Cooking crayfish
- 12 crayfish per person (6–8 as appetisers)
- Water
- Coarse sea salt
- Sugar cubes
- Dill
Reserve 12 crayfish per person. 6–8 pieces are enough as an appetiser. Before cooking, rinse the crayfish thoroughly with cold, running water, e.g. in a rinsing basket, and make sure they are alive. Put enough water in the pot so that the crayfish are well covered, e.g. about 6 litres of water for 50 crayfish or 9 litres of water for 100 crayfish.
Reserve 35–40 g of coarse sea salt and 2–3 sugar cubes per one litre of water in the broth. Larger crayfish can boil in slightly saltier water with 40 g of salt. Do not add the salt and sugar in the pot until the water boils. Add several crayfish at a time into boiling water. The largest crayfish should be added first as they require more cooking time. If you cook 100 crayfish, you can add 20–30 crayfish into the water at a time. Otherwise, it is enough to add 6–12 pieces at a time. Add the chopped juicy stems and flowers of crown dill in the water. At least one large bunch of dill should be used for 10 litres of water.
The crayfish are cooked for 8–12 minutes depending on their size. The cooking time is calculated from the time the water starts to boil again after the last crayfish are added in.
The best way to cool the crayfish is to put the pot with the crayfish in a pool of water. The water should be changed for cold water as soon as it gets warm. The dill in the water is removed before cooling and replaced with plenty of new dill.
Crayfish are at their best for 6–12 hours after cooking. Correctly cooled crayfish keep for a couple of days when kept in the cold. Crayfish are stored in their broth without dill. Proper cooling is an important part of cooking crayfish. Cooked crayfish are often served with chopped dill, toast and butter.