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Jay Ducote

Crawfish Boil
S21E4 Seafood · 2019
Where to find them
● @jayducote

Jay Ducote is 'Chef Tailgate.' He runs Gov't Taco in Baton Rouge. He was a Food Network Star runner-up. And he cooked a crawfish boil on Beat Bobby Flay, which means he brought Louisiana's most communal, most ritualized, most aggressively seasoned dish into a format that Bobby Flay has exactly zero cultural claim on.

A crawfish boil is built in layers: the water is seasoned with crab boil concentrate, bay, lemons halved and squeezed in, cayenne, and salt — tasted for salinity before anything goes in. The crawfish go in last, after the potatoes and corn, because their cook time is short — eight minutes at a full boil, then the heat cuts and the boil rests for twenty minutes so the crawfish absorb the seasoned liquid as they cool.

Bobby's version came out, by all accounts, under-seasoned at the center. You cannot rush the rest. The rest is where crawfish become crawfish.

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Crawfish Boil

20 min Prep
45 min Cook
4 Serves
Ingredients
  • 4 lb live crawfish, purged and rinsed
  • 2 lb baby potatoes, halved
  • 4 ears fresh corn, cut into thirds
  • 1 lb smoked andouille sausage, cut into 2-inch pieces
  • 1 large yellow onion, quartered
  • 8 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 3 tbsp Old Bay seasoning
  • 2 tbsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 tbsp mustard seed
  • 1 tbsp black peppercorns
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 2 tbsp kosher salt
  • 6 qt water
  • 3 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 lemons, halved
Instructions
  1. Fill a 12-quart stockpot with 6 quarts water and bring to a rolling boil at 212°F. Add 2 tbsp kosher salt, Old Bay seasoning, cayenne pepper, mustard seed, black peppercorns, and bay leaves. Simmer for 5 minutes to bloom the spices.
  2. Add halved baby potatoes and bring back to a full boil. Cook for 8 minutes until potatoes are just starting to soften but still firm.
  3. Add smoked andouille sausage pieces and cook for 4 minutes to warm through and infuse the broth with smoke and spice.
  4. Add quartered onion and crushed garlic, cooking for 2 minutes. Squeeze lemon halves directly into the pot and drop them in.
  5. Add corn pieces and return to a vigorous boil. Cook for 3 minutes until corn is bright and tender-crisp.
  6. Add crawfish in batches, stirring gently to submerge. Once all crawfish are in, cover and return to a boil. Cook for exactly 6-8 minutes—crawfish should be bright red and meat should pull cleanly from the shell. Do not overcook or meat becomes mushy.
  7. Turn off heat and stir in 3 tbsp unsalted butter until melted. Let rest for 2 minutes.
  8. Drain in a large colander set over a sheet pan to catch any liquid. Transfer crawfish, vegetables, and sausage to a large serving platter lined with newspaper or butcher paper. Season with additional Old Bay and sea salt to taste. Serve immediately with small bowls of melted butter for dipping.
Inspired by Jay Ducote’s winning crawfish boil. This is a plausible recreation, not the chef’s original recipe.
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