Crayfish is a very tasty snack. Many people do not know how to eat and cut it correctly. Some eat the whole thing, but there are those who eat only the tail, forgetting about the other parts. Crustaceans have a hard and rough shell, which can be very difficult to crack. To avoid injury, it is better to take a knife or kitchen scissors for cutting. In boiled crayfish, everything is edible except the chitinous cover, mustache and some of the entrails.
Clean and cut
To learn how to clean and cut crustaceans, we will learn what they consist of and which parts are edible.
We showed a picture with the structure of this arthropod. Cancer has the following body parts:
- cephalothorax;
- abdomen;
- heart;
- testis;
- vas deferens;
- male copulatory organ;
- stomach;
- brain;
- eyes;
- liver;
- shield;
- antennula;
- antenna;
- antennal gland;
- caviar (in females);
- intestines;
- claws;
- thoracic walking legs;
- swimming legs;
- gills;
- anus;
- telson;
- uropoda.
By the way, these crustaceans have gills. They are designed to breathe. They don't eat them.
Another interesting fact is that crayfish do not have a backbone, but they do have a shell. The heart has an elongated shape.
Before cleaning and cutting up crayfish, you need to pay attention to what kind of tail they have. If after cooking the tail is straight, such individuals should not be eaten. This means they were boiled dead. Such crayfish spoil quickly and can cause poisoning.
At home
You already have properly cooked, good crayfish. Now let's figure out how and in what sequence to clean and cut them.
Step 1. Tear off the walking legs.
Step 2. Tear off or cut off the claws with scissors (either regular or special).
Step 3. Large claws need to be opened using scissors or your own teeth. Clean the meat.
Step 4. When serving, crayfish look best belly down. But for eating it is better to serve it belly up so that the broth remains inside.
Step 5. Take the crayfish in your left hand, tilt your head down. Carefully breaking off the shell with your right hand, separate the cephalothorax from the abdomen.
Step 6. If everything is done carefully, then a delicious broth remains in the front part of the shell, which gourmets and connoisseurs drink.
Step 7. Carefully examine the neck. If there is caviar underneath, take it out.
Step 8. Then you separate the stomach and gills from the cephalothorax - and you can leave the rest for food. The liver is sometimes a little bitter.
Step 9. For last, leave the most delicious and juicy thing - the crayfish neck, this is the belly meat. First, trim the feathers that are located at the tip of the tail. Take it with the shell down. Holding the protruding parts, break off the shell in a circle, freeing the meat. It is better to trim these hard plates with scissors.
Step 8. It is necessary to remove the intestines in the form of a dark thread, which is located in the middle.
You already have a sufficient amount of tasty and juicy finished product on your plate.
At the restaurant
Are you going to eat this delicacy in a restaurant? Let us tell you some of the subtleties of this process.
To eat the delicacy you will be given a thin fork. They will put a special knife with a slot in the blade in order to remove the meat.
Step 1. First you need to separate the thin legs and claws.
Step 2. The claws must be opened with a knife or special scissors. The process is similar to opening an oyster. There is also meat in the paws. If desired, you can get it out with your teeth.
Step 3. Next, carefully separate the head from the abdomen. There is broth in the shell, you can drink it. Next, tear off the gills from the shell. The gills remain with the abdomen. The head can be eaten along with the orange contents. There is fat attached to the shell, which is also edible and quite tasty.
Step 4. Pull down on the gills and separate them from the abdomen. The female may have eggs under her abdomen. She is also useful.
Step 5. You need to use scissors to trim the sharp triangles on the abdomen and break them off - this will open the shell.
Step 6. Then separate the top from the bottom. Be sure to remove the intestine (gut) as a dark thread.
Step 7. Juicy meat from the crayfish neck is ready to eat.
Adviсe:
- Be very careful when cutting up this river inhabitant - as a lot of juice is released and you can easily get dirty. Use wipes for protection;
- when cutting, use a knife or special scissors, since the shell can injure your fingers or cause roughness;
- Before eating, you take out the caviar, rather than licking it off. Take care of your tongue;
- There will be water with a lemon slice on the table. This is for rinsing your fingers during the cutting process;
- The claws and neck must be eaten with your hands;
- The meat from other parts must be removed with a knife and eaten with a fork.
Don't be afraid if you do something wrong. There is no exact protocol for eating crayfish.
Outdoors
In nature, when cutting and cleaning these crustaceans, they care more about simplifying the work and then getting maximum flavor. In the fresh air, people don’t really think about how to eat crayfish correctly.
The main thing is to know which parts are inedible and must be removed. These are gills, intestines, shell, stomach.
