Southern Seafood Boil. Dixie Style.

Dredger

Now that is a thing of beauty. Love the addition of mushrooms, asparagus, and lemons. Well done!

Jeepster47

Nice snack!

Quick question ... your seafood boil process is different than any I've seen 'cuz you boiled to time and then pulled the food.  Up until today, every one I've participated in kept the food in the water ... you simply dipped and plated the food.  Some words of enlightenment please.

SGH

Jeepster47 said:

Nice snack!

Quick question ... your seafood boil process is different than any I've seen 'cuz you boiled to time and then pulled the food.  Up until today, every one I've participated in kept the food in the water ... you simply dipped and plated the food.  Some words of enlightenment please.

No sir, I do not pull up the seafood. It's a timing issue of when to add what. Let me try to explain my friend. Start with your 7 gallons (or whatever amount) of water. Add all the spices/seasoning: salt, cayenne, lemons, liquid/powdered crab boil, onions and celery. Let this boil for a few minutes to mix well.  Once mixed well start adding the grub. The key is to first add what has to boil the longest and keep up with how long it has been boiling so you know when to add what next. The trick is to add it so it all finishes at the same time. In my case it's the potatoes that take the longest so they go in first. Knowing how long it takes each ingriedant to cook takes the guess work out of it. The adding order will look like this
Add potatoes and boil for 8 minutes. 
Add crab at this point. The potatoes have had a 8 minute head start in the boil. So by looking at this, you can see that when the crabs have been boiling for 5 minutes, that the potatoes have been boiling for 13 minutes. And you just keep doing this with all ingriedants according to how long each takes. That way it's all in the pot together and finishes at the very same time. I do this because once the boil is complete, I leave all the food soaking in the water for about a hour to pick up the spice. So here is the order of how long it goes in and how long it boils before the next ingriedant is added:

Potatoes: Boil 8 minutes then add:
Crabs: Boil 5 minutes then add:
Mushrooms: Boil 3 minutes then add:
Shrimp: Boil 2 minutes and everything is done at the same time. 
Looking at the above, you can see that the potatoes boiled for a total of 18 minutes, the crabs for 10 minutes, the mushrooms 5 minutes and then shrimp for 2 minutes. It was all boiled in the same pot and came out at the same time. It was all just added at a different time according to how long it takes to cook. If this doesn't answer your question, let me know and I will gladly try again my friend.  

Jeepster47

@SGH ... as expected, you provided a great explanation.  Thanks.

My job has always been to come in at the end and eat 'till stuffed.  Wasn't aware of what came before.

SGH

Dredger said:

Now that is a thing of beauty. Love the addition of mushrooms, asparagus, and lemons. Well done!

Thank you for the kind words. The mushrooms and asparagus are always a huge hit. A word of caution though, they really pick up the spice. They will be MUCH hotter than the shrimp and crabs. But this is how I like them

SGH

Jeepster47 said:

My job has always been to come in at the end and eat 'till stuffed.

I'm I pro myself at eating until stuffed my friend

SGH

NecessaryIndulg said:

Goodness gracious... I need that for breakfast.   Nice cook! 

Thank you sister. 

SGH

@YukonRon Always feel free to post anything that you want on one of my threads. Especially when it looks that good. That is some outstanding looking grub my friend.  

SGH

Hi54putty said:

Looks awesome. I have never included crab before but will now. How many people you think that pot feeds in mixed company?

The pot I use is somewhat large (120 quarts). You can load it with 60 pounds of 30 count shrimp or 80 pound of crawfish. If you load it up heavy, you could easily feed 25 people or 15-20 heavyweights pretty easily. 

Legume

Again, very nice.  I love mushrooms as well but your warning is spot on - they become little nuclear bombs, really soaking up the pepper into those ribs.

Quick question on the dwell after the cook, the cook times seem so precise, but then it all sits in near boiling water for another 60 min.  I would think the softer veg and the shrimp and crab especially would more than cook just in the 60 min of dwell.  Does the front end timing really make that much difference other than for the potatoes?

