Marie's Low Country Boil Recipe

1 lemon for every 3 or so people.

Beer – about 1 can for every 2-3 people being served. Maybe more, maybe less – it’s entirely optional.

Chicken broth or seafood stock - Optional, use as much or as little as you want.

Garlic – as much as you want.

Green onions - Optional.. a couple chopped green onions for every few people is usually good.

Jalapenos, habaneros, or whatever - Optional, chop a few for every few people being served,

Smoked paprika, smoked serrano powder, cayenne, etc- I’ll just use as much seasoning as I’m in the mood for. If I don’t have jalapenos or habaneros for the broth, I’ll use more smoked serrano. If I have a lot of fresh peppers, I’ll skip or go light on the pepper-based seasonings.

Dried sage – 1 teaspoon for every 3 or so being served.

Black pepper – as much as you like.

Dried mustard powder – as much as you’d like.

Bay Leaves – 1bay leaf for every few being served.

Dried Parsley – add a handful for color.

Main Ingredients

The ingredients are also customizable.

Fresh corn, Potatoes, Shrimp, and Sausage are a good solid foundation.. but feel free to add clams, mussels, and even crab legs. It's your stew!

As a general idea:

Potatoes - Usually ⅓ lb per person or more - we like to have leftovers for making hashbrowns!

If you have fingerling or baby potatoes, you can use whole potatoes. Otherwise, small red potatoes or Yukon gold potatoes - halved or quartered - are good chocies.

Sausage - ½ lb per person. We’ll usually use a smoked sausage like Kielbasa, but you can use any kind of firm sausage you like - beef sausage, spicy sausage, etc.

Pick something that will hold up to being simmered for 30+ minutes.

Fresh Shrimp - About ⅓ lb shrimp per person. The shrimp isn’t the best as leftovers, so we’ll usually temper the amount of shrimp used.

Other Shellfish - If you have access to nice, fresh seafood, you can add whatever you want. Blue crabs, crab claws, crab legs, scallops in the shell, mussels, clams, crayfish, etc.

Fresh Ears of Corn - 1 cob per person, shucked and halved

How to Cook a Low Country Boil

Note, while this is a great recipe, it’s less of a “low country boil recipe”, and more of a loose set of guidelines!

Get a big pot of an appropriate size for the amount of food you’re looking to cook. The more people being served, the bigger the pot!

We’ll usually use a 6 quart pot for the 2 of us, and a large stockpot when we have friends over.

Serving a large crowd? You can use several stock pots, or just rent a giant pot for the occasion!

Build Your Cooking Liquid

Fill the large pot about ⅓ full (to start) with water.

Add chicken stock and/or beer if you’re going to, as well as everything else from the broth ingredients that you’re using. Also, whatever else you want to use to flavor it.

Bring it to a rolling boil over medium-high heat.

Timing Your Cooking

The big thing to keep in mind is the timing of ingredient additions, as the cook time varies by the item used.

You want them all to be cooked, but not OVERCOOKED - and there’s a variety of cook times involved. This is how I work it, once I’m happy with the broth and have it simmering:

1. Add potatoes and sausage, adding more water if necessary . There should be enough water / broth to cover the foods you’ll be cooking.

Sausage doesn't take long to cook, but it will add a great flavor to the water - and potatoes. Turn stove or grill down to medium heat, cook for 30 mins or so.

2. Add the corn, cook another 5 minutes.

3. Add the Shrimp, and any other seafood you may want to add. Cook another 5 minutes, or until it's done - Shrimp should be pink, scallops, clams and mussels fully open, etc.

Discard any mussels, clams, scallops, etc that do not open.

Serving Low Country Boil

Traditionally, you're supposed to strain everything out and dump it out in the middle of a newspaper-covered big table - newspaper covered, ideally a picnic table - for a wild free-for-all.

While this is great fun for a cookout, we usually end up straining everything out using a large slotted spoon, and serving it in a big bowl or on large platters - reserving the broth.

We’ll usually have bottles of various condiments on hand (transferred to a small bowl, when that makes sense):

Cocktail sauce
Dijon mustard
Hot sauce
Melted butter

All great options - use some/all of these, or whatever else you'd like to dip your food in.

Have some lemon wedges on hand also - usually a couple of lemons worth.

While we usually skip side dishes altogether, you can’t go wrong serving this with a big platter of sourdough bread slices, and/or a little bit of green salad on the side.

As for beverages, a pitcher of sweet tea keeps the whole thing on theme!