Cajun Crawfish Etouffee

Crawfish Etouffee, one of the most popular ways to enjoy crawfish, has it's origin deep in the heart of Cajun country. The word Etouffee’ refers to the manner in which the crawfish tails are cooked, meaning smothered in a rich gravy made by adding sautéed vegetables and seasonings to a roux and then drowning it all in a flavorful stock. I'm excited to show you my simple and delicious recipe for classic Cajun Crawfish Etouffee.

Jump to:

• Where did Crawfish Etouffee Come From?
• Here is What You Need
• Here is What You Do
• Hints and Tips
• Recipe
• Comments or Questions?

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[Publishers Note: This is an update of the article I wrote originally in April 2018. This recipe has been very popular and I am requested to make it often. Always seeking to provide better information for my readers, I've updated and added some information and reformatted photographs for better web viewing. Let me know what you think.]

Where did Crawfish Etouffee Come From?

Crawfish is a unique ambassador of Louisiana and crawfish tail meat is ubiquitous in our culinary culture. You haven't experienced the best of South Louisiana until you've had some crawfish. These little crustaceans that resemble tiny lobsters produce sweet tail meat that is the delight and star in many Cajun and Creole creations and is the protein of choice in too many dishes to name. Crawfish season in Louisiana is generally from late January through mid-July. The availability and price of live crawfish is largely dependent on weather and rain amounts, but thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit, frozen tails are available year-round in groceries and seafood markets and even online. 

The origins of Crawfish Etouffee have been traced to the Hebert Hotel in the 1920s in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, the Crawfish Capital of the World.  The hotel's proprietor, Mrs. Charles Hebert (that's pronounced "A-bear"), created a recipe using crawfish tails, crawfish fat, onions and pepper, although she did not call it Crawfish Etouffee. After the Hebert Hotel closed, some time passed until Mrs. Hebert's daughters shared the recipe with Aline Guidry Champagne who went on to open the RendezVous Cafe in Breaux Bridge. Aline, looking for a different way to prepare crawfish, would make the dish for herself until it got the attention of some customers also seeking something different. Nearly 20 years after its creation at the Hebert Hotel the dish, finally named Crawfish Etouffee by Aline, achieved overnight success. The rest, as they say, is history, cher.

Etouffee is not the same thing as gumbo. Gumbo is like a soup and often contains more than one protein. Like an etouffee, gumbo usually starts with a dark roux and has many of the same vegetables and spices as Etouffee, but uses much more stock to make it a soup. You will add some rice to the gumbo bowl, but you'll ladle Etouffee on top of rice. 

Mrs. Hebert, Aline and the RendezVous Cafe are long gone, but over all these years, Crawfish Etouffee has become one of the most popular ways to enjoy crawfish. It should be no surprise that like any cuisine with such deep and historic roots, there is no one common recipe accepted by Cajun or Creole cooks for thier iconic dishes. Crawfish Etouffee is certainly no exception, as every chef and cook has their own recipe and ways to make it and will argue endlessly that there's is the best way.  

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Here is What You Need

Louisiana crawfish tail meat with fat. Check out the Hints and Tips section below for more about Louisiana crawfish tails and where to get them.

The Vegetables:

• Holy Trinity: yellow onions, bell peppers and celery
• Green onions 
• Garlic
  

  Here are the vegetables you need

For the roux:

• All-purpose flour and butter

Crawfish stock (Substitute chicken stock)  

Herb and Spice Blend:

• Oregano, basil, thyme, white pepper, black pepper, kosher salt, creole seasoning, bay leaves and (optionally) cayenne pepper.

Cooked Long-grain rice. One cup of uncooked rice makes three cups of cooked-I usually do two cups of uncooked rice. 

Equipment

This is a two pot process, so you'll need a Dutch oven to make the gravy and a stock pot in which to simmer the stock and mix it all together. 

These will come in handy when making this recipe:

Here is What You Do

First... you have a beer. This is a great and fun recipe to cook with and for friends and family and a couple of beers goes well with that. Your mise en place actually starts with a beer, then while you sip that, read the recipe completely, so you'll know what you need and what you'll do with them. Gather the ingredients you'll use, along with a dutch oven and a stockpot.  

Start with the tails. If you're using leftover tail meat from a boil, make sure the veins are cleaned off and hopefully, you've gotten some reserved fat. If frozen, thaw them out and place in a bowl. (Remember to rinse them thoroughly ONLY if they are imported tails or been frozen for over 5 months-see the HInts and Tips section below for more on that). Mix in a little creole seasoning with the tails and set them aside. 

