Boiling Fresh Crayfish - a Timeless Tradition

Warning living things will not be living by the end of this instructable!

This Is my entry for the Hunter Gatherer Contest.

Just to get it out of the way, Crayfish refers to: crawfish; crawdads; freshwater lobsters; or mudbugs.

Step 1: Get Some Crayfish

So fresh they're crawling out of the bowl

One morning while camping me and a friend thought, "crayfish for lunch?" It ended up being a great idea and I learned they taste like mini lobsters.

We spent a few hours before lunch flipping flat rocks near the shores of Raccoon Lake, IN. Quite a few managed to get away from us and as the hunger of lunch time wore on, we ended up with twenty of these succulent shellfish to split between us.

Keep the big ones and let the small ones go back to grow more and repopulate.

Step 2: Into the Pot

Back at camp we were fortunate enough to have an aluminum pot and some potable water and also salt. Throw salt into the water if you have any, this will raise the boiling temperature a little bit, toss the crayfish in too.

Step 3: Boil Till They Float

Cooking crayfish is really simple, merely bring the pot to a boil. By this time, the shells should turn red and the crayfish will float to the top.

Step 4: Bon Appetit

Carefully pour out the water (save it for more cooking later, water conservation is important in the wild) and pick out the crayfish into your serving dish.

How to eat a crayfish:

Hold the crayfish on both sides of the tail joint, your thumbs on one side of the shell and your index fingers on the other, twist and snap the head and tail apart. Hold the tip of the tail and gently tug the tender meat out with your fingers or your teeth. Ingest and enjoy.

I suggest eating with butter and saffron rice, If you can find it in the wild. (Yes, you can find rice in the wild).