Frogmore Stew

Hi friends!  This year's weather has been one for the record books.  I say this because yesterday it was mostly sunny and very pleasant all day.  Our bedroom felt stuffy last night, so I opened the window a small amount to get the fresh air, and may I say I'm loving these replacement windows, as they're so easy to open and close whenever I want to.  Anyway, we were rather rudely awakened about 5:45 this morning by hail pounding on the outside of the windows.  Such a racket, and this was followed by heavy rain and intense winds for a half hour or more.  I'm just thankful that no tall trees came down on our house.   I mentioned in my previous post that we spent Easter weekend at the coast, and it was much colder there than usual for early April.  We still had fun, though.    

   My mother-in-law made a seafood boil on Friday night, and it was delicious.  We all enjoyed it so much!  This dish goes by several names, depending upon what part of the country you're in and which kind of seafood you choose to put in the pot.  🍲  🦐  🦀  One name, Frogmore Stew comes from South Carolina, and gets its name from "a place that has only a post office on one side of the road and a two-story white country store on the other.  Frogmore is the mailing address for the residents of St. Helena's island, just off the coast of South Carolina."  Frogmore Stew (not actually a stew) is also known as Low Country Boil, Tidewater Boil, and Beaufort Boil.  I'm pretty sure that in the northeast, this same dish (basically) is called New England Seafood Boil, Maine Lobster Boil, etc.  Substitute crawfish for shrimp or lobster, and you have a Louisiana Crawfish Boil.  Whatever name it goes by in your part of the country, it's a treat for sure.  

   I could smack myself for not taking pictures of this at the beach house, but I borrowed this picture from the link in the paragraph above.  This looks just like our meal, right down to the newspapers on the table.  *No frogs were harmed in the making of this stew.*  🐸   One reason my mom-in-law made this dish is because our son loves it.  A friend of his has it every year for Christmas dinner at his parent's house, and Will had it there a few summers ago.  This is basically Will's friend's recipe for seafood boil:   -- 2-4 pounds of shrimp, unpeeled, depending on how many people you're feeding.  We used a little over two pounds for five people and it was plenty. -- Corn on the cob, cut in half, two pieces per person --Polska Kielbasa sausage (we used Hillshire Farms) sliced in 1/2 inch pieces --Redskin potatoes, 2-3 per person --1/3 cup of Old Bay Seasoning (1/4 cup if you don't like much spice) --1 can of beer (optional) --1 can water (I think more water would be needed for this recipe, maybe 1/2 gallon) --Juice of one lemon    1.  In a large stockpot, bring water, beer (if using), and Old Bay seasoning to a rolling boil.  Add the potatoes and cook for about 20 minutes.  2.  Add sausage and boil gently 5-10 minutes. 3.  Add corn on the cob and cook 5 minutes (don't overcook) 4.  Add shrimp and boil for 2-3 minutes, until shrimp turn pink.  Do not overcook shrimp!   Cut stove off, drain, and serve with plenty of napkins.  😉  You can dump the food directly onto newspapers, or, as we did, serve the food on a platter with newspapers for the shrimp shells.  My mother-in-law served this with cocktail sauce for the shrimp and butter for the corn.  It was a fun and delicious meal.  My goal is to fix this at home sometime over the summer.   So tell me, do you or your family have a favorite recipe for seafood boil?  I bet you could use crab and/or mussels in this dish, too.  Thanks so much for visiting here -- it means a lot to me.  Have a great day!!