Can I freeze crayfish with liquid nitrogen?

[mm84321]

I've got 5 pounds of live crayfish. Some I will use this week, but I don't think I will be able to use all of them. My idea was to first kill them by blanching in boiling water, shocking in ice, shelling and then using liquid nitrogen to freeze the tails and claws I won't be using immediately. Will this affect the texture, to a noticeable degree? Also, how long do crayfish keep in the fridge after they've been killed, and which is the best way to store them? Are they too delicate to be put under vacuum?

[rotuts]

Wow, mm good for you. You not only have live crayfish, but liquid nitrogen!

Flash frozen fish kept sealed with no air keeps frozen for some time if the bags are thick enough, and the fish are 'dry' when frozen.

if you get no further thoughts on this I'd do as you have suggested, then take the dry frozen crays and vacuum bag with a thicker bag: at lease 3 mils. then freeze. should keep for some time.

then you might SV those bags when needed. Not being as fortunate as your self I cant help you with the SV times, nor if the crays benefit with some 'boil' spices in the bag.

lucky you!

[KennethT]

frozen crawfish tails are very common, and I'm sure they're not frozen with LN. All of the frozen ones I've seen are completely precooked in the shell, then shelled and frozen.

BTW, when I make a Louisiana style crawfish boil, I could eat 5 pounds of crawfish by myself!

[Twyst]

Blanch and peel them, then they can be vacuum packed and frozen for a long time with no issues. The fat also freezes well, so make sure you include some with the tails when you are packing it.

Edited April 25, 2012 by Twyst (log)