Name: Crayfish Etouffé
Yield: Yields 4 to 6 servings
Cuisine: United States
Ingredients: 1 cup (235 ml) chopped onion; ½ cup (118 ml) chopped red or green bell pepper; 2 cups (475 ml) clam juice and 1 cup (235 ml) water; ½ cup (118 ml) chopped celery; 1 teaspoon thyme; 4 cups (1 L) cooked crayfish shells and heads, 2½ cups (590 ml) water, ½ cup (118 ml) dry white wine; OR; 1 bay leaf; 2 garlic cloves, chopped; Serve with 3 cups (705 ml) hot, cooked rice; 20 black peppercorns; 7 to 8 pounds (3.175 to 3.6 kg) live crayfish; 1 teaspoon ground cayenne; ¾ cup (180 ml) chopped onion; 2 teaspoons salt; ¼ pound (115 g) butter; 1½ cups (355 ml) sliced scallions; ½ teaspoon dried basil; ¾ teaspoon ground white pepper; 3 cups (705 ml) fresh seafood stock; OR; 4 tablespoons (60 g) lard, bacon fat, or shortening; 4 tablespoons flour

Preparation info

Yields
4 to 6
servings

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Bill Neal's Southern Cooking

By Bill Neal

Published 1985

About

“Etouffé” means smothered, but you won’t find these crayfish under a pillow; instead they’re awash in a rich buttery Cajun sauce, this time without tomatoes. Shrimp may be substituted if your fish market doesn’t sell live crayfish. I can’t recommend frozen crayfish, but with the spread of crayfish farms up the East Coast, special orders of live crayfish should be feasible for almost any part of the country. Crayfish are not easy to peel, and they will take some time. If you’re a novice, it