Just think of it: Fresh Louisiana crawfish tail meat swimming in a lightly thickened butter sauce infused with spices and aromatics over a mound of white rice. This is the purest expression of Cajun cooking I know and love. It’s that time of year, and in case you missed it, here is my recipe.
Crawfish Étouffée in a rich stock is a classic Cajun recipe. (All photos credit: George Graham)
But the time-honored recipe for crawfish étouffée is under assault. There is a most disturbing trend in South Louisiana cooking these days that is gaining acceptability among traditionalists–cream of mushroom soup in crawfish étouffée. This is nothing short of sacrilege, and it must be stopped at all cost.
Don’t get me wrong. I love to experiment. I enjoy an occasional contemporary twist on a classic. A grits and grillades with gator meat recipe is a prime example of how far I am willing to expand the boundaries of Louisiana classics. But this can opener-enabled madness borders on the ruination of the entire culinary heritage of Cajun and Creole culture.
It is not the first time classic Crawfish Étouffée has come under attack. I recall the tomato paste assault some years ago that had to be rebuffed by the true bayou traditionalists. And now, the time-saving, tin-can cheapsters are pouring on the soupy extenders that rob flavor and render a pound of tail meat utterly inedible.
Stop it.
Crawfish Étouffée should always be a centerpiece dish to showcase the unique flavor and texture of Louisiana crawfish. Treated lightly, this buttery mixture envelopes the tail meat with a rich, flavor-filled coating of golden goodness.
From time to time, depending on the availability I do use frozen cooked Louisiana crawfish tails, but in season, there is no substitute for fresh-picked tail meat. When eating boiled crawfish at a restaurant I always save the shells and take home another 3-pound order. The next day, I remove and reserve the tail meat and wash all the heads and shells of excess spice. These shell pieces are simmered in a large pot of water to reduce down into an intense crawfish stock that is a key to the perfect étouffée.
Soup? No thanks. Not in my Crawfish Étouffée.
Pinch the tail. Suck the heads. Boiled crawfish time.
- 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter
- 2 cups diced yellow onion
- 1 cup diced green bell pepper
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 pounds Louisiana crawfish tail meat
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1½ cups crawfish stock or seafood stock
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Dash of hot sauce
- ¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1 cup diced green onion tops
- 6 cups cooked Louisiana long-grain white rice, such as Supreme
- In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and add the onions, bell pepper, and celery. Sauté until tender and add the garlic. Lower the heat to simmer and stir to combine. Season the mixture with cayenne and add the crawfish tail meat stirring to combine.
- Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir to incorporate and begin cooking the flour. Add some of the stock and continuing stirring until it begins to thicken. Add more stock until you get a stew-like thickness.
- Season to taste with salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Serve over a mound of white rice garnished with chopped parsley and green onion tops.
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I made this tonight, and I have a couple of questions: I halved it since it was just my husband and I. I used two sticks of butter and had to keep adding flour, as there was a whole lot of butter not being soaked up and thickening. I used plain white rice as up north we do not have the Supreme brand; it made the Étouffée very bland. Does the brand of rice really make a difference? This is my first attempt at Cajun cooking, and while I was not totally disappointed with the outcome, I expected more. Where did I mess up?
JoAnne- First, the French term “étouffée” means “to smother”, and this dish is smothered in butter, thus my recipe calls for 4 sticks (1 pound) of butter. The flour is added sparingly to thicken only, so I am not sure why you had to add more than the recipe calls for. I certainly hope you used Louisiana crawfish, as that will make a huge difference in taste and texture. As for rice, I stand by the Supreme brand and urge you to source it; there is a reason why Louisiana products deliver on the authentic Cajun taste. I hope you will try the recipe again.
I love it and have made it time and time again for friends, as most all my family live in Louisiana. I do however wonder what you personally would use to add a little bit more spice to it. I know the seasonings and roux need to be balanced so maybe add more spice when you boil the crawfish? What are your suggestions?
Joe- A perfectly balanced étouffée is not overly spicy. Have a bottle of hot sauce on the table so that each diner can adjust the spice level to their own preference. All the best.
Joe, you could add just a touch more straight cayenne to the pot when cooking. That way, you don’t accidently make it too salty (if you already liked the salt level) by trying to add some sort of Cajun seasoning mixture.
Also, if you have tails left over from a boil where the heat level was good, that can also help. I like that “touch” of boil flavor in a crawfish etouffee, so if it’s packaged tail meat, sometimes add just a third to half a cap of liquid boil. That’ll give a bit of extra spiciness as well without over-salting the pot.
George’s ingredients and style are pretty identical to mine, and he is 100% correct on his above rant about people throwing cream of mushroom and/or tomato paste in the pot. That’s not crawfish etouffee.