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

Hell you guys like eating real bad food , Farmed prawns and Farmed salmon , Do yourself a favour Youtube Toxic Salmon and you will find out because they don't eat Krill from the sea therefore no Amega 3 like their wild relations , and they are feed food which has a dye in it to make the farmed salmon flesh turn orange from the unmarketable colour of Grey/White flesh, and Monsanto makes the dye - Herbicide /Insecticide company .
If that's not enough the unnatural layers of fat in their flesh is not healthy either .
Asian prawns , just lets say the are raised in polluted ponds that they force feed them heaps of antibiotics to keep them alive generally - Aussie prawns caught in the wild are fantastic - Honey/Garlic Prawns was my favourite at my local Chinese Restaurant in Brisy - cheers

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

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.

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

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

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

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

What the man said for 6 minutes then dump into ice water.

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

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

That’s a piss off, being in Kinloch with a frozen cray! They’re great fresh, but watery from frozen. It’s a bugger cause I keep getting them given to me. Her daughters boy friend thinks she likes them, she cannot disappoint him

Originally Posted by Maca49

That’s a piss off, being in Kinloch with a frozen cray! They’re great fresh, but watery from frozen. It’s a bugger cause I keep getting them given to me. Her daughters boy friend thinks she likes them, she cannot disappoint him

Don't you live by the sea?
Tell her to get the lazy bugger to cook them before he gives them to her. But give her definite cooking instructions to pass on.

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

Don't you live by the sea?
Tell her to get the lazy bugger to cook them before he gives them to her. But give her definite cooking instructions to pass on.

Yes Sir

Originally Posted by Maca49

That’s a piss off, being in Kinloch with a frozen cray! They’re great fresh, but watery from frozen. It’s a bugger cause I keep getting them given to me. Her daughters boy friend thinks she likes them, she cannot disappoint him

Thaw them, cut in half and de-poo and de-pootube them, marinade in white wine with a drizzle of cheese and a sprinkling of crushed garlic and some paprika or a very light dusting of curry powder and on the BBQ or into a frypan until cooked. They will not seem splushy or watery after that and are damn tasty.