Old Fashioned Low Country Shrimp and Snow Crab Boil
I love this because it incorporates the best of summer’s fresh seafood and corn into an easy one pot meal. Great for feeding a small crowd and easy to display. Traditionally, the pot was just drained and all of the goodies inside just dumped out onto a few sheets of newspaper right in the middle of your table, and I still love that presentation. However, some people don’t like the ink, even though most ink is made of soy now. So, I just rolled out a few sheets of parchment paper. Dumped it all out onto the middle of the table, surrounded it with bowls of melted butter, cocktail sauce and hot sauce and it’s ready. No platters to clean, no worries about pretty presentation. It’s just plain pretty on it’s own!
This dish is very popular in the Southeastern United States and sometimes referred to as Frogmore Stew. It is also popular in Louisiana, but it is spiced up quite a bit more cajun style there.
Use a Zatarain’s Crab Boil package for a spicier, more Cajun Louisiana feel. Use Old Bay Seasoning’s crab boil packet for a good old southern coastal low country boil. Zatarains has a lot of flavor, but spicier than Old Bay which has a lot of flavor without the extra spice. Your potatoes and corn will soak up the spice if you use spicy ingredients. You can always have your guests spice it up their own way later with hot sauce. I am a huge fan of Red Clay Hot Sauce.
Locally, I usually buy seafood at Captain’s Tavern Market. The crab legs will be frozen as they are not local. Shrimp are usually frozen, then thawed as they are flash frozen when they are caught to preserve the freshness.
Same for your sausages. Use a mild sweet sausage, an andouille sausage a smoked sausage, or an Italian hot sausage. Make sure it is cooked before you add it . I like Aidell’s sausage. it is lean and healthier with less fat than most. But there are many other good brands. The other ingredients will soak up whatever sausage flavor you choose.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes
Serves: 6
Ingredients:
Zatarain’s Crab Boil in a pouch (not liquid) or Old Bay Seafood One Step (bag in a box)
1 can beer
5 bay leaves
1 Tbs whole allspice berries
1 tsp whole peppercorns
2 cinnamon sticks
1 Tbs salt
1 large onion, cut in 4’s
4 whole cloves of garlic, no skin, smashed
2-3 lbs of shrimp in the shell (15-16 per pound)
6-7 clusters of snow crab legs, cooked (usually sold frozen, cooked)
Lobster tails, if you wish. I did not use here
6 whole ears of fresh corn on cob, snapped in half
2 lbs baby red potatoes (about 24 small ones)
6 whole sausages cooked and cut in 3 pieces each
(I prefer smokey sausage, or the Applegate farms chicken apple sausage, some people prefer a spicier sausage)
For serving:
Parchment paper
1 stick butter, melted
Cocktail sauce
1 bottle of hot sauce
Directions:
Place 10 cups of water, beer, bay leaves, allspice, peppercorns, cinnamon sticks, garlic cloves, quartered onion and Zatarains or Old Bay in a very large pot. Bring to boil. Turn down, let simmer for 10 minutes. Maybe add a cup of water if your liquid reduced a lot. Turn up to a full rolling boil again. Add cooked sausages, potatoes (and lobster if using). Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add crab legs . Make sure the water covers most of it. Cover again. Simmer heartedly for an additional 5 minutes. Add corn, cook 5 minutes more. Add the shrimp, simmer 2-3 minutes.
Pour all into a colander to drain. You may need two. Or dump it into a clean sink. Return everything to the pot. Bring the pot to your table.
Roll out parchment on the center of your table. Dump the seafood and veggies over the parchment. Place bottles of hot sauce, small bowls of melted butter and cocktail sauce around the table. That’s it!
