that are not only Not Kosher, they are probably barely edible period.


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## medtran49

Back on track...  Truffled crawfish mac and cheese.  That's what we had for dinner last night.  Used Gruyere and fontina, with parm and panko topping.  Trying to avoid going to the grocery just because we don't feel like it so cleaning out the freezer, fridge and pantry last few nights.  We've had some pretty interesting but surprisingly good meals.


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## Roll_Bones

Crawfish/Crayfish (mud bugs) are fresh water crustaceans and Langastino's are salt water crustaceans.

The ones I bought were from South America and had little taste. The texture was right, but no flavor at all.


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## afterburn25

actually if you really want to do something with those tails I have a very good and very simple recipe for Crawfish Fettuccine. it is very good
*https://search.yahoo.com/search;_yl...&p=fettuccine&SpellState=&fr2=sp-qrw-corr-top*


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## CharlieD

afterburn25 said:


> actually if you really want to do something with those tails I have a very good and very simple recipe for Crawfish Fettuccine. it is very good
> *https://search.yahoo.com/search;_yl...&p=fettuccine&SpellState=&fr2=sp-qrw-corr-top*




Being that the original question is oh, about 4 years old, I am sure those tails are long gone, however there might be other people who are interested. Why don't you post it in a new thread. I think it would be a great idea.


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## Kayelle

I was the OP 4 years ago and I've never bought them again. They really didn't impress me.


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## medtran49

Kayelle said:


> I was the OP 4 years ago and I've never bought them again. They really didn't impress me.


 
Somehow I'm not surprised.  We've never been real happy with the few packages we've bought that are commercially produced, even the ones from LA.  And the ones from China, let's not even go there.  

Regardless, my feeling is they are something that for the first time you should have the whole experience:  A boil (with a good cook) with the company of some friends sitting around sucking head and eating tail, and, of course, drinking beer to cool the fire.


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## Kayelle

medtran49 said:


> Somehow I'm not surprised.  We've never been real happy with the few packages we've bought that are commercially produced, even the ones from LA.  And the ones from China, let's not even go there.
> 
> Regardless, my feeling is they are something that for the first time you should have the whole experience: * A boil (with a good cook) with the company of some friends sitting around sucking head and eating tail, and, of course, drinking beer to cool the fire.*



Now *THAT *I'd love!!  I'll BYOW.......


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