The aesthetics of the process remains in second place.
Step 1. Separate the claws and tail. There's a lot of meat in these places.
Step 2. Remove the intestines from the tail (cancer neck). The rest is edible. If you have caviar, it is also delicious.
Step 3. In large and medium-sized specimens, you can also find enough meat in the tentacles. The legs of small crayfish can be chewed, the meat eaten, and the rest spat out. Although the small ones are a lot of work, their meat is just as sweet and tender as that of larger individuals.
Serving dishes, rules of consumption
Boiled crayfish are not considered haute cuisine. This delicacy is suitable for a relaxed atmosphere in a close family or friendly circle. They often become the main event of a feast in nature. All this contributes to the fact that the rules of etiquette regarding the serving and consumption of crayfish are very democratic. They are usually presented in a wide dish, and placed into portioned plates by hand. In order to clean and eat crayfish, no cutlery is needed. Unless the catch includes a few very large specimens with massive claws. You may need to use pliers to open them.
Sliced lemon is often served along with crayfish. It is worth saying that the tradition of serving seafood, red fish and crustaceans with sour citrus has a controversial history. The best chefs believe that lemon or lime ruins the delicate taste of the main product. And it is only needed for wiping your fingers to remove a specific smell. But some people like the sourness, which emphasizes the expressive taste of crayfish. Therefore, in the company of a mountain of boiled river inhabitants, you can often find bright yellow citrus circles. They will also be useful for those who know how to clean crayfish, but don’t like their hands smelling like them. Fresh herbs are good for taste, aroma, and color. Dill is especially good with crayfish.
How to save
As already mentioned, only live crayfish should be cleaned and cooked, and dead ones should be thrown away. The question often arises of how to preserve crayfish if it is not possible to cook right away.
To keep arthropods alive for several hours, it is necessary to release them into the water and feed them so that they do not attack each other. If you add ice to the water and put it in the refrigerator, the crustaceans can last much longer. It is important to clean them just before cooking to determine which ones have died.
We eat
It is believed that 1 person needs approximately 1 kilogram of crayfish. These are more than 30 small, about 20 medium or more than 10 large individuals.
First, let's answer the most common questions.
Is it possible to eat frozen crayfish?
You can eat frozen crayfish, but you should know that they are worse than live ones. You must be sure that they were frozen alive. After freezing, store them for no more than a month.
Do crayfish have eggs?
Caviar is found in female crayfish.
Is it possible to eat crayfish caviar?
You can eat caviar, it is edible and quite tasty.
Do they eat marbled crayfish?
Marbled crayfish are now considered a decorative species. But in their structure they are similar to their brothers. There is no clear answer to this question yet.
Do hermit crabs eat?
Now the exact answer is not known whether this species of arthropod is edible. It is better to be prudent and not experiment with your own health.
What part do crayfish eat?
Crayfish have the following edible body parts:
- tail (cancerous neck);
- claws;
- walking legs;
- liver;
- caviar;
- fat;
- the inside of the head (for some).
If you have never eaten this meat, then we will tell you what they taste like.
There is also an opinion that everything that is white and red in crayfish is edible. It is also believed that everything in a boiled arthropod is eaten, with the exception of the chitinous shell, gills, stomach and rectum.
Do they eat the head?
Some people believe that it’s not worth eating the head at all, because everything we don’t need is collected there. Others eat the inside of the head with an orange mass. Decide for yourself who to join.
Can you eat crayfish raw?
Some amateur fishermen eat crayfish raw. This could put them at risk of serious parasitic infection. So, don’t risk your health - eat crustaceans boiled or cooked in another way.
Where is the meat of cancer?
Most of the meat is in the belly (neck) and claws. There is also meat in the limbs.
Why are crayfish delicious?
The right crayfish (well-cleaned, boiled alive) has tender, sweetish, juicy, and tasty meat. The taste of meat largely depends on what they were soaked in and what broth they were cooked in. Keep in mind that sometimes the meat of large river fish can taste like mud.
Which crayfish are the most delicious?
The most delicious are those caught in the fall, especially in September. It is then that the meat acquires special shades of taste, becomes very tasty and tender.
Regarding the size, it is better to choose the medium option. They taste better. Small crayfish are also good, but you need to tinker with them more to get enough food.
There are other points of view. Some experts say that the most delicious specimen is the Altai mountain one. Found in the mountains, lives on rocky bottoms.
What to serve with crayfish?
If you serve this dish as an independent snack, then beer is traditionally served with it. Some people try this delicacy with kvass or tomato juice. You can serve the sauce or the broth in which the crayfish were cooked.
