Thread: Is cray fish overrated or am I cooking it wrong?

I was given a crayfish today by a mate as his mum was sick of looking at it in the freezer. Naturally I am very grateful to receive it.

I googled and it said to steam it for 7 minutes. once I opened it up it was still raw so I removed all of the raw meat and fried it in butter.

I didn't cook it for long but it came out dry. Kind of tasted like sweet chicken.

Is there a better method or is everyone raving about something that is average at best?

I reckon it's overrated, would rather a feed of salmon or cod or prawns

Over rated, now Scampi thats a totally different storey

dry = over cooked.....or been in freezer so long it dehydrated itself...turned into freezedried!!!!
sweet chicken is good discription but its better than average....I baulk at paying $50 for small cray all the same.

heathens heathens both of you - firstly to freeze crayfish - way better to cook then freeze - cook cool wrap well in glad wrap then at least 5 layers of newspaper - defrost slowly - frozen crays are no where near as good as fresh - fresh boil for 8 mins for a smaller cray 10 mins for a big bugger - drop cray into boiling water - as soon as time is up add cold water lots and stop any further cooking - your cray Russin me old mate was likely dried out in freezing not your cooking - but they are the finest seafood anywhere and yes scampi a close second yummy

Has to be cooked in salt water. From the sea not fresh water with salt added.

I would agree with that but fresh with salt if nothing else

The best thing to do with Cray fish is use them to catch a nice eating fish.
Or give them away.


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I will take them of ya hands mate before ya use em as bait couple of beers ??

I'm pretty convinced that time of year, what they have been eating etc makes them a bit variable. I cook them the same way every time and some are sweet and succulent and some are average and a touch bitter.

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

heathens heathens both of you - firstly to freeze crayfish - way better to cook then freeze - cook cool wrap well in glad wrap then at least 5 layers of newspaper - defrost slowly - frozen crays are no where near as good as fresh - fresh boil for 8 mins for a smaller cray 10 mins for a big bugger - drop cray into boiling water - as soon as time is up add cold water lots and stop any further cooking - your cray Russin me old mate was likely dried out in freezing not your cooking - but they are the finest seafood anywhere and yes scampi a close second yummy

Agree with you mostly. But scampi takes some beating, mind you the price of it can be eye watering if you have to pay for it here in NZ.

If it wasn’t cooked before freezing it needs a good 24 hr to defrost , if half frozen and boiled it comes out as you describe, then you double cooked it

many years ago my brother worked on the japanese trawler Banshu Maru fishing mainly of the west coast would occasionally call into Gisborne would drop of 3-4 cases of scampi lovely he used to scoop them up of the deck after the trawl and then blast freeze - normally I think the target was hoki - the japanese never took them except to eat on board - he stamped the boxes Watties Laboratory specimens - the boat had 3 NZ crew on board part of the deal with Toyo Watties - he cracked me up when he said the Japanese nearly cried when a seal would come up in the net and they would have to put it back in ocean - apparently they were rather prized by crew- not sure why they came up Gisborne way unload maybe Tauranga dont know Tuna perhaps

Is it over-rated? Probably, but I love it!

I normally do about 5 minutes in boiling water. Great with a garlic butter dip.

Good on Ya MB