Frogmore Stew: Winter or Summer?

By Tracie Broom

I do a shrimp boil in my yard each December for a high school friend who lives in Italy now (I know, rough), so I associate Frogmore Stew with puffer jackets and fire pits. However, this simplest of Lowcountry dishes, also called Beaufort Stew or Lowcountry Boil, is a summertime staple in many beach houses. Which is it for you?  

Five Ingredients. Maybe Six.
To make it, all you have to get from the store is fresh shrimp, corn, new potatoes, smoked sausage, and Old Bay. Proportions below. If you’re cooking for more than 4 people, you’ll need a stock pot, crab pot, or something bigger than a pasta pot. Don’t forget cocktail sauce, lemon wedges, host sauce and/or aioli for the shrimp, and butter for the corn, if that’s how you roll. Want to throw in some blue crabs? Go nuts.

Das Shrimp
Skip the farmed junk and get your hands on local shrimp. If they have red or dark pink legs, the shrimp are wild caught and will taste way better. In Columbia, SC, I like to buy from Palmetto Seafood on Gervais, or sometimes the Piggly Wiggly will have Port Royal shrimp. Even better: buy from green, indie vendors like Sea Eagle and Our Local Catch at Soda City Market on Main Street on Saturday mornings or sporadically in the Rosewood Market parking lot.

Proportions, Y’all
Turns out my business partner’s boyfriend is kin to the Gay Seafood clan of Frogmore, SC, who developed the recipe. They recently emailed it to Debi and Derek. The golden part? Now we know the proportions per person. (I used to just guess.)

For each guest:
1/2 lb. med. to large shrimp, peels on (heads on makes for even more flavor, btw)
1/3 lb. smoked sausage, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 small potato, cut into halves or quarters
1/2 ear of corn, cut into 2-inch chunks

Cooking This Mother
Boil a half pot of water. I tend to throw in a heaping tablespoon of Old Bay seasoning per pound of shrimp, but everybody’s got their own ratio. Open a cold beer and put it in the freezer for yourself. When the boil is done in 25-30 minutes, you’ll have the coldest beer at the table.

WWTSTD?
While the Gays’ cooking time says boil the sausage for 7 min, then add the corn and potatoes for 7 min, then add the shrimp and cook til they are pink, I like to use my pal Anne Wolfe Postic’s formula for cooking Frogmore Stew, from The Shop Tart. Here’s her method, which I’ve tested like 5 times now and it’s awesome:  

1.    Once water is boiling, add the potatoes. Boil for 5 minutes.
2.    Add the smoked sausage. Boil for 5 minutes.
3.    Add the corn. Boil for 5 minutes.
4.    Add the shrimp. Boil for 5 minutes or less. When they are pink and curled up, they’re done.

Strain and dump onto clean newspaper on a tabletop, or dump onto a giant platter. Set the table with discard bowls for your shells and cobs, plus rolls of paper towels and your condiments of choice.

That’s it! You are a Southern shrimp boil master. Revel in it. Go get that frosty beer.

This weekly food column is curated by Tracie Broom, who serves on the board at Slow Food Columbia (http://www.slowfoodcola.org), publishes The Yum Diary (http://www.yumdiary.com), and is a founding partner at Flock and Rally: Events + Communications for a Brave New South (http://www.flockandrally.com).

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