A seafood boil combines shrimp, crab, clams, potatoes, corn, and sausage simmered together in a Cajun-spiced broth for communal, messy serving. The dish has roots in low-country Cajun and Creole Louisiana and is popular across the South and East Coast. The cooking liquid must be intensely flavored because seafood and vegetables remain in the broth only briefly and need to absorb seasoning quickly. Typical flavorings include Old Bay, bay leaves, lemon, garlic, salt, paprika, thyme, and cayenne. When the broth is under-seasoned, the entire dish will taste bland, so err on the side of more seasoning when not following a strict recipe.
A seafood boil is a one-pot meal consisting of a variety of seafood (shrimp, crab, clams, you name it), tender potatoes, sweet corn, and smoky sausage, all simmered in a flavorful broth of Cajun spices and aromatics. It's a popular dish across the South as well as up and down the East Coast, with roots that trace back to the low-country Cajun and Creole cooking of Louisiana.
Seasoning your cooking liquid is an important step you can't skip with your seafood boil because it lays the foundation of flavor for the entire dish. The seafood and vegetables are boiled in the cooking liquid for only a short amount of time, so it needs to be well-flavored enough for the seasonings to infuse into everything, from the shrimp and crab to the corn and potatoes.
When made right, a seafood boil recipe is one of the tastiest ways to enjoy the ocean's bounty. But getting the perfect balance of flavor, texture, and presentation requires a little know-how. As a trained chef and cookbook author, I've made my share of seafood boils, which is a summer staple in our house. With a husband from the South who holds his food traditions close
Collection
[
|
...
]