Crayfish is a very tasty snack. Many people do not know how to eat and cut it correctly. Some eat the whole thing, but there are those who eat only the tail, forgetting about the other parts. Crustaceans have a hard and rough shell, which can be very difficult to crack. To avoid injury, it is better to take a knife or kitchen scissors for cutting. In boiled crayfish, everything is edible except the chitinous cover, mustache and some of the entrails.
How to eat properly
Now the actual description of this pleasant process.
- First of all, we tear off the claws and legs. Then you can act at your own discretion, namely, put them aside, as they say, for later, or immediately squeeze out what is in them with your teeth. Do not throw them away under any circumstances! In a large crayfish, the claws contain a lot of meat, about as much as the neck part.
We tear off the claws and legs - For large claws, the tips are gnawed or cut with scissors. Next, you need to open it like an oyster and a fairly large piece of meat will appear in front of you.
The tips are cut off and the claw opens - Now it’s time to separate the chest part from the abdomen (we’ll leave that for later). This is done carefully, otherwise the juice it contains may spill out. It should be drunk straight away, like from a glass. The juice contained in the shell is extremely tasty. At this stage, two options are possible, namely, the shell is lifted upward, torn off from the gills, which we leave on the belly with the inner part of the head, or we immediately separate the head and chest parts from the abdomen. In this case, the gills will remain inside. Both options will be correct.
Cephalothoracic compartment - Now you need to separate the crayfish head from the chest part where they grow together. To do this, you need to carefully pull the edges of the shell in different directions. If you do everything correctly, it should crack along the seam on both sides, then take it by the edge of the head and separate it completely from the shell.
Head separation - On the inside of the head there is a mass that has a pleasant orange color. On the inside of the shell there is white meat, it is extremely appetizing and can also be eaten.
The pulp is on the inner sides of the head and shell.
As a result, the following parts remain.
The parts that remain are unnecessary to eat. - Next, we separate the gills from the abdominal part. To do this, we pull them down, towards the bend of the abdomen. From the gills we suck out the juice containing an exceptionally delicious orange mass. Very often, in the inner part between the gills there is caviar, which is also extremely appetizing and even healthy.
Gills and abdomen - When all the previous parts are eaten, only the most important part remains, namely the abdomen, which, of course, contains the most meat.
Crayfish belly - The abdomen also needs to be able to open; to do this, first of all we tear off the feathers of the tail and suck out the juice from under the shell. Then we open it.
- Next, you can proceed in two ways - or, as usual, simply break off the tips, which have a triangular shape on both sides of the abdomen, but for some this is difficult (especially if the specimen is large) and you can get scratched. Or just take scissors and cut them off.
Cleaned neck - We separate the upper part of the shell from the lower and the neck itself appears before us.
- From the neck itself you need to remove a thin layer of meat, under which we find the rectum. It must be removed. Next, we simply eat pieces of delicious meat.
The most delicious pieces
So we learned how to eat crayfish correctly. You can move on to the next cancer!
Well, a lot of boiled crayfish!
Cooking
The smell, color and taste of finished crayfish depends on how well you wash them.
Step 1. First, the crayfish must be washed thoroughly. Pay special attention to the area under the abdomen. Rinse with a brush until clean water.
Step 2. Fill with water for 1 hour. We need to make sure that all crayfish are alive and active.
Step 3. Prepare all the necessary ingredients for the broth per 1 kg of crayfish: 1–1.3 liters of water:
- a bunch of dill;
- 3 bay leaves;
- 3 peas of allspice;
- 4 cloves of garlic;
- 1 generous tablespoon of salt.
You can take more water. Then increase the other ingredients of the broth accordingly.
Mix everything.
Step 4. When the water boils, check once again whether your crayfish are alive and active. Place them one at a time, preferably head down.
They don’t eat dead crayfish because they release toxins, since 10% of their diet consists of organic waste.
Step 5. Cook from the moment of boiling for 13–15 minutes, with the lid closed.
Step 6. 5 minutes before readiness, add 10-15 grams of butter to the broth.
Step 7. Leave for 15–20 minutes. The crayfish should be well salted and nourished.
Step 8. The crayfish are ready. Proceed to cutting and eating. Or you can wait until it cools down completely.
Heat treatment
Every crayfish hunter certainly knows his own method of preparation. Someone claims that there is nothing better than salted boiling water, to which the only spice added is bay leaf. Some people prefer complex recipes with lots of seasonings and herbs. No matter how you prepare this river delicacy! They bake it on the grill, stew it in beer and milk, boil it in broth... But all experts agree on how to properly clean crayfish: by hand and always after cooking, and not raw.
Some tips
- If live crayfish brought home are not cooked immediately, but are left “for later,” they do not need to be released into a container with water. It is better to leave it in the air, sprinkling it with water occasionally.
- If arthropods are to be stored for a long time, they should be rinsed with water from the shower, placed in a container with pieces of ice and put in the refrigerator. This way you can keep them alive for several days by periodically draining the melt water.
- Before cooking, remove the ice from the container and give the crayfish time to warm to room temperature.
We advise you to read the article on how to clean fresh shrimp
Structure and edible parts
The body of crayfish is covered with a dense chitinous shell, under which the rather vulnerable body of the animal is hidden. With its help, it protects itself from predators and is not injured on the rocky bottom of the reservoir. Suitable for consumption:
- tail part (in cooking called crayfish neck);
- front claws (due to the hardness of the cover, not everyone manages to get meat from there);
- walking legs (considered edible only in large individuals);
- caviar (located under the animal’s tail on small legs);
- liver (can be obtained if you remove the shell).
