Crawfish etouffee to delight Your Family & Dazzle Your Guests!

In this post I'll share my recipe for a true Louisiana classic: Crawfish etoufee.

You will need these ingredients:

2 lbs. crawfiah tails, cleaned
2 strips thick cut smoked bacon, cooked and chopped fine
1 bell pepper chopped
2 yellow onions chopped
2 bunches green onion, roots removed and chopped
3 stalks celery chopped
1 15 oz. can chopped tomatoes
1 cup wine
1/2 bottle Shiner Bock or other dark beer
6 cups shellfish stock
1 stick butter
8 tablespoons white flour
1 tablespoon each dried thyme and basil
1-2 dried bay leaves ( one if large, two if small)
1 heaping teaspoon Old Bay
2 tablespoons Tabasco Sauce or Slap Ya Mama, or similar seasoning to taste
3 tablespoons ground File'
2 heaping tablespoons crushed garlic

Over the years I've adjusted this recipe considerably from what I started with and I can tell you for sure that while if you follow this version to the letter you will achieve great results, in order to really cook this, you will need to make it your own.
What that means is adjusting the ingredients to suit your own taste as I have done...but always bearing in mind that the real key to success here is that no one flavor overpowers the rest and all the ingredients are in balance. I have looked at any number of recipes and watched videos from all sorts of cooks and there is one thing for certain: no two people cook their etoufee exactly the same and so there are many roads to this mountaintop. This recipe is the way I do it, more or less and if you want to try some things differently, I encourage you to do exactly that.
This one takes time and there really are no short cuts so make sure you have the day to prepare it or do it over a few days refrigerating your work each night until ready to serve, I've done it both ways and either method works fine.

Prepare your Trinity before you make the roux:

I like to make my stock ahead of time as well, a smoked turkey neck & tail give the stock a unique flavor.

Once your vegetables have been prepped, use the butter and flour to make a roux cooking it until it is the color of chocolate. I prefer using my Dutch Oven for this recipe.

Once the roux has reached the correct color, add the trinity and stir the vegetables in. Begin adding stock to the pan, and let it cook until it reaches a shiny gloss, stirring frequently. Use a stock from whatever shellfish you may have, crawfish, oyster, shrimp, crab, clam or a combination all work well.

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Add the bacon, thyme, basil, bay leaf, Old Bay, file, garlic, Tabasco sauce, wine and beer and begin reducing the etoufee.

When it has sufficiently reduced ( again this is a matter of the cook's preference, some like it thinner, others prefer it thick) add the crawfish and continue cooking just until the pot is heated through.

Remove from the heat and let stand 15-20 min. until ready to serve. If you have the time, make this one day, refrigerate it overnight & warmt it up the next day to impress the people at your table. Ladle generous portions of the etoufee over cooked rice, serve with some garlic bread and wine or dark beer and let the good times roll!

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