# Freezing crawdads (crayfish) -- how to?



## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

I'm broke.

I just bought a hunting/fishing license with the idea of helping my grocery bill out. I'm now living in an area where hunting and fishing is a viable way of helping the grocery bill. (I have a feeling I'll be eating a lot of fish and bunny ... and crawdads. Crawdads are the most reliable of what I can get. I'm not the best shot, and the trout around here tend to be small, but crawdads ... crawdads, we got.)

I know where I can collect huge crawdads by the bucket full with just a chicken gizzard on a string and a dip net. It's a bit of a drive, though, so I will be trying to bring back several ice chests worth each time. 

I know how to purge and cook them. And I have a few good recipes -- crawdad omelets, crawdads and spanish rice, crawdad stir fry, various cajun style recipes, crawdad tacos ... I used to eat them a LOT when backpacking when I was younger. Fresh crawdads beat freeze dried fake food any day. 

However, for freezing them, do you shuck them and just freeze the tail meat, freeze the whole crawdad, or freeze the tails with the shells on? 

(I am REALLY enjoying living in a part of the country where I can feasibly catch or grow a good chunk of my diet.)


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## Miss Kay (Mar 31, 2012)

We cook ours alive and then pick the meat out just like when you eat them. As you know, most of them is head and claw which gets thrown away. We then put the meat in zip lock bags and freeze to use in gumbo or other dishes later.


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## Use Less (Nov 8, 2007)

At least in Louisiana, please say crawfish, not crawdad  In or out of the tail shell to freeze. In the tail might last a little longer? More protection from freezer burn. Consider taking all the rest of the crawfish and boil down for useful and tasty stock. You can do this after a crawfish boil, too. In that circumstance, be careful about adding salt and spice.


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## KIT.S (Oct 8, 2008)

I make broth out of the heads and shells, with onion, celery, pepper, etc, and freeze the meat in the broth. That way it doesn't get freezer burned, and I already have all the fixings for bouillabaisse. The rest of the ingredients come out of the garden.
Kit


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## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

A crawdad by any name is still a crawdad. Crawdads talk. They tell that I'm a Hoosier because I call them crawdads first, then crayfish, crawfish, mudbugs and other names that I have read and heard. I see their calling cards-- the little mud tubes around the ranch this time of the year. Not in great numbers. I have only eaten them from restaurants and never froze any. Would enjoy learning how you catch them.


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

Annoyingly, there were NO crawdads. It's been a fairly cool spring and it may just be too early. I've filled buckets full before, so this was a bit of a surprise. 

I'll have to try Lake Roosevelt; it's at a lower elevation and much warmer. 

My technique is pretty simple -- chicken gizzard on a string and a dip net. When the crawdad latches on to the gizzard, I lift it out of the water. The crawdad usually holds on to the gizzard tight, and I shake it off into the dip net. Once I have several 'dads in the dip net, I dump them into a bucket of water. On a good day, I can fill a bucket in an hour or two.

I do have a trap, but I catch many times more crawdads by actively looking for them than I do by trapping them.

I didn't see even one crawdad, when normally they're everywhere. I did see a bunch of dead skins up on the shore that were small-lobster size, so I think that, in addition to it just being too early in the year, the raccoons were eating well on the few that were out.

Edit: It may be obvious, but watch out for the claws on the big ones. They can do some pretty good damage if they get ahold of you.


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## SteveD(TX) (May 14, 2002)

Bret said:


> A crawdad by any name is till a crawdad. Crawdads talk. They tell that I'm a Hoosier because I call them crawdads first, then crayfish, crawfish, mudbugs and other names that I have read and heard. I see their calling cards-- the little mud tubes around the ranch this time of the year. Not in great numbers. I have only eaten them from restaurants and never froze any. Would enjoy learning how you catch them.


I used to call them crawdads too, and I was born and raised in Texas. When I was young, I would have never considered eating one. The best bait was a piece of bacon tied on a string. As fun as pulling in a big catfish from the lake bottom. Fun to catch in my grandma's front yard (in the ditch), bring them home in a bucket and let the cat play with 'em. Even more fun than sitting close to a red ant hill with my magnifying glass and seeing if I could get one to actually catch on fire. Oh yea and grasshoppers tied to a bottle rocket was classic entertainment. We could've made some hilarious videos back then.


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## DAVID In Wisconsin (Dec 3, 2002)

I freeze crawfish all of the time. I boil 'em, peel 'em then freeze them with a vacume sealer. This is the only way I found that they last for ages and don't start loosing flavor other than cooking them in an etoufee, stew or such and then freezing them. I'm a cajun from Rayne, Louisiana so keeping crawfish is very, very important to me.


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## chickenmommy (Aug 24, 2004)

That is one of the things we must have when teaching American Regional cooking -- cajun and creole. I do buy them frozen, tails, out of the shell in 1# vacuum sealed packages 24 to a case. They are available raw whole live, raw tails in the shell and cooked no shell. Live is a real curve-ball for the students. They make crawfish etouffee with them. We do have squeamish students that don't get excited when the live lobster, live blue crab and whole fish come in. Those are usually the students that decide dish washing is what they would rather do that day. When they get live crayfish though----they all have to clean them. :heh:


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