Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

3 lb Crawfish tails - peeled 2 t Tomato paste
4 c Crawfish stock 2 T Cornstarch - in water
1/2 c Crawfish fat - from the 1/2 t Paprika
-heads 1 T Salt
2 ea Sti butter - real butter 1 t Cayenne pepper
-only 1/2 t White pepper
2 c Onions - finely chopped 1/4 t Black pepper
1/4 c Celery - finely chopped ds Thyme
1/4 c Bell pepper - finely chopped ds Basil
1 T Garlic - minced ds Worcestershire sauce
2 T Green onions - finely 1 T Parsley - finely chopped
-chopped

You start off by boiling about 15 to 20 pounds of crawfish in lightly
salted water. Since you are going to use the water as a cooking
stock, you want to make certain that the crawfish are washed
thoroughly before you put them in the pot. Use only enough water to
barely cover the critters. Your boiling time should be about 4
minutes (timed from the point when the water begins to boil rapidly).
When they are cooked, immediately remove the crawfish from the water
with a strainer ladle and set them aside to cool. Then, using several
thicknesses of cheesecloth, strain out 6 cups of stock (you want to
have extra stock just in case you need it) and set it aside. Peel the
meat out of the crawfish tails, scoop the fat out of the heads, and
devein the tails. Then divide the tails into two equal portions.
Leave one portion whole, and grind up the other portion until the
meat is finely ground. In your heavy 12-inch stainless steel or
aluminum (_not_ black iron) skillet, melt the butter over medium heat
and begin sauteeing the onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic and green
onions, cooking until they wilt. This should take about 7 minutes,
and you should stir constantly. When the vegetables are ready, stir
in the tomato paste and cook it about 2 or 3 minutes. Then pour in 4
cups of the crawfish stock, stirring it well into the vegetable
mixture. Also stir in the crawfish fat. When it is mixed well, cover
the pot and let the liquid simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes.
After the simmering process, remove the cover and gradually stir in
the liquid cornstarch (dry starch dissolved in just enough water to
make it fluid). Then cover the pot again and let the sauce simmer
over low heat for another 5 minutes. Remember! You still have 2
cups of stock, and you can use it later to adjust the consistency of
the sauce. Next, add the ground crawfish tails, stir them into the
gravy, and mix in the paprika, salt, cayenne, white pepper, black
pepper, thyme, basil and Worcestershire sauce. Blend everything
together really well, and taste the dish _for each ingredient_. If
anything needs adjusting (more salt, more pepper, etc.), do it now.
Then cover the pot, bring the mixture to a _near boil_, and
immediately take the pot off the fire. Leaving it covered, let the
etouffee cool down to room temperature so that the flavors will be
distributed evenly. After making this dish over and over again, I've
found that this one step is probably the secret trickery that makes
my etouffee succulent. Add more stock if desired. Finally, after
the mixture is cool -- and when you're ready to eat -- reheat it to
serving temperature, put in the whole crawfish tails, stir in the
parsley, cover the skillet, and simmer for 3 minutes. Then spoon the
etouffee over steamed, buttered rice... and pretend your folks came
from Nova Scotia! Hint: Because of the flavoring process, this
etouffee will increase in richness the longer it sits. For some
reason, it seems to taste better the next day. And it will freeze
well. Also note that the sauce should have the consistency of heavy
cream -- not thick, but not watery either! Recipe from "The Frank
Davis Seafood Notebook" by Frank Davis. Copyright 1983, now in its
six printing!

Calories per serving: Number of Servings: 0 Fat
grams per serving: Approx. Cook Time: Cholesterol per
serving: Marks:

Submitted By FRED TOWNER On 10-20-94

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