cray questions

HI guys.
New to crayfishing, so was wondering if you could help me out with some advice for when (IF!) I do actually catch one! have tried googling, but figured best to hear form the people in the know.

1) firstly. once caught, do you clean before or after cooking? and what is the best way to store them? do you cook, then freeze, or freeze raw? also, how long can you keep them when frozen/fresh?

2) as far as cooking goes? any rough guides on how long to boil or how to tell if cooked? any recipes greatly appreciated! :)

3) just checking that I am correct that you don't require seal exclusion devices for pots in perth metro waters?

Thanks in advance, sorry about all the questions, but just want to make sure I do the little critters justice if I am lucky enough to catch any! Putting a pot out for the first time this weekend...hopefully doesn't get stolen or stuck! :P

cheers!


Gav475's picture

Posts: 393

Date Joined: 16/11/11

cooking

Sat, 2017-12-09 14:47

 loaded question and im sure you will get many variations on cook time. 

1 depends on how you intend to eat them as to weather you clean befrore or after cooking. If im doing a morney I will clean them uncooked but if im having a salad or just a sanga I will cook them first.

2 I have always been told to and have always cooked my crays in salted water for 18 minutes once it returns to the boil.  Be sure to kill them humanely first by using an ice slurry or in the freezer for a while first. Once cooked wrap in news paper and will keep in the freezer for months. Like any seafood its always better fresh.

3 no seal devices required as far as im aware.

Hahaha  I will just go and get some popcorn and have a chuckle being ridiculed for being completely wrong. Hope it helps.

Posts: 936

Date Joined: 26/03/17

thanks gav! much appreciated!

Sat, 2017-12-09 14:53

thanks gav! much appreciated! sounds good to me! will definitely make sure to use the ice slurry first.

Posts: 5738

Date Joined: 18/01/12

 Popcorn I wouldnt recommend

Sat, 2017-12-09 15:43

 Popcorn 

I wouldnt recommend cooking for 18 minutes.
For me, 8 minutes after boiling if just legal size, 10-12 +if bigger

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Alan James's picture

Posts: 2204

Date Joined: 30/06/09

Try steaming them

Sat, 2017-12-09 16:48

The following is a cut and and paste of a chef's comments on FW which I saved.  When following the directions I have found the flesh in the tail to be cooked but the flesh within the body is underdone.  

 

"I found that the best way to cook crays is to steam them as it does keep in the natural juices, personally, I love the unadulterated flavour of most seafood not the least crays, bugs and prawns. as a chef I have had to prepare crays in many different ways and having read a lot of other members posts I found that there is a lot of great variety with which to serve crays and they are all mouth watering. I think that I can say without a doubt that there is nothing worse than to ruin a good cray by way of overcooking it... it is such an expensive waste. having cooked crays professionally I found that the safest way to prepare them is to understand the fundamental rules and that is ( for steaming ) eleven minutes per kilo at 95 degrees with 100 percent humidity... taken out of the live tank and placed into fresh water for approx half an hour to kill them.. then placed into a tray... we mixed up 2 cups of white vinegar to half a cup of raw sugar and gently poured this brine over them... finally spoon some of the residue sugar left over at the bottom of the brine mix over the cray and place them in the steamer... it is important to be fairly precise with the calculations of it all... at home I have done this successfully using a bamboo steamer over an electric wok filled with water. I have also ruined a couple of good crays by boiling them too long... the trick is to get them out of the cooking process at the right time and as one member correctly commented... put them straight into ice-water for a good half hour to stop them from continuing to cook... I hope that this has been of some help."

 

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Posts: 809

Date Joined: 01/05/09

 best way to cook crays=

Sat, 2017-12-09 21:24

 best way to cook crays= microwave! 

pull the tail out from the head (must be frozen with heads but i think they may be changing that rule now?) anyway yeah pull out the tails, push a feeler up the pooper and twist and pull out the poo tube, cut them in half down the middle and split open. put on butter and garlic and what ever you like ( i like chili on there too) then put in a sealable container and put in microwave for about 2 minutes ( do one cray at a time) and bam, perfect juicey crays cooked into their own juices and super quickly. Just play around with your timers incase you have a stronger/ weaker microwave so maybe start at 1 min 30 then check and go up till perfect.

IncognitOh's picture

Posts: 103

Date Joined: 29/04/17

Butterfly

Sun, 2017-12-10 01:23

 AND galic butter, shell side down on the BBQ 

When just about cooked, flip them and BBQ the flesh side

Not sure how long but you will know when they are cooked

 

ENJOY!!

Walfootrot's picture

Posts: 1386

Date Joined: 23/07/12

 All good advice except for

Sun, 2017-12-10 11:17

 All good advice except for the cooking time from gav. Bring water to the boil add salt ( or brown sugar ) put crays in, once it comes back to the boil 7 minutes then out and in ice water.

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