I Think That This Time, I Might Be the Genius

My dearest, loveliest Suki had a birthday last week and I just can't resist the temptation to have a throwdown for anyone, but especially my girl who is moving away from us in three scant weeks! Sigh, sniffle.....Since she is headed to Baltimore, which isn't really the South but has a lovely tradition of boiled crab, I got to thinking about my beloved crawfish boil and since I'm not trying to mess with crabs or crawfish being airshuttled in, I decided to do a Louisiana-style seafood boil. This includes corn on the cob, baby potatoes, andouille sausage and a whole mess of shrimp, which is how I coerced Suki into letting me throw her a party. That girl is a sucker for shrimp, I bet she'd do your yardwork or change your oil for a couple measly crustaceans. All the ingredients are simmered in a spicy and highly seasoned concoction, then dumped on a table lined with newspapers and everyone just stands around the table, throws etiquette to the wind and mows down, it's pretty wonderful.

Well, the week leading up to the boil, I had procured most of my ingredients but the day of the party rolled around and I had no crab boil mix. For people not familiar with such a potion, boils usually start with a liquid or powdered, premade mixture of seasonings. It's very powerful stuff, somtimes it is hard to be around when things are cooking in it because it can burn your eyes and the inside of your nose. I went to three different stores but none was to be had. Kind of frantic, I started doing an online search for a recipe but every crab boil, crawfish boil or seafood boil recipe started with that damn, premade stuff. Finally, I found a recipe and while I didn't follow it exactly (just cannot bring myself to do that), I made my own boil and it was darn tasty. Next time though, more heat!

Seafood Boil
4 quarts of water
1 bottle of beer
olive oil-a few tablespoons?
a whole mess of hot sauce- half a bottle or so?
cayenne
fennel seeds
ground mustard
clove
allspice
dill
bay leaves
coriander
mustard seeds
Old Bay seasoning
salt and pepper
several garlic cloves, smashed
3 lemons, cut into halves
1 lb large shrimp, keep the shell and tail on
1 lb andouille, I subbed turkey kielbasa
1 lb new potatoes
3 ears of corn, shucked and split in half pieces

Get the boil together by putting liquid and spices in a large pot. If you can do this outside, all the better but if not, then at least eat outside. As far as the spices are concerned, just dump it all in, I'd guesstimate about 2 tablespoons of everything and if you leave one or two out, no worries, it will still be delicious. A couple bay leaves, seven or eight cloves of garlic, toss in the lemons and bring this mess up to a boil. Of course, you'll want to add the potatoes and corn first as they need a longer cooking time. Once they're just about done, 15 or 20 minutes, add the sausage and shrimp. Let it go about two minutes, then quickly drain and dump on the table. YOU WILL RUIN YOUR SEAFOOD BOIL IF YOU LET THE SHRIMP COOK MORE THAN COUPLE OF MINUTES! REMEMBER THAT IT WILL CONTINUE TO COOK AFTER IT IS REMOVED FROM THE BOIL! OVERDONE SHRIMP ARE THE BANE OF EXISTENCE! DON'T EVEN BOTHER COOKING THEM IF YOU'RE JUST GOING TO RUIN THEM! OK, I'm sorry, I just really needed to make that point.

*Some notes: Obviously, if you're having a party, you're going to need to multiply this recipe. And if you're inviting Suki, you should buy several extra pounds of shrimp because she may be little but she can EAT SHRIMP! You can put out little bowls of melted butter if you like for dipping but you don't really need it. This is perfect party food, not much work for you and the guests think it's fun. Plus, for cleanup, all you really need to do is gather up the newspaper off the table with all the shrimp heads and corn cobs on it and throw it away. That's it. I made a slammin' cake too but I'll have to blog about that some other time because this post wore me out and now I'm hungry.