Low country boil?

5 comments

1. The most important part is the spice mix. You can either order it on Amazon or assemble it from your spice rack. If your husband is from GA he’s probably more used to shrimp in the boil. Finding good corn in Scotland in February might be tough. Maybe they have it in the frozen section? Crab, like Dungeness or snow is a good addition too.

2. I searched Amazon UK for Zatarain’s Crawfish, Shrimp, and Crab Boil and wasn’t very successful. If you can find it elsewhere, I think that would be your best bet. They did have very large containers of Old Bay seasoning on the website. I think the latter is a great alternative.

   Buy either of these seasonings. Get a large pot, put however much of the seasoning you’d like, and boil with corn on the cob, whole mushrooms and uncut but small potatoes, and crustaceans. Start the potatoes first though, as they may take the longest to cook.

3. You sure you can’t get crawfish? I know the signal crayfish (native to my neck of the woods) is a highly invasive species in the UK

4. Seasoned salt/Lawry’s

   Bay Leaves

   Red potatoes (whole, small to medium)

   Corn on the cob (broken or cut into thirds)

   Polish sausage (kielbasa starowiejska cut into roughly three/four inch chunks)

   Lemon halves

   Shrimp (peel on, heads can be removed, usually 18 ct/18 shrimp to a pound; can use 10 ct but don’t go much bigger or smaller)

   Old Bay or Tony Chachere’s

   Add to a huge pot of boiling water or seafood stock (shrimp shells, celery, onion, maybe garlic and carrots or bell peppers) in the order listed above. You can add beer to the broth or use different sausage, but the very simple recipe above is “traditional.” There are no quantities listed because it’s an improvised dish meant to feed a crowd cheap and easy— measure with your heart (but use about three times as much Old Bay as you think you should).

   It’s technically just “Frogmore stew,” but adding any additional shellfish (including those you listed) will make it Lowcountry boil. We’re not as hardcore about gatekeeping food as a lot of places (except barbecue— that we’ll get downright French or Italian over).

   Source: my family’s from Beaufort and I lived there for two decades

   ETA: If you can’t find [Tony Chachere’s](https://www.food.com/amp/recipe/tony-chacheres-creole-seasoning-copycat-500434) or [Old Bay](https://www.thekitchn.com/old-bay-seasoning-recipe-23344701)

5. It might be clams or mussels rather than oysters…at least that’s what I usually see in seafood boils.