Every lover of crayfish knows how delicious and delicate this dish is. It would seem difficult to spoil this product, which is not only a wonderful snack for beer, but is a delicacy in itself. However, there are important rules and some culinary tricks that allow you to really cook crayfish, to please yourself and your guests.
How to choose crayfish for a delicious meal
If you want to cook deliciously crayfish, in no case buy fallen asleep and even more frozen specimens. Take only live arthropods - otherwise the dish will not turn out juicy and tender enough. Crayfish should be active, their tail tightly pressed to the body, and their shells shiny and clean. It is necessary to completely exclude dead specimens - arthropods spoil faster than fish and meat!
Gourmets especially appreciate medium-sized crayfish. Lovers of juicy "crayfish necks" are advised to choose females that have a wider barrel-shaped tail. In October-November, arthropods actively reproduce in the middle lane, and until the beginning of summer you will have a chance to buy crayfish with delicious caviar. The male has a narrower tail, but large claws - this meat is also an excellent delicacy.
How to cook crayfish properly
Purchased crayfish must be placed in cold water for 1 hour immediately upon arrival home, then thoroughly rinsed from sand and silt. It is also advisable to clean the shells with a toothbrush, but do it very carefully: live and active arthropods can injure you with strong claws.
Bring the water to a boil and add bay leaves and allspice to taste. To cook deliciously crayfish, add dry dill heads - this seasoning perfectly flavors the appetizer and completely interrupts the slime flavor. A little secret for culinary specialists to note: pour a tablespoon of sunflower oil into a saucepan, then the boiled crayfish will shine.
Add about 5 tablespoons of table salt to 2 kg of raw material. It is very important to take into account the thickness of the shells - if the crayfish have recently changed them and they are thin enough, you need to salt less; thick chitin protection does not absorb seasonings well.
Throw crayfish into boiling water, grasping each firmly by the middle of the back. Cook the crayfish properly for 15 minutes, until the shells turn red. After that, it is recommended to let the appetizer brew for 10 minutes in the broth under a tightly closed lid. Serve crayfish to the table in small batches, according to the number of eaters. Leave the rest in the broth to keep the appetizer warm. A warmed-up delicacy is no longer the same pleasure.
To cook delicious crayfish: useful tips
- Immediately after boiling crayfish, you can turn off the stove, put sour cream in the broth at the rate of 50 g for two arthropods. This will give the dish a special tenderness.
- Before boiling crayfish, keep them alive in milk for 5 minutes, but no more, so that they fall asleep.
- Some patient gourmets with strong nerves before the cooking process keep arthropods in water and feed them with buckwheat porridge for two days - the stomachs of the crayfish are cleared, and the meat becomes much tastier.
- You can cook crayfish in a decoction of light beer, cream and cucumber pickle, taken in equal parts.
- Boiled crayfish can be served for dear guests with toasted bread and sauce in which eaters will dip pieces of meat. For the gravy, mix in a glass of mayonnaise each tablespoon of black and red caviar, mustard (German and whole beans), chopped dill. Add chopped garlic (0.5 cloves), on the tip of a knife - pepper, Tabasco sauce and keep the gravy in the cold for 5-7 minutes before use.
- In broth for boiling crayfish, you can put a bunch of cilantro, slices of apples and bell peppers, cloves of garlic, as well as star anise and peppercorns.
Crayfish recipes
Hot, scented crayfish themselves are an unbeatable cold beer snack. However, if you wish, you can cook a variety of dishes from these delicious arthropods. If you want to pamper yourself and your guests with something unusual, master some original crayfish recipes.
Rinse well 20-30 live medium-sized crayfish, put in a saucepan, add thyme (thyme), cilantro and dill, a tablespoon of butter each on a branch. Salt everything to taste and simmer covered for 10 minutes. Pour in 200 ml of white wine and add 2-3 tablespoons of sour cream. Keep the pan on fire for another 10 minutes, then put the crayfish on a dish, and strain the resulting sauce and serve along with a snack, fresh herbs.
Bring 2 liters of water to a boil, put an onion, cut into half rings and a couple of medium-sized carrots, chopped into strips. Add allspice, bay leaf and table salt to taste, throw a few sprigs of thyme into the boiling water. Pour in 25 ml of table vinegar (9%) and 200 ml of white grape wine. Boil vegetables for 20 minutes, then dip 0.5 live rinsed crayfish into the broth and keep the pan on fire for 15 minutes. Turn off the stove and let the crustacean soup steep for 10-15 minutes.
Remove the boiled crayfish from the pan, remove the meat from the tails and claws, discarding the intestines. Bake the cleaning arthropods for 15 minutes on a baking sheet in the oven at 200 ° C until crisp and scroll in a blender, then put in a saucepan with an incomplete tablespoon of flour and 25 g of butter. Stir everything and fry, stirring, for 3-4 minutes. Dilute the substance with a small amount of crayfish broth, strain and pour into the soup. Add crawfish, a glass of boiled rice to a hot dish and season with two tablespoons of 20% cream.
If you already know how to cook deliciously crayfish, you can stuff dough products with meat. Dumplings with minced crayfish and pork will have an original rich taste. For its preparation, it is necessary to scroll through a meat grinder "necks" at the rate of 6 pieces per 45-50 g of pork, as well as a couple of garlic cloves and an onion. Pour 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil into the resulting mass, salt and pepper to taste, then mix everything thoroughly. Fill the dumplings, cook and serve with soy sauce and mustard.
To prepare the puff pastry filling, boil 20 crayfish, peel their tails and grind in a blender. Fry 25 g of wheat flour in two tablespoons of butter, pour 25 g of fat sour cream into the resulting mass, add nutmeg and table salt to taste. Boil everything, cool, then add the crayfish puree and 2 raw yolks. Stir until the puff pastry filling is thick.