Dice the yellow onions, bell peppers and celery and put them in a prep bowl together. Slice the green onions and give the garlic a rough chop, then place each in a separate bowl and set aside.

In another small bowl combine the Herb and Spice blend and set it aside. Set the butter out to soften and measure the flour and stock.

Set up two pots

You'll want two pots for this recipe-a cast iron dutch oven with a lid and a stockpot with a lid.  Start by placing 3 cups of the stock in the stock pot and let it sit-make sure to reserve that extra stock in case you need to thin things out later. Now you have everything together and prepped, so you can concentrate on the process of building this delicious classic. How’s your beer?

Start with the roux

Set the Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the butter. When the butter starts to bubble, add the flour and whisk continuously to make a medium colored roux, sort of like chocolate milk. Make the roux just a bit lighter than you think it needs to be because it will continue to cook and darken a little after you add the veggies. Pay attention not to overcook or burn the roux, particularly when it's getting close to the color you desire-it can turn south quickly! If it burns, throw it out, have another beer and start over. 

Add in the trinity, garlic, green onions and spices

Once you have the roux looking like you want, add the onions, celery and bell peppers and sauté them over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until the onions begin to caramelize, which will take 12 to 15 minutes. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits of goodness that stick to the bottom of the pot. This fond is packed with flavor, so stir them into the mix.

Add the garlic and about half the green onions (reserve some green onions for later) and sauté everything until aromatic, about 1 or 2 minutes.

Add about ⅔ of the Herb and Spice blend and both bay leaves.

Mix everything together very well and continue to sauté for another 2 to 3 minutes. You'll be testing it later for seasoning and be able to add some of the reserved Herb and Spice Blend if you think it needs it.

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Get the stock boiling and add in the veggie/roux

Meanwhile, in the stockpot, bring 3 cups of seafood stock to a rolling boil (make sure to reserve the other cup of stock), then lower the heat to a low simmer and cover the stock pot until you are ready for it. It’s probably time for another beer. When the veggie/roux mixture is ready, return the stock to a high boil and begin to mix in the veggie/roux mix one spoonful at a time. Using a slotted spoon, thoroughly stir the veggie/roux into the boiling stock, stirring until each spoonful is fully dissolved. Be sure to return the stock to a high boil between each spoonful. Continue this until all the veggie/roux mix has been incorporated into the stock.

When you have all the veggie/roux mix out of its stockpot, set the Dutch oven used for the roux aside-don't rinse or wash it out yet but place two tablespoons of butter in it and set it off the heat. You'll use all that goodness in a minute.

Let the gravy simmer

Cook the gravy in the stockpot on a hard boil for about five minutes, then cover the stockpot and reduce the heat to a very low simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, Stir frequently so it does not stick. The stock will begin to thicken through this process. If it gets too thick, you can thin it out later with some of the reserved stock, but wait until the gravy is added back to the tails. Extra liquid will be generate when the tails aare sautéed in the butter.

Saute the tails in butter

While the gravy is simmering, turn the heat to medium-high under the original (roux) Dutch oven to get the butter hot. This will mix well with the flavorful morsels of fond left behind from cooking the veggies in the roux, so make sure to scrape up any bits of the fond-lots of flavor there.

When the butter is foaming (don't let it burn!) add about ½ to ⅔ of the reserved green onions (save some to garnish the top of the etouffee when it’s served).

Next, add the crawfish tails to the butter and mix well.

After adding some of the reserved Herb and Spice Blend, mix everything together well to coat all the tails with butter and sauté for about 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

The tails are already cooked so you're just trying to warm them, not cook them further.

Add the gravy to the tails

Sauteing the crawfish in butter will produce some liquid.  It's OK to turn off the heat until the gravy is ready. When the gravy has simmered for 10 to 15 minutes, ladle it into the crawfish tails and mix well, turning the heat to medium-high under the Dutch oven.

Sautéing the tails in butter will generate some liquid that will help thin the gravy. Once you have it all mixed together and it comes to a boil, lower the heat, cover and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

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Just smother it until it's done

This is the magic time when the crawfish tails will be smothered in the rich gravy and all the flavors come together. If you think it needs to be thinned out a little more just add some of the reserved stock, or if you think it needs to thicken up a little, just simmer without the cover for a while. You want the consistency of a gravy, not a soup. Mix well, taste for spice and add more if needed. Just prior to serving, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and shake the pan back and forth, don't stir it in. As the butter melts and mixes with the gravy, it adds a little creaminess.

. 

