Freezing Crawfish for the Offseason
Keith Lusher 02.14.24
One of the best parts of being a journalist is being able to make fishing trips with outdoorsmen who have a wealth of knowledge from chasing a certain species of fish for decades.
Recently, I had the opportunity to jump on board with someone who has been a commercial fisherman all his life. CJ Mayeux of Pearl River, La invited me to tag along and learn how he catches crawfish in the swamp. On our trip, Mayeux shared where he sets his nets, what he uses for bait, and at what time the crawfish bite the best. But the highlight of our trip came when we returned to his home. Mayeux asked me if I had a few minutes to enjoy some hot-boiled crawfish. Since I never turn down boiled crawfish, I answered with an excited, “Absolutely”. However, I have to admit that didn’t quite understand how he planned on boiling the sack of crawfish that we caught that day in only a couple of minutes. Mayeux walked into his workshop and opened up a freezer. He then walked away with two gallon-sized oyster containers and plopped them in a boiling pot that was already sitting on a burner.
Then Mayeux began to explain, “For years I’ve experimented with different ways to keep crawfish frozen until the offseason. I’ve finally come up with a way to enjoy hot-boiled crawfish during the late summer and winter months when you can’t find them anywhere,” Mayeux said. During crawfish season when Mayeux boils crawfish weekly, he takes the time to scoop out containers of boiled crawfish which he perfectly preserves by filling the container with the seasoned water from the boil. After sealing the container, he puts it in the freezer to enjoy during the offseason.
The entire procedure took the Cajun Vietnam Veteran 10 minutes and we were eating boiled crawfish. “After you fire up that burner it takes about 5 minutes to melt it all down and then they’re ready,” he said. “Just don’t let the water get back to a boil and you’ll never know they were frozen,” he said. After trying the crawfish I can honestly say that the meat felt and tasted like they had been boiled that day!
