{"id":111543,"date":"2016-05-18T15:29:49","date_gmt":"2016-05-18T19:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/?p=111543"},"modified":"2025-09-10T15:32:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T19:32:45","slug":"crayfish-boil-2015-maison-idiart-touraine-sauvignon-blanc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/?p=111543","title":{"rendered":"Crayfish Boil & 2015 Maison Idiart Touraine Sauvignon Blanc"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Liu Xiang, the great scholar during the Han Dynasty wrote: \u201cYou can\u2019t deny the change in seasons.\u201d\u00a0 And so it is when we move from frigid days of Winter, we make a necessary sojourn to the intermediate period of Spring, before continuing apace toward the heat drenched days Summer. For me nothing\u00a0shouts\u00a0<\/em>Spring better than a crayfish boil!\u00a0 The little beasts are in season now and I have found a terrific source for provisioning out the necessary fare for staging the feast.\u00a0 Cajun Grocer in Louisiana\u00a0will ship you 10lbs of live \u201cmud bugs\u201d (premium select jumbo purged<\/em>) overnight for $67.50, special seasonings included! And they arrive in perfect condition \u2013\u00a0almost<\/em>\u00a0ready for the stock pot (instructions included advise\u00a0additional<\/em>\u00a0purging\u00a0before<\/em>\u00a0cooking \u2013 this is a bit of a pain in the ass, and time consuming\u2026 and as you would suspect, adds delay to\u00a0digging in!<\/em>).

Although this type of\u00a0chow down<\/em>\u00a0is best done outdoors\u2026 on the back deck, table covered with newspaper and with the cooked crayfish plopped in a substantial heap center stage.\u00a0\u00a0Connecticut\u00a0weather did not cooperate this past Friday, so I moved the venue to our kitchen table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of where you set the feast, the perfect wine to enjoy is a Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc.  And due to the protracted nature of the experience<\/em>, you must have several bottles at the ready!  Eating crayfish is a labor intensive activity.  A lot of effort is expended to extract a small amount of tail meat (a tiny<\/em> amount relative to a Maine lobster!).  But on the positive side, time slows, the enjoyment is extended as you eat, drink and talk your way thru a splendid repast.  It doesn\u2019t get any better!  Eat a couple of tails, a sip of Sauv Blanc, tell a story\u2026 repeat numerous times.  Yes, numerous. <\/em>The stories, too! (My favorite line from Ellen: \u201cJim could talk a blue bird out of a tree.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two alternate suggestions on the wine side\u2026 Ros\u00e9 from Provence or Albari\u00f1o from Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Maison Idiart\u00a0Touraine\u00a0\u00a0Sauvignon Blanc \u201915 (Loire,France)<\/u><\/strong>
Touraine\u00a0is the \u201csmart buy\u201d for Sauvignon Blanc in the\u00a0Loire\u2026 located just west of Sancerre and Pouilly Fum\u00e9, producing wine with the same scent and flavor profile but without the higher ticket price!\u00a0\u00a0The wine displays an array of aromas gooseberry, lime, lemongrass, apricot and Passion fruit. Alive and fresh on the palate with excellent ripe fruit with a clean, clear finish. It has superb crystalline aciditybalanced by the richness of the superb 2015 vintage. \u00a0Flavor with freshness and restraint \u2013 it is what makes Loire Valley Sauvignon Blancs so good, and it is what makes the Idiart Touraine \u201csing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE WOODBURY CRAYFISH BOIL<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ingredients<\/u><\/strong>

6 ounces of Tanqueray Gin
\u00bd ounce of Noilly Pratt Dry Vermouth
3 Blue Cheese stuffed Olives
10lbs live crayfish
\u00bd pack seasonings (provided from Cajun Grocer)
1 sack small red potatoes
2 stalks celery
3 ears of corn (cut into thirds)
6 assorted sausages<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directions<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Put gin and vermouth into a glass pitcher, fill with ice, stir vigorously while incanting, \u201cYou who know all, thank you for providing us juniper and all the other obscure ingredients responsible for creating this sacred liquid!\u201d Strain into a pre-frozen Martini glass of admirable size.  Skewer the olives on one of those tacky cocktail swords, place in glass. Immediately begin consuming.  Now you can begin the food prep, and the cooking!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Follow directions about purging the live crayfish.  Put enough water in a stock pot to cover the crayfish, add seasonings and bring water to a boil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Add the corn, potatoes, celery and sausages to the stock pot, reduce heat and cook for 20 minutes. Remove contents to a platter and tent with foil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Bring stock pot back to a boil and chuck in the live crayfish.  Cook 5 minutes.  Take off heat, let sit for 10 minutes. Add to the platter\u2026 bring to the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Take a sip of wine, tell a joke\u2026 tuck in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

n.b.<\/u><\/strong>
If there is more than one person eating, multiply the ingredients accordingly (just kidding!). Given the \u201csides\u201d included to the boil this recipe should do well for 4 folks. I used andouille, chorizo and bratwurst sausages. But anything goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the link to the Cajun Grocer:
http:\/\/www.cajungrocer.com\/fresh-foods-crawfish-live-c-1_15_19.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, one more thing\u2026 Liu Xiang is indeed a great scholar from the Han Dynasty; but I made up the quote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Liu Xiang, the great scholar during the Han Dynasty wrote: \u201cYou can\u2019t deny the change in seasons.\u201d\u00a0 And so it is when we move from frigid days of Winter, we make a necessary sojourn to the intermediate period of Spring, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sandys-table"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=111543"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111545,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111543\/revisions\/111545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}