I'm not Cajun, but may want to be!

RRP

UP FRONT - this is NOT a BGE cooked dish!

Background: a couple months ago @SpringChicken who no longer resides here sent me a care package from LA where they now live. In it was 1 packet of Louisiana brand Cajun ETOUFFEE base...(that's French for "to smother"). We FELL in love with  that food!!! and then I ordered 24 packets of it!!!

We don't find crawfish up here in ILLINOIS - just crooked politicians - so I always use cooked shrimp. Then I serve it over a plate of cooked white rice and BAM - WHAT A MEAL!!!

ColbyLang

Glad someone could grace you with Louisiana cooking! Crawfish in peak season here now, just had 10# boiled myself 

Botch

I attended Squadron Officer's School at Maxwell AFB, near Birmingham, and soon was eating at the "SOS Oyster Bar" two or three times a week.  
Like you, I can't get reasonably-priced (nor raw) mudbugs here, but dayam once I get that second shot....      

GATraveller

PeteSliver

Oh man!  Sounds incredible.  Do you have any pictures?  Can you share what the mix was that you used?

Mickey

Found this and it goes on everything from eggs to ???

Mickey

Someone who knows please fix above pic

Mickey

We travel I-10 heavy and love the food between Texas and Florida. You will NEVER buy a bag of pork skins again after getting fresh ones ata gas station ⛽️ 

RRP

PeteSliver said:

Oh man!  Sounds incredible.  Do you have any pictures?  Can you share what the mix was that you used?

Mattman3969

Mickey said:

Someone who knows please fix above pic

Here you go @Mickey.  If your using an iPhone to post pics you will need to do a small edit like cropping for the pics to upload correctly. I think there has been a change on Vanilla to cause the pics not to load correctly 

RyanStl

Mickey said:

Found this and it goes on everything from eggs to ???

I had a can of that once. Good stuff.

RyanStl

RRP said:

PeteSliver said:

Oh man!  Sounds incredible.  Do you have any pictures?  Can you share what the mix was that you used?

Did you do Amazon or some other online store!

buzd504

Pro-tip - there is nothing particularly special about etoufee base - it's basically roux (or not), bell pepper, celery, onion, garlic, and creole seasoning.

RRP

RyanStl said:

RRP said:

PeteSliver said:

Oh man!  Sounds incredible.  Do you have any pictures?  Can you share what the mix was that you used?

Did you do Amazon or some other online store!

I try to avoid Amazon as much as I can. When I went directly to the maker they don’t sell direct, but referred me to Cajun Grocery. They were out of stock and not sure when they would have it again. So I went to Amazon after all. Smallest available was the box of 24. I shared 2 packets with a neighbor and she too fell in love. When she ordered 10 packets boxes was the largest they had so she bought it. Two days later she went back to Amazon to order some for her son and all they had was one box of 5 and that was it so she cleaned them out! 

GregW

I was able to order a pack of 6 from Amazon. Looking forward to giving it a try.

ColbyLang

Easy etoufee is one stick butter, one onion, one bell pepper and one pound of crawfish tails. No roux needed. Some folks cheat and add cream of mushroom and/or tomato paste for color. 

cssmd27

All my in-laws are Cajuns from Lafayette, so I've spent a lot of time down that way and have learned from some hard core amateur Cajun chefs.  I'll be down there this gorging on Easter crawfish!

The concept of making etouffee from a packaged base might make their heads explode!  Etouffee in it's purest form is such an easy dish to make if you're careful, I'm not sure what this would add.

Basically, 1 stick of butter per pound of crawfish.  Simmer your trinity with the butter on very low for an hour or two, but don't brown them.  Low and slow to make the veggies very, very soft.  Add a lot of your favorite Cajun seasoning almost to taste during this cook.  Leave it a little lacking so you can add more with the crawfish.  All the Cajun chefs I know use Breaux's.  Add your garlic towards the end of this and a tablespoon of flour per stick of butter.  Cook for another 30 minutes or so, still low simmering butter.  Add the crawfish gently and rinse the bags to get every bit of fat and flavor out of them.  Cook crawfish on low medium just until it starts to bubble a bit.  Don't overcook.  Gentle.   Finish up seasoning along the way as desired.

Really the key to the dish is the quality of the crawfish.  Never use Chinese or imported crawfish.  They are awful compared to high quality La crawfish.  We only buy our crawfish at the peak of the season (about now) and I usually have my contacts scouting out the latest/greatest sources for the ones with the most fat.

abtaylor260

I like eating etoufee over fried fish and rice. Delicious!

nolaegghead

Easy from scratch.  Start off making a cajun mirepoix (onion, celery and bell pepper in butter).  Add garlic.  Add flour.  Add water.  Add crawfish.  I like to spice with the aromatics near the end so you don't cook the volatiles off. We usually add tomatoes.  Secret trick:  Dice up a bunch of fresh tomatoes and roast them in the oven with some olive oil and salt until they are almost like sun-dried and add.  Adds a great umami flavor.

Spices can be whatever you like, safe bet is to look at a few authentic recipes and pick the ones that keep showing up and that you like.  Lots of fresh parsley and green onions at the end.

Good quality crawfish or shrimp.  Avoid the chinese stuff, but it's acceptable in a pinch.  Browning the roux (mirepoix after adding the flour but before the water) will add complexity with the starches and milk solids in the butter reacting to the heat....almost a nutty flavor.

Lots of options here.  If you can handle it, add some heat.  Cayenne works, but you can use other chilis like aleppo or whatever.  A dash of vinegar at the end brightens it up.  You can do this through a hot sauce, which is basically flavored vinegar.  The Tabasco, Louisiana, etc sauces are not very hot, perfect for this.

RyanStl

RRP said:

RyanStl said:

RRP said:

PeteSliver said:

Oh man!  Sounds incredible.  Do you have any pictures?  Can you share what the mix was that you used?

Did you do Amazon or some other online store!

I try to avoid Amazon as much as I can. When I went directly to the maker they don’t sell direct, but referred me to Cajun Grocery. They were out of stock and not sure when they would have it again. So I went to Amazon after all. Smallest available was the box of 24. I shared 2 packets with a neighbor and she too fell in love. When she ordered 10 packets boxes was the largest they had so she bought it. Two days later she went back to Amazon to order some for her son and all they had was one box of 5 and that was it so she cleaned them out! 

I'm going to pick some up. Thanks

Dondgc

RRP said:

We don't find crawfish up here in ILLINOIS - just crooked politicians - so I always use cooked shrimp.

No shame in using shrimp. It’s a popular option here.