Low Country Boil (or Frogmore Stew)
Richard Gay, owner of Gay Fish Company of St. Helena Island, South Carolina is credited with coming up with Frogmore Stew. It does not contain frogs. It was named after the little town where Gay lived. Then, the post office cancelled service to Frogmore and just rolled it into Beaufort. Some people now call the the dish Beaufort Stew or Low Country Boil, but the die hards will always call it Frogmore Stew.
Low Country Boil recipe is loaded with fresh shrimp, smoky sausage, sweet corn, and tender potatoes. Perfect meal for the family! Some people like to add crab to the mix. Add them before the shrimp because they take longer to cook.
There are so many side dishes that go well with a seafood boil. One of the favorite things to enjoy are a good crusty bread or sourdough bread sopped up with the garlic butter sauce. Garlic bread is also delicious with this meal. You can also make a homemade cocktail sauce to dip the shrimp into.
Low Country Boil (or Frogmore Stew)
This is a basic recipe for Low Country Boil that probably has a long history.
a big pot
water [you could add other liquids such as chicken stock or beer for more flavor]
crab boil, such as Old Bay (2 tsp per quart of water)
6 good smoked sausage links (sliced into 2 - 3" chunks)
15 new red thin-skinned potatoes
6 ears of fresh corn (cut in small rounds)
3 pounds fresh shrimp (unpeeled - heads on or off)
lemons, for serving
Fill a big pot with water [but save room for the food]. Add crab boil seasoning and bring to a boil. Play around with the crab boil. Some families like more (and a few less).
Add the potatoes and sausage and let cook on medium heat for 20 minutes.
Add the corn and cook 10 more minutes.
Add the shrimp and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. The shrimp should turn an orange like color. Don't overcook at this point or the shrimp will be tough.
Pour the water off the food. Get as much water off as possible, since it gets the newspaper wet when the Frogmore Stew is served.
Cover picnic tables with newspaper. If it's windy, a little tape is helpful. Dump the Frogmore Stew on the newspaper and let everyone eat right off the papers.
Obviously you'll want plenty of paper towels on hand.
Low Country Boil
from https://www.foodandwine.com/
Food & Wine editor-in-chief Hunter Lewis grew up in North Carolina obsessed with peel-and-eat shrimp, especially those fished out of pots of Frogmore stew in the South Carolina Lowcountry and those cooked and spiced like Maryland crab farther north. Now, he lives in the Deep South, where his shrimp boil has taken on a slight Cajun accent.
Spicy Garlic Butter
2 lemons
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3 ounces)
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning or Old Bay seasoning, plus more for serving
2 garlic cloves, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
Hot sauce (such as Tabasco), to taste
Shrimp Boil
11 quarts water (44 cups)
1 (750-milliliter) bottle dry unoaked white wine (such as Pinot Grigio)
1 (8-ounce) bottle clam juice (such as Bar Harbor)
1 large yellow onion (about 12 ounces), quartered lengthwise, root intact
2 garlic heads, halved crosswise
8 dried bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried thyme
5 tablespoons fine sea salt
2 (3-ounce) packages boil-in-bag crawfish, shrimp, and crab boil (such as Zatarain's) or 1/4 cup Old Bay seasoning
2 pounds small yellow, red, or gold potatoes
8 (8-ounce) shucked ears fresh corn, halved crosswise
3 pounds fresh or smoked sausages (such as Italian sausage, bratwurst, or andouille) (about 8 [6-ounce] sausages or 16 [3-ounce] sausages) (see Note)
4 pounds unpeeled raw large wild shrimp
For serving
Cocktail Sauce, for shrimp
Whole-grain mustard, for sausage
[hot crusty bread]
Grate zest from 1 lemon to measure 2 teaspoons. Set grated zest aside. Cut zested lemon and remaining lemon into quarters; set aside [will be used in the shrimp boil]. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low. Stir in Cajun seasoning, minced garlic, 1/8 teaspoon salt, hot sauce to taste, and reserved lemon zest. Remove from heat; cover to keep warm.
Place a 24-quart pot on an outdoor propane burner. Add 11 quarts water, wine, clam juice, onion, garlic heads, bay leaves, thyme, quartered lemons, and remaining 5 tablespoons salt to pot; cover and bring to a boil over high flame. Stir in crab boil packets; cover and cook 10 minutes. Place a fitted strainer inside pot.
Add potatoes to strainer in pot; cover and cook 5 minutes. Stir in corn and sausages; cover and cook until a thermometer inserted in thickest portion of sausage registers 155°F (or until heated through if using smoked sausages), about 10 minutes. Stir in shrimp; cook, uncovered, until shrimp are pink, opaque, and cooked through, 2 to 4 minutes.
Lift strainer from pot, letting liquid strain back into pot, and transfer shrimp boil mixture (potatoes, corn, sausage, and shrimp) to a large heatproof bowl; discard onion, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, lemons, crab boil packets, and strained liquid inside pot. Add reserved butter mixture to shrimp boil mixture; toss to coat. (If you don't have a large enough bowl, you can do this step in batches, tossing half of the shrimp boil with half of the butter mixture at a time.) Arrange coated shrimp boil on a platter or a covered table. Season with additional Cajun seasoning or Old Bay, if desired. Serve with cocktail sauce and mustard, if desired.
Servings: 8