True “shell lovers” love to feast on the broth that flows from the back of the animal during cutting. But not everyone will like it.
Cleaning fresh crayfish before cooking
Crayfish live in rivers and lakes, where they dig deep burrows for themselves in underwater steep cliffs or banks that plunge vertically into the water. They can swim, but more often wander along the muddy bottom in search of prey or sit out in burrows. It is clear that earth, pieces of silt, and mud settle on the shells. Therefore, before boiling caught crayfish, they must be thoroughly washed and cleaned.
Crayfish caught or purchased at the market should be placed in clean water for a couple of hours. During this time, their intestines will be cleansed. Then you need to clean the shells from dirt. For this:
- Drain the dirty water that contained the crayfish completely and fill it with clean water. Leave for 5-10 minutes, stirring vigorously from time to time.
- Replace the water and repeat the operation.
- Change the water and rinse one last time.
- If dead crayfish float to the surface during washing, they must be removed and discarded (only live crayfish can be boiled).
After this you can start cooking. Sometimes before cooking, crayfish are soaked in milk for 1-2 hours. This is believed to improve the taste of their meat.
You can clean these arthropods with salt water. They claim that this way they are better and faster cleaned of dirt. The cleaning procedure is approximately the same as in clean water. Only in the first two washes a cold salt solution is used. But the crayfish do not need to be kept in brine for a certain time. Immediately after stirring, drain the salt water and add fresh water for final rinsing. After cleaning with salt water, crayfish cannot be stored, as they will quickly die; they must be boiled immediately.
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Cooking time is 20-30 minutes (depending on size). Salt and seasonings are added to taste. Crayfish are thrown into boiling water only alive.
Cleaning procedure
By and large, there is no law that strictly regulates how to clean crayfish. Everyone does what is convenient for them. Therefore, we can offer only some recommendations:
- Tear off the crayfish's tail. This is easy to do by hand. Pull the tail fin and the chitinous cover will fall apart, allowing you to get to the tender white meat. There is quite a lot of it in the tail.
- Turn the crayfish onto its back. Move the cephalothorax plates apart. If you disassemble the crayfish carefully, the intestines and internal organs will not be damaged.
- Separate the claws. You can simply chew them, sucking out the juicy meat. The forelimbs from which the claws grow are also very tasty. The chitin in this place is not too thick. It can be easily opened.
- There is some meat in the legs. Many people prefer them as a beer snack. Disassembling chitinous tubes is not an easy task. Therefore, they are also simply chewed.
- Separate the head, scrape the meat from the inner surface of the chitinous cover.
- The inner surface of the shell is covered with a peculiar mass. It may be white or yellowish. This is fat, healthy and tasty.
Allow them to cool at least a little before cleaning the boiled crayfish. The shell will already seem warm to the touch, but the juice splashed from the inside can severely burn.
Does crayfish hurt when they are boiled?
It is customary to boil crayfish alive, as it is believed that they do not feel pain. In fact, this claim is refuted by animal activists. Some people think that crustaceans feel pain just like many other living creatures. Experts believe that it is difficult to talk about a painful reaction, since the very concept of pain has not yet been fully defined. The reaction of a living organism to an influence under which a person may experience pain does not yet prove that the animal can also feel it.
Making crayfish appetizer is very easy to make and eating it will bring a lot of pleasure. Everyone decides for themselves whether it is worth subjecting the crustacean to torture, or whether it does not experience pain at all.
Cancerous cervix
This is the best and most delicious thing about crayfish. It can be opened like a lady, with scissors. But the best thing, and the right thing to do, is to do without them: bite the side of the tail with your teeth, open the shell and take out the neck.
And then you only have one more procedure left - you will need to remove the intestines. Although if your cancer lives in an aquarium for a long time before cooking, then the intestines will be clean and you don’t have to take it out. If it was recently caught, it is still better to pull it out.
And one more tip - if you have to clean and eat a lot of crayfish, it is better to wear gloves. You will definitely ruin your manicure, because crayfish are quite a dirty business.
How to cook crayfish correctly? — read soon on AiF-Kitchen
Serving dishes, rules of consumption
Boiled crayfish are not considered haute cuisine. This delicacy is suitable for a relaxed atmosphere in a close family or friendly circle. They often become the main event of a feast in nature. All this contributes to the fact that the rules of etiquette regarding the serving and consumption of crayfish are very democratic. They are usually presented in a wide dish, and placed into portioned plates by hand. In order to clean and eat crayfish, no cutlery is needed. Unless the catch includes a few very large specimens with massive claws. You may need to use pliers to open them.
Sliced lemon is often served along with crayfish. It is worth saying that the tradition of serving seafood, red fish and crustaceans with sour citrus has a controversial history. The best chefs believe that lemon or lime ruins the delicate taste of the main product. And it is only needed for wiping your fingers to remove a specific smell. But some people like the sourness, which emphasizes the expressive taste of crayfish. Therefore, in the company of a mountain of boiled river inhabitants, you can often find bright yellow citrus circles. They will also be useful for those who know how to clean crayfish, but don’t like their hands smelling like them. Fresh herbs are good for taste, aroma, and color. Dill is especially good with crayfish.
