BOTTLING CRAYFISH

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30979, 8 February 1966, Page 2

BOTTLING CRAYFISH

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SUSAN BAKER]

New Zealanders’ tastes in rapper dishes have moved increasingly towards savoury foods and away from thick sponges dripping with cream, which were once standard fare for entertaining. For a savoury supper dish there is probably no ingredient more useful or tasty than crayfish. But crayfish is expensive and not always available. So the wise housewife who wants to be a “hostess with the mostest” turns to home bottling. She buys crayfish when they are reasonably priced and plentiful and stores them away for use throughout the year.

Another point about preserved crayfish is that it is quick to prepare when visitors arrive unexpectedly. Simply open the jars, give the fish 10 to 15 minutes in

an open dish and it is ready to serve. An Easy Way Here is an easy way to bottle crayfish by pressure cooker or waterbath methods. Plunge the crayfish into boiling salt water, consisting of four tablespoons of salt to a gallon of water. Boil rapidly for 20 minutes. Remove the crayfish and dip it into cold water. Drain, then remove the meat from the shell. Let the meat stand for a minute in water to which lemon juice or vinegar has been added. Use lemon juice for preference—half a cup to one gallon of water. Pack the meat into hot jars, and add a teaspoon of lemon juice and salt to each jar. Fill the jars with boiling water, seal them, and process the jars in a pressure-cooker for 80 minutes at 101 b pressure, or in a boiling waterbath for four hours.