I love shrimp. Low Country Boil is just another shrimp delivery device (and one not mentioned by Bubba IIRC) that combines the key male necessities of eating with one’s hands, quick preparation and cooking, cooking outside with large propane fueled contraptions and huge pots that may or may not be converted beer kegs, delivering a large amount of tasty food for little cost and trouble, something do to while drinking beer and shooting the breeze, removing the need for things like plates, utensils, and the cleaning thereof, an occasion to use a small towel as a dinner napkin, and adding to the opportunity to eat shrimp other things men like to eat like sausage, taters, and corn on the cob.
I have found that the ladies also enjoy partaking of the Low Country Boil.
Here’s my recipe that will feed 15 or so adults.
Ingredients:
4 pounds raw de-veined shrimp, peeled or not (as an aside, y’all know that’s not a vein, right?)
2 14oz Polish Kielbasa Sausages, cut into two inch pieces
3-5 pounds new (small) red potatoes, washed and cut in half.
2 packs of 12 frozen mini ears of corn (shucked and de-husked)
1 can of Old Bay seasoning
4 lemons, halved
2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
butter, salt, ketchup, and cocktail sauce
3 gallons of water
1 big honkin’ pot and the means to cook with it
OK so prepare all that food. Make sure you have a heat source that will boil a bunch of water. Here’s mine:
Big honkin’ Bayou Classic Banjo burner. Beer can shown for scale.
Throw all your taters and onions in that pot and then add 3 gallons of water and dump the whole container of Old Bay in there. Turn on the heat and bring to a boil. After you get to a boil wait five minutes, stirring periodically. After five minutes add the sausage and the corn. After you return to a boil, wait another 10 minutes, stirring as the Spirit leads. After 10 minutes check one of the taters to make sure it’s done. They are done when they are good and soft. Now add the shrimp and boil for 3-5 minutes or until the shrimp are pink.
Next you have to get rid of all the water. My “pot” is fitted with a spigot on the side (it doubles as a brewing kettle). Some folks have specially made colanders that they can lift out of the boil. Before I added the spigot, I fished out the food with a colander that has a handle on it. However you can manage.
Next, pour all it all out on a table covered in newspaper, spray that lemon juice all over it, and eat that mess of food. Do your corn up right with butter and salt, and dip your shrimp in the cocktail sauce and taters in the ketchup if you like. Be sure to have lots of towels handy to wipe your hands.
This recipe will feed 15 or so but if you have a large pot you can feed even more. We are going to do a church picnic soon feeding 50+ people. Lot’s of fun.
Don’t forget to drink beer and play washers or cornhole or something while you wait and after you eat.
Vita pastoralis 