Preparing & Cooking Crayfish

Our common crayfish, or kōura (Jasus edwardsii), are an iconic New Zealand seafood species – aside from being one of the tastiest morsels in the ocean, they’re also very intriguing critters that are fun to gather. Once caught, however, there are some key considerations to ensure you get the most enjoyment from these delectable crustaceans. In this guide, the experts from the CRA 2 Rock Lobster Management Company share some handy tips on how to look after, prepare, and eat the catch!

Looking after crays once caught

Before embarking on a crayfish caper, familiarise yourself with local regulations. Each region may have specific rules regarding potting gear, size limits, and bag limits. Regulations may change, so it's essential to stay informed about any updates or amendments. For example, recreationally caught crayfish in the Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Plenty (CRA 2) area must have one-third of the middle telson (tail fin) removed immediately once the decision has been made to keep the lobster. It doesn’t hurt the crays – think of it like clipping your toenails! 

When handling crayfish, be cautious of their sharp spines. Use gloves to protect your hands and avoid causing harm to the crayfish or yourself. Measure your crays straight away and return them to the sea quickly if they are undersized. You must release any crays that are in soft shell stage and also females carrying external eggs (in berry) − these are carried between the pleopods on the underside of the tail. 

Also, keep an eye out for tagged crayfish. The tags are typically placed between the carapace and the tail. The tag-recapture programme (fully funded by the commercial fishery in the CRA 2 area) provides important inputs into crayfish stock assessments, such as growth rates and migration behaviour. 

If you find a tagged lobster, please record:

•    the GPS position or the area where the lobster has been caught as accurately as possible;

•    the tag number;

•    measure the tail width (as you would normally measure); and 

•    email the information to [email protected]

Although you’re allowed to keep them, all fishers are encouraged to release any tagged crayfish captured.

Once you’ve decided which crays to keep, you’ll have to find a good place to stow them. As the aim is to keep them alive and fresh, placing them in a livebait tank is ideal. The tank must have good saltwater circulation – if crayfish sit in stagnant water, they will quickly perish. The average cray requires at least 20 litres of fresh seawater per hour. Other holding options include a chilly bin or a wet sack or towel. When placing them live in a chilly bin, make sure it’s not too cold (i.e., no direct exposure to salt ice) and leave the lid slightly ajar or the bung out to allow the crays to breathe. When travelling from the ramp back to your house, keep them moist and away from the sun and wind. Once back home, you can refrigerate crayfish upside down covered with a damp tea towel to help prevent them from drying out.

Preparing crays

It's best to consume crays on the day of capture as it can be tricky to keep them alive and in good condition at home. Freezing is a useful option if you’d like to save them for a special occasion. Crayfish can be frozen either fresh or cooked, with three months being the maximum recommended freezing timeframe. Most in the industry believe frozen fresh crays are better to eat than frozen cooked ones. If freezing a cooked cray, ensure it has dried out and cooled down before placing it in the big chill. Finally, ensure any frozen cray is wrapped tightly in newspaper and then covered in a plastic bag to avoid freezer burn. When it comes time to defrost, place them in the fridge and allow them to defrost slowly, otherwise the meat can go mushy.

Crustaceans don’t have one central brain or nerve centre. Their nerve centres are spread down the length of their bodies. This means they can’t be dispatched like fish with an iki spike to the brain. The Ministry for Primary Industries’ Animal Welfare Regulations for Crustaceans recommends that crayfish should be unconscious before cooking. To do this, they should be chilled to 4°C in either an ice slurry or chiller. This slows their nervous system down – check that their gills have stopped moving to confirm they are appropriately sedated. Placing a live crayfish straight into boiling water isn’t recommended! 

If you’re not cooking the cray whole, there are a couple of preparation options. To butterfly your tasty crustacean, use a strong, sharp knife and split directly down the middle along the centre of the carapace (body) and tail. Ensure you remove the poo tube before cooking.  

