Food and Recipes Recipes Viet-Cajun Crawfish Boil Lemongrass and garlic, meet Old Bay and crawfish. Thanks to Houston's migrant populations from Vietnam and Louisiana we have the Viet-Cajun boil, fresh mudbugs tossed with butter, garlic, chilies, Southeast Asian aromatics, and oh, did we mention garlic? So spread out the paper towels, pass around a few crisp beers, and kill an afternoon digging into this Bayou City feast. By Southern Living Test Kitchen Southern Living Test Kitchen The Southern Living Test Kitchen has been publishing recipes since 1970, four years after the first issue of Southern Living Magazine appeared on newsstands. The Southern Living Test Kitchen team includes a team of professionals with deep expertise in recipe development, from pastry chefs and grilling experts to nutritionists and dietitians. Together, the team tests and retests, produces, styles, and photographs thousands of recipes each year in the state-of-the-art test kitchen facility located in Birmingham, Alabama. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on June 24, 2020 Print Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Caitlin Bensel; Prop Styling: Mindi Shapiro Levine; Food Styling: Mary Claire Britton Active Time: 25 mins Total Time: 75 mins Yield: 6 serves Ingredients Crawfish Boil 2 1/2 gallons water 1 1/2 cups Old Bay Seasoning or Zatarain's Crawfish, Shrimp & Crab Boil 1/2 cup fish sauce 2 lemongrass stalks, smashed 2 lemons, halved 2 heads garlic, halved horizontally 3/4 cup kosher salt, divided 2 pounds small red potatoes 6 pounds live crawfish, cleaned 3 ears fresh corn, halved Butter Sauce 2 cups (1 lb.) unsalted butter, divided 2 tablespoons very finely chopped lemongrass 1/2 cup chopped garlic (from 16 cloves or 1 large head) 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 2 teaspoons cayenne 3 tablespoons lemon juice Additional Ingredient 1/2 bunch cilantro sprigs Directions Prepare the crawfish boil: Place water, Old Bay, fish sauce, lemongrass, lemons, garlic, and ¼ cup of the salt in a large stockpot. Cover and bring to a boil over high. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 minutes. Add potatoes, and cook until just tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Add remaining ½ cup salt. Increase heat to high, and bring to a rolling boil. Add crawfish and corn; boil until crawfish are bright red, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat, and let stand 15 minutes. Prepare the butter sauce: Heat ¼ cup butter in a stainless steel saucepan over medium-high heat until foamy. Add lemongrass; sauté 4 to 5 minutes or until very soft, stirring very frequently. Add remaining butter, garlic, salt, and cayenne. Cook until butter is melted and garlic is just softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in lemon juice. Cover to keep warm. Drain crawfish mixture. Discard garlic, lemons, and lemongrass. Place crawfish, corn, and potatoes in a huge bowl. Toss with half of the butter sauce and cilantro; serve with remaining sauce. Print