Crawfish
- For one batch to serve 4-6 persons:
- 3-3.5 kilos of crawfish, (about 50 (alive) of the freshwater kind or 40 of the salt water kind, depending on size)
- 6 litres water
- 5 handfuls of coarsely granulated salt (which with my hands is a little bit more than one cup)
- lots of dill sprigs in full blossom
- (dill seeds)
- 1 cup of dark beer or porter
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- Put all the ingredients except the crawfish in a big kettle and let it boil for some 10 minutes before you put in the crawfish. (This is to get the flavour out of the dill and since I usually cook some 20 -25 kilos for my party I boil dill seeds beforehand for about half an hour to quicken up the process. Then I strain the seeds and use some "dill water" for each batch to add to the flavour of the dill sprigs.)
- Put in the crawfish. Try to sort them by sizes first or get some that are about the same size. The freshwater kind should be well alive. When the water is boiling again, measure 5 to 8 minutes depending on the size of the crawfish. Then take out the crawfish and put them in a bowl or a bucket. Don't try to cook the double amount on a normal stove, since it takes too long for the water to start boiling again and the time of cooking will be confused. Strain the hot water over them and put in a few fresh dill flowers. Leave them to cool off before serving, at least for 5 or 6 hours. Well covered with the salt decoct they will keep for at least 48 hours in a cool place, so you can cook them the day before the party. Or else put them in containers in the freezer were they will keep for the good part of a year if you want to save some.
- The crawfish are served cold and drained and the plate is decorated with dill flowers. Typical accessories are bread, butter, one or two kinds of well-matured hard cheese and finally snaps and beer to drink. The table will have bright paper lanterns above it, with at least one in the shape of a smiling man in the moon to remind of dark august evenings. If real fancy the guests are supplied with decorated paper napkins and party hats in different shapes. The meal is accompanied by drinking songs, (should be one for each snaps) and the few none Swedish guests I have had have considered the occasion both amusing and exotic.
batch, crawfish, water, salt, lots of dill sprigs, dill seeds, porter, sugar
Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/crawfish-50017653 (may not work)