Remove the bay leaves and it's ready to serve over rice with a sprinkle of chopped green onions on top. 

That's it, all there is to it.

Hints and Tips

Stick with Louisiana Crawfish (if you can!).

Crawfish tails are definitely the star of the show. This is a perfect recipe to use leftover tails from a crawfish boil, which give you the extra demension of the seasoning from the boil. Peel all the remaining tails and freeze them for up to 2 months in an airtight vacuum bag. (For freezing more than 2 months, read below). You can also use those shells to make homemade crawfish stock. 

If you aren't lucky enough to have some fresh crawfish available, you can find frozen tails in a lot of supermarkets or seafood markets, generally in 1 pound packages. It’s common to find imported crawfish tails (usually from China) but I highly recommend only Louisiana crawfish. Frozen crawfish (as well as leftover crawfish tails) will already be cooked (parboiled), so we won't cook them very long in this recipe.

The source and quality of your frozen crawfish tails make all the difference in flavor. Imported crawfish generally aren’t of the same quality or consistency as Louisiana tails. The real difference is in the sweetness, which lies in the "fat", the yellow-orange stuff squeezed from the head and sticking to the tail meat. Actually, it’s not really fat at all but part of the crawfish's digestive system. I’ve found Chinese crawfish tails often taste bitter, which is likely due to the fact that crawfish fat tends to become rancid if frozen too long, usually longer than 2 to 6 months and imported tails are likely frozen much longer than that by the time you get them. If Chinese (or any) crawfish are frozen too long (more than about 5 months) rinse them well in cold water prior to use, let them drain, then pat them dry with paper towels. If you are freezing your own crawfish tail meat from a boil and know you won’t use them for more than a few months, rinse them well in cold water before you freeze them. Using a vacuum sealer and freezing at 0-degrees Fahrenheit will lengthen the time they can be frozen without loss of quality, even up to a year. 

Where can I find some Louisiana Crawfish Tails? You can order online from these folks and be confident you are getting good quality products (full disclosure-I have no affiliation with the first two companies):

• Cajun Grocer.Com: order online at  http://www.cajungrocer.com
• Tony’s Seafood Market: Shop online at  http://tonyseafood.com and call 800-356-2905
• Amazon (with which I am affiliated) usually has some good Louisiana Crawfish Tails. 

Leftovers? Hard to believe you'll have any but Crawfish Etouffee can be kept in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days, or frozen for 2 to 6 months. (See the comments above about frozen crawfish).  If freezing, allow the etouffee to cool completely, then store it in a shallow airtight container, such as a vacuum-sealed bag and place in a 0-degree Fahrenheit freezer.  To reheat, let the etouffee defrost in the fridge overnight, them warm slowly in a saucepan over medium heat. It's a good option to freeze the etouffee in single-serving portions, then you have a quick meal whenever you want it! 

Crawfish are low in calories, fat and cholesterol and high in protein and a bunch of vitamins. That's right-they are good for you!

Remember, the roux will continue to brown somewhat after you add the Trinity, so you may want to add it when the roux is just a little lighter than you want.

Serving suggestion: Crawfish Etouffee is typically served as an entree over cooked long-grain white rice. However, its also fantastic served as a sauce over fried or broiled catfish, shrimp, stuffed peppers or just about anything else you can think of. 

Here are some common ingredient substitutes for this recipe:

• Too much butter for you? Substitute vegetable oil to make the roux. 
• Other proteins can be substituted for the crawfish and are quite common variations of etouffee:
  • Shrimp-peel, devein and rinse the shrimp, then sprinkle with creole seasoning and set aside. Add the raw shrimp as you do the crawfish, just saute them in the butter about 2 or 3 minutes, before you add in the gravy to simmer. Even though the shrimp are not pre-cooked, they will cook very quickly here.
  • Chicken or rabbit-dredge either in flour and creole seasoning and brown on all sides in the Dutch oven before you make the roux. Set the chicken or rabbit aside, then add back to the dutch oven the same as you do the crawfish, but let them simmer in the butter for about 5 minutes before adding the gravy, then simmer the gravy about 20 minutes. 
• If you don't have crawfish stock, you can substitute chicken stock, either commercial or homemade or commercial seafood stock.
• Use a long-grain white rice with your Etouffee! If you prefer, basmati or brown rice can be substituted. I generally use par-boiled rice, like Uncle Ben's Converted, but non-parboiled long grain rice is perfectly fine. 

Here are a couple of other CRAWFISH recipes from Sweet Daddy D:

If you are loving some Cajun and Creole recipes, check these out:

These will come in handy with this recipe:

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