Can someone tell me the secret of cooking crawfish so that the tails slide out easy. Mine have a good flavor and everyone enjoys them but the meat does not slide out like it should. I cook for 5 min. after water starts to boil and then soak for 5 or 10 min. can't soak too long i have little ones that like them too. I do add butter to help aid in the process.

Put some peanut oil in the water. don't overcook them!! That's the biggest problem...

Is 5 minitues to long. The water is already boiling but after i put the batch of crawdads in i wait till the water starts to boil again then after 5 min i turn off the burner. Do i need to shorten back the 5 min?

I add 1 stick of butter to the water. Works great.

sticking to the shells is typically a sign of overcooking.

I think you'd have better luck with throwing about a 1/2 bag of ice on them when you start the soak than you would by reducing the boil time.

The ice will cool the soak down quick and also cause them to suck up a lot of liquid in the thorax. The rapid change in temp does that some how or another but, I don't worry too much with scientific things but just know it does what it does.

Give that a try for a batch leaving the 5 minute boil time. If they are still sticking, cut the boil time in half and still shock'em with some ice. Test again.

+1 with the ice

it's all trial and error.

5 minutes is a good boil time or just until they turn a really nice bright red. Cooling down with ice for simmer is also a good idea. The longer the simmer the spicier the crawfish. Butter or peanut oil does help with lubeing them up for easier meat removal, but the best thing I ever used is concentrated lemon oil. Not the kind you polish furniture with; they make an edible one. Do a web-search and you will find it.
The lemon oil also gives the crawfish that nice citrus balance in the flavor. It only takes a capfull per batch.

Try adding some vinegar to the water. Works with crabs also.

BINGO!

I use vinegar in combo with butter.

Anybody have a good recipe?

Just bought my own cooker set up. This will be my first time boiling crawdads....

You are boiling them too long. Try lowering the crawfish into the boiling water. As soon as the water returns to a boil again, kill the fire, then let them soak for 5-10 minutes. I have never had the need to add butter or vinegar to help them peel.

lemon, and you're cooking it too long. boil high heat, dump the things, 3-5 minutes, kill heat, and soak, shoot, 10 -15 minutes sometimes (i've done longer its hard to explain without screwing it up), really helps with two cookers, you can knock out a lot that way. if you're doing small batches of like 10 pounds, add seasoned butter and toss like chicken wings in a bowl after they cook, you'll be licking your fingers for sure.

damnit, i'm going to cook some this weekend.

A little tip for makin them tastier. I added about a half cup of brown sugar to the ones I cooked yesterday, excellent.

I put butter in the water and when it comes to a boil put in crawfish cover and 11min.later remove from pot.I then palce in a ice chest and sprinkle with cajun seasoning and close lid to keep hot while I boil another batch no problems