If you have prepared a salad with crayfish tails, then serve it with soft white bread. Some people serve them with white bread croutons, cherry tomatoes, and fresh cucumbers. You can make an appetizer from caviar and serve it in snack baskets. Boiled necks are served as a side dish for fish dishes.
Thus, serving is up to your taste and discretion.
Which is better, hot or cold?
Crayfish can also be eaten cold. But many people believe that it is better to eat them hot.
Is it possible to reheat boiled ones, and how?
When served boiled, crustaceans can be reheated. The easiest way to do this is in the microwave, but you can also do it on a regular stove.
It is better to reheat the crayfish in the broth in which they were boiled - this way they will remain juicy. Freshly cooked but cooled crayfish are considered the most delicious and healthy.
What can you eat with besides beer?
The most famous way to eat these river inhabitants is as an independent snack for beer. In addition to beer, crayfish are also served with other drinks, supplementing the serving with vegetables. They are also used to make salads and prepare first courses. Caviar is used in snacks. Shish kebab is made from crayfish meat.
Common Mistakes
There are mistakes to avoid:
- Only living, active individuals need to be cooked;
- carefully examine the tail of ready-made river inhabitants - it should be curved and springy;
- Store live crayfish in water in a cool place for no more than 3 days. Don't forget to feed;
- for longer storage, salt must be added to the water with crayfish;
- cook and store in non-aluminum containers. Stainless steel, enamel, ceramics, glass are suitable. You can also cook in cast iron cookware;
- It would also be wrong to eat only the neck of the crayfish - there is still a lot of edible stuff in the crayfish.
What kind of crayfish should you not eat?
Many people are interested in which crayfish should not be eaten. Let us repeat, you should not eat animals that have a straight tail after cooking.
The tail should be curved in the shape of a ring, tight, like a spring. If the tail is limp, such an individual is unfit for food.
Take a good look at the cooked crustaceans, so you will not only eat juicy meat, but also protect yourself from unpleasant surprises.
So, we will tell you and show you in photos how to eat this delicacy.
Step 1. Start eating from the paws. If the limbs are large enough, you bite with your teeth and squeeze out or suck out the meat. If they are small, you chew them, swallow the meat, and spit out the rest.
Step 2. Eat the meat with the claws. You do the same with them. You bite off the tips of the claw. From them you suck out the broth that is inside. If the claws were small, then the meat should be squeezed out and eaten. The meat from the large claws had already been previously cleaned.
Step 3. If there was caviar under the crayfish neck, it’s your turn to eat it.
Step 4. Turn the body over with its legs up and open the shell. You drink all the most valuable liquid, juice broth, as if from a saucer.
Step 5. Remove the shell from the body, but first work on it.
Step 5. Collect fat from the shell, attached like petals. It is quite tasty, although not dietary.
Step 6. Some people eat crawfish brain. Although it is edible, there is an ambiguous attitude towards it. Many people disdain it and consider it unclean.
Step 7. Finally, you have meat left from the cleaned crayfish neck. Eat it and move on to the next cancer.
Bon appetit!
What is special about crayfish?
First of all, the meat has an extraordinary delicate taste, pleasant texture and special aroma. Although many refuse this delicacy because they believe that the meat is dirty. But this is far from true. Crayfish are fairly clean animals whose main diet consists of algae and fish fry. Crayfish eat carrion as a last resort if they cannot find other food.
Much has been said about the benefits of crayfish fillet. It is rich in:
- easily digestible protein;
- vitamins (A, B1, B2, E, PP, C);
- magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, selenium and iron.
But, despite its usefulness, this type of meat is quite allergenic, so it is not advisable to give it to small children, and also with extreme caution for allergy sufferers.
Some tips
- If live crayfish brought home are not cooked immediately, but are left “for later,” they do not need to be released into a container with water. It is better to leave it in the air, sprinkling it with water occasionally.
- If arthropods are to be stored for a long time, they should be rinsed with water from the shower, placed in a container with pieces of ice and put in the refrigerator. This way you can keep them alive for several days by periodically draining the melt water.
- Before cooking, remove the ice from the container and give the crayfish time to warm to room temperature.
We advise you to read the article on how to clean fresh shrimp
Heat treatment
Every crayfish hunter certainly knows his own method of preparation. Someone claims that there is nothing better than salted boiling water, to which the only spice added is bay leaf. Some people prefer complex recipes with lots of seasonings and herbs. No matter how you prepare this river delicacy! They bake it on the grill, stew it in beer and milk, boil it in broth... But all experts agree on how to properly clean crayfish: by hand and always after cooking, and not raw.
