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freezing / defrosting crayfish

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote hkt_up Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: freezing / defrosting crayfish
    Posted: 24 Oct 2011 at 10:39am
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Have often cooked and then frozen whole crays or tails wrapped in wet news paper, then defrost overnight in the fridge when needed.  Works really well.

Got a few the other day and didn't have time to cook a couple of the bigger bucks so froze them raw. Have never done this before. Has anyone got experience with cooking from frozen? Do you defrost first? If so how? Quickly in water or slowly in the fridge? Or can you just drop the frozen bug into the pot and give if a few minutes longer than normal?

Cheers for any advice Thumbs Up
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote jaydogfish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Oct 2011 at 9:10pm
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you can boil them frozen then cut in half and cook on bbq with garlic butter.

THE DOGG
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote tom1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Oct 2011 at 9:22am
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I've found that wrapped raw crays in newspaper and frozen  come out well.  I tend to do them roasted or BBQ'd after that though, or remove the meat and do an extravagant stirfry with them.   Cooking them frozen or defrosting them fast in water, its a recipe for disaster or food poisoning, or both.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote mjl Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Oct 2011 at 10:13am
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I did that once and when I opened the freezer in the next morning the ****ers had been chewing my sausages!
"It was the Law of the Sea, they said. Civilization ends at the waterline. Beyond that, we all enter the food chain, and not always right at the top. " Hunter S. Thompson
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote spearfisher916 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Oct 2011 at 12:02pm
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Originally posted by tom1 tom1 wrote:

Cooking them frozen or defrosting them fast in water, its a recipe for disaster or food poisoning, or both.
 
I've heard about this risk but not quite figured out why it would be.  If the food is frozen and then rapidly defrosted and cooked I would have thought nasty bacteria would have little or no time to multiply before the cooking process kills them.
 
Or is it because the food may not be defrosted fully when done rapidly and therefore not cooked right through?
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Philip van Zijl Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Oct 2011 at 7:57am
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Old South African trick: Freeze them in sea water, raw - I only did the tails, though.  THey tasted perfectly fresh, when defrosted.
Never underestimate and old man with a spear gun ;)
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Firey Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Oct 2011 at 8:55am
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Had frozen cray tails for dinner last night. Been in freezer for 4 months probably. Was fantastic!!!!
I only freeze the tails green (dont cook them first) Just let them defrost in their own time cut in half and basted with olive oil garlic lemon juice and zest and on the BBQ. Mmmmmm
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote hkt_up Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Oct 2011 at 2:08pm
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Thanks for your words of wisdom guys Beer
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote CRAYMOUNTS Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Oct 2011 at 8:14pm
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all the above is fine but what is a problem when freezing them raw and then defrosting to boil they tend to go mushy, not all the time but it does happen,if you are to freeze crays raw then cook them dont boil just pan fry or baraque them they taste way better than the old boiled cray anyway,this is just my experince from boiling maybe a few hunderd of them over 30 yrs.
CLASS CRAYMOUNTS DONE
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