If tailing the crayfish, hold the body in one hand and twist the tail with the other, left then right. The legs can be removed by twisting, with the aid of a knife at the joint by the body if required. There’s also a decent amount of tasty flesh in the horns of crayfish at the base of the feelers. Note that the meat is easier to extract from the shell after cooking, although the raw tail meat can be removed by cutting the softer underside of the shell.

Cooking tips

To boil crayfish:

1.    Put a large pot of hot water on the boil, ensuring there is enough water to fully submerge the crayfish. 

2.    Add lots of salt. The water should be salty like the sea, or as the old timers say, “Enough salt to float a spud!”

3.    Once the water is boiling, place the crayfish in and put the pot lid on. 

4.    Once the water gets back to the boil, start your timer. After 7 minutes of boiling, the average-sized cray will be cooked. Larger crayfish can be boiled for 10 minutes. Some people like to remove the legs halfway through these cooking periods to ensure they aren’t overcooked. 

5.    Watch out for water boiling over – it can be hard to clean up! 

6.    Remove the crayfish and plunge them in cold water to stop the cooking process, before resting vertically, tails up, to let any excess water drain (washing lines are great for this!).

The tail holds the most accessible meat, although the legs are the sweetest and worth the extra effort to extract. If you're that way inclined, the ‘gold’ inside the bodies can be eaten raw or cooked, or even made into a sauce to accompany your lobster dish.

Even though dissecting a freshly boiled cray is hard to beat, there are innumerable other ways to savour crayfish. Butterflied on the BBQ is a Kiwi classic and incredibly simple. Brush the split cray halves with plenty of garlic butter, place them flesh side down on a hot BBQ, then close the lid until they are cooked through. Then all that is required is a quick garnish with parsley before you dig in!

Crayfish flesh is also well-suited for curries as it has plenty of flavour and holds its shape. Simply boil a whole cray for one or two minutes to separate it from the shell, then open it up and dice the flesh to add to any curry you wish.

Of course, there are swankier ways to enjoy these prized crustaceans, such as medallions. Perhaps you could try your favourite ceviche recipe with crayfish? All you need to do is substitute fish with parboiled chunks or slices of cray meat – you won’t regret it!

What is the CRA 2 Rock Lobster Management Company?

The CRA 2 Rock Lobster Management Company (CRAMAC 2) is the representative commercial stakeholder group for the rock lobster (common NZ crayfish) fishery that extends from Te Arai in the north, through the Hauraki Gulf and the Bay of Plenty, to East Cape in the south. Aside from mandatory reporting for MPI, commercial fishers in CRA 2 invest and participate voluntarily in some important research. 

The Voluntary Logbook Programme (VLBP) is a programme where CRA 2 rock lobster industry fishers voluntarily help collect data that is required to assess the status of the CRA 2 fishery. Most CRA 2 fishers participate in the programme and collect specific data on every fishing trip from their lobster pots. 

CRAMAC 2 has been collecting this data for over 20 years. The programme is fully funded by CRAMAC 2, was designed by fishery scientists to meet FNZ specifications, and is frequently reviewed by the Fisheries New Zealand Rock Lobster Assessment Working Group.

The data collected through the VLBP is independent of the mandatory catch and effort data that all commercial fishers are required by law to collect. Participating fishers collect data on every fishing trip from each lobster pot. The data is recorded on specifically designed units – electronically logged in real-time during fishing. This data is crucial to providing accurate results from the CRA 2 stock assessment models; without such information, the status of crayfish in the Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Plenty would be almost impossible to assess with any level of certainty. 

CRA 2 is also one of the fisheries where the commercial sector has front-footed management measures, voluntarily reducing their catch in 2016 and 2017 to rebuild crayfish numbers. In recent years, the data has shown a steadily increasing abundance of lobsters in CRA 2 to healthy stock levels.

Best of luck with your crayfishing and cooking this summer. You can visit the NZ Rock Lobster Industry Council website for further information: https://nzrocklobster.co.nz/

- NZ Fishing News