Howdy neighbors! It looks like I will be making some recipe contributions on a more regular basis. So, a little bit about me. My name is Mike Lawler. Yes, I am the really tall guy at the neighborhood happy hours. After graduating from TAMU in ‘94, I went to the culinary Institute in Hyde Park, NY. While I didn’t work as a chef afterwards, I went through two years of training at “The CIA”. I love to cook for family and friends. 

I will attempt to submit recipes for seasonal ingredients and/or activities. 

This submission is how I do a crawfish boil at home. If you ask five people how to boil crawfish, you will get five different answers. Scott Toler’s method is very different from mine and his finished product is almost as good as mine. ALMOST! Wink! 

This method is great for when you have to prepare multiple batches for a large group because you can get crawfish cycled through the broth quickly. 

My cooker is big enough to do one whole sack (approx 30-32 pounds) in each batch. So if your cooker is smaller, just scale the recipe down to size. 

Lots of ICE COLD beer of your choice. 

6 large onions, peeled, quartered

4 heads of garlic, 2 halved, 2 whole

6 lemons halved

2 lbs salt

1 cup honey 

2 lbs softened butter

1-3 lbs cayenne pepper (Yes! 1 lb for mild, 2 medium, 3 hot)

2 lbs Small Red potatoes 

1 sack of live crawfish(approx 30-32 lbs)

Tony Chachere’s

2 pounds Smoked sausage cut in 3” pieces

10 Corn on the cobb, shucked, halved

1) Open a beer and enjoy at your own pace. 

2) Fill your cooler 75% with water and fire it up as high as it will go to reach a boil

3) Add onions, 2 split garlic heads,  squeeze the lemon halves firmly then drop them in the bath, salt. Boil for 20-30 minutes to develop flavors.

4) You need to be on at least your second beer by now. 

5) add cayenne and honey. Watch out for boil over. Stir well. 

6) Drop your basket in the broth. Add potatoes and the remaining 2 whole heads of garlic and return to boil. Boil until done, depends on the size of your potatoes. Remove potatoes and hold. Leave the whole heads of garlic in the broth.

7) While potatoes are cooking, wash the crawfish in fresh water until the water runs clear. Don’t add salt to the water. That is a wives tale. Pick out any dead crawfish and discard. Don’t let the dog eat them. Trust me from experience. 

8) Don’t forget to “stay hydrated”

9) Add 1 pound of softened butter to the broth and return to a boil.

10) Add live crawfish and sausage to the basket and return to boil as fast as you can. Boil for just 5 minutes.

10) Remove crawfish, sausage, and whole garlic and pour in to a clean dry cooler. Add the remaining 1 pound of butter to the cooler. Sprinkle liberally with Tony’s. Close the lid and shake the cooler briskly. Don’t touch again for 15 minutes. 

11) While the crawfish are steaming in the cooler, add your corn and potatoes back to the basket and boil for 5 minutes. Strain. 

12) Serve with as much beer as you have left. 

Only those who stay and help peal any leftover crawfish are invited back for Crawfish Ettouffe (Psst! Next month’s recipe).