Frogmore Stew

So the last couple of weeks have been a little bit hectic and I am just getting around to a lot of things I wanted to share. One of which being my latest outdoor cooking adventure.

My aunt Cindy had the great idea to do an old-fashioned low-country boil, otherwise known as Frogmore Stew. We ganked this from one of Paula Deen's cookbooks so we knew it would be fun and filling.

So one beautiful weekend day, I broke out my turkey frier and fired it up for a more noble pursuit than deep-fried poultry.

We started with five quarts of water and about a quarter of a cup of Old Bay and various other spices.

It took about twenty minutes or so to get it boiling, then I added the halved red bliss potatoes. After letting them cook for about 10 minutes, we added the ears of corn and smoked sausage pieces.

We let this all cook until the potatoes started getting tender and then we were ready for the shrimp. We had about four pounds in all. These only needed to cook for about five minutes or so. Additionally, I added my own little extra flavor kick in the form of a white onion soaked in Worcestershire sauce and covered in Old Bay. This is something I think really makes a difference when steaming shrimp and it brought the same flavor to the boil.

Once the shrimp were cooked through, I yanked it off the burner and drained the water from the pot.

Here is where I made my biggest error of the day. I drained the pot onto the lawn in the backyard not even thinking that the boiling water would do anything to the grass. The big dead patch says otherwise.

We served the finished product with fresh french bread and covered the whole mess with more Old Bay. We're from East Baltimore and we can never get enough Old Bay.

All in all, it turned out great and was super easy to do. Plus its fun to eat.

This can be done on a range but I think its more bad-ass to do it outside. Plus I get to run around with a bandana tied around my head and look busy and harried. I think that goes over pretty well and it makes me feel better about myself.

I think this one will make the cut and become a regular addition to our outdoor menu. I'd also really like to do a more traditional seafood boil where we can add mussels, clams and the like.

Hopefully, I will get to do this one again very soon.