Marie’s Low Country Boil
This makes a substantial amount of food, so don’t be surprised if you have leftovers. It also makes ridiculously good food, so don’t be surprised if you don’t have leftovers because everyone gorged till they had nothing left to eat!
Cost: $20
Equipment
- Large pot
Ingredients
Broth:
- 1 onion for every 3 people being served Quartered
- 1 lemon for every 3 or so people being served Quartered
- Beer – about 1 can for every 2-3 people being served. Maybe more, maybe less – it’s entirely optional.
- Chicken broth 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
- Dried sage – 1 teaspoon for every 3 or so being served
- Pepper – as much as you like
- Dried mustard powder – as much as you’d like.
- Bay Leaves – 1 for every few being served
- Dried Parsley – add a handful for color.
Main Ingredients, Per Person:
- ⅓ lb New Red Potatoes Halved or quartered
- ½ lb Smoked Sausage like Kielbassa
- ⅓ lb Raw Shrimp
- 1 Ear Fresh Corn
- Whatever else you want – clams, crab, mussels, etc
Instructions
- Get a pot of an appropriate size for the amount of food you’re looking to cook. The more people being served, the bigger the pot!
- Fill it 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 boil.
- Add potatoes and sausage, adding more water if necessary. Sausage doesn’t take long to cook, but it will add a great flavor to the water – and potatoes. Cook for 30 mins or so.
- Add the corn, cook another 5 minutes.
- 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, clams and mussels fully open, etc. Discard any mussels, clams, etc that do not open.
- Traditionally, you’re supposed to strain everything out, and dump it out in the middle of a newspaper-covered table for a savage free for all. While this is great fun for a cookout, we usually end up straining everything into a large mixing bowl. In either case, serve it up with cocktail sauce, dijon mustard, or whatever else you’d like to dip your food in. Dig in!
Notes
* We usually save the water for the next batch. Saving the broth is not only thrifty and makes it SO fast to slap on supper on a moment’s notice, it also grows the flavor. We’ll add another lemon, or more jalapenos, or whatever… Yum.
* We usually put on more potatoes than this, to ensure leftovers. Chill them overnight, cut them up and fry them in a little oil for the BEST hash browns ever.
