Back from a busy weekend. Just catching up here...
Being completely honest (with regards to crawfish anyway!), crawfish are some of my least favorite shellfish. Anything that requires that much seasoning to taste good cannot be that good to start.
As I was looking at your photos I was thinking to myself: "Why do they put all that seasoning stuff in the water?" I guess you answered that. I have never before had the opportunity to eat crawfish. And being a big Grisham fan, since reading "A Time to Kill" and the big deal he made about what a great feed that was, I've been anxious to give it a whirl.
When we cook lobsters up in northern New England there is really only one
right way to do it. Oh sure, you'll see it on the menu at fancy shmancy restaurants done all sorts of ways, from Newburg, to Baked/Stuffed, to "Lazy Man's"... but the best way is plain old "boiled" in fresh sea water and plopped whole on your plate. While they call it a boil, they are really steamed since you only fill the pot with water about an inch or two at the bottom. and then toss the bugs in the boiling pot live and kickin' !
There are no seasonings added to the boil. The only seasoning you'll ever need on the delicately flavored lobster meat is a little drawn butter. What you
especially do
not want to do is to overcook them, as the meat, particularly in the claws, gets too firm and dry. So, how do you know when they are done? Easy, just grab one of their two antennae and when it pulls off easily they are done to perfection.
Half of the fun of eating lobsters is pulling them apart, which can be messy, so they are best had "in the rough", i.e. some place not real fancy. Red checkered table cloth on a picnic table is the norm. Those little plastic bibs they give you are required if you care to keep your clothes spotless. I usually just let it fly and deal with a few spots on my tee shirt.
In winter, spring, and early summer the bugs are still in their hard shells, so a cracker may be needed for the claws. But by around the first of July most adults will have shed (molted) and are in their new soft shells, so no tools are needed at all. The soft shell's flesh will be smaller and softer inside the new shell (I like that), and more of their weight will be from seawater, so the prices do go down then. Just need to buy bigger ones!
But a good lobster boil is not just lobsters. You have to warm up with some shellfish as an appetizer. You do like steamed clams, right? If not, raw oysters on the half shell are a good choice, but of course only in months with an "R" in the name. So steamers in the hot summer, and oysters in the cooler months. Lately the steamers have been mighty pricey, so we'll do up some native muscles instead. They are almost as good and much cheaper. And there is nothing quite like a fresh slice of Maine blueberry pie for dessert to wrap up a successful boil. I like mine with a curl of vanilla ice cream.
Last Friday Josie came home from the local market with three pound and a halfers for dinner. They were on sale $5.99 a lb. The shells were hard and pretty full, so we each ate one, and had the third to use for cold lobster salad later in the week. (Sorry, no photos. Guess it didn't really happen)