SGH

Legume said:

Quick question on the dwell after the cook, the cook times seem so precise, but then it all sits in near boiling water for another 60 min.  I would think the softer veg and the shrimp and crab especially would more than cook just in the 60 min of dwell.  Does the front end timing really make that much difference other than for the potatoes?

When I turn off the fire, I immediately pour 10-12 pounds of ice into the hot pot. This stops the cooking process immediately. I pour ice, again usually 10-12 pounds to drop the temp of the hot water down to 145 degrees. This will cause all of the seafood food to sink and really absorb the spices. The sudden shock of the ice causes the shells to slightly separate from their bodies allowing them to pick up more spice. But you are correct, if you don't drop the water temp, the seafood would continue to cook while soaking and come out over cooked. I always cool the water to 145 for the soaking. Either by pouring in ice or spraying the outside of the pot with a water hose. I prefer the ice method as it works much faster. 

SGH

The longer you let them soak, the hotter that they will be. 
20 minutes=mild
35-45 minute=spicy. 
1+ hour=Hot.

SGH

Legume said:
.  Does the front end timing really make that much difference other than for the potatoes?

The front end timing makes all of the difference in the world for the crab and shrimp. If you over boil shrimp, they are gummy and very hard to peel. Over boiled crabs are mushy. A mere 60 seconds on shrimp is huge my friend. Have you ever had shrimp that you just couldn't hardly peel? They were over boiled. 

johnnyp

I love seafood boils. Well done

Legume

SGH said:

Legume said:
.  Does the front end timing really make that much difference other than for the potatoes?

The front end timing makes all of the difference in the world for the crab and shrimp. If you over boil shrimp, they are gummy and very hard to peel. Over boiled crabs are mushy. A mere 60 seconds on shrimp is huge my friend. Have you ever had shrimp that you just couldn't hardly peel? They were over boiled. 

Yes, your answer with ice cleared this up for me.

EGGjlmh

Wow, SGH needs to open a restaurant.

mahenryak

Can't top a seafood concoction like this!  Very tasty looking grub my friend.

SGH

mahenryak said:

Can't top a seafood concoction like this!  Very tasty looking grub my friend.

Thank you brother. Seafood is honest to goodness one of my very favorites. I love the stuff. 

Grillmagic

You are a BAD Man and I mean this in the nicest way, this looks AWESOME!

lousubcap

Dang-doesn't matter how you get there the end-result is what counts.  A friggin banquet for the ages (or dinner for @SGH ) right there.  Most eggcellent.  Congrats.

CPARKTX

Bravo! Makes me miss Louisiana where I gee up. 

Ozzie_Isaac

You just earned your very own ...

SGH

Ozzie_Isaac said:

You just earned your very own ...

You are to kind brother Ozzie. Thank you my friend.  

swordsmn

It's like he lives near the Gulf and really knows this ____.  Impressive. i'm hungry for seafood.

SGH

EGGjlmh said:

Wow, SGH needs to open a restaurant.

If I was a younger man I would really like to. Now that I'm older I don't think that I could hold up to the demands. I have considered opening one for my sons to run, but they are retards. Without constant supervision, it would be a disaster waiting to happen. They took from their mothers side. They have no sense at all. I have considered that once I retire from the oil industry, maybe hiring on somewhere as a part time cook. Either in seafood or Q. Just something to keep me moving along and busy. 

SGH

swordsmn said:

It's like he lives near the Gulf and really knows this ____.  Impressive. i'm hungry for seafood.

Thanks brother. I feel lucky to have born and raised on the gulf. We have access to fresh seafood almost year around. I have some snapper and softshell crabs soaking in milk right now for tonight. 

lousubcap

As above, the restaurant business is tough and cut-throat.  Last I checked around 80%+ are gone within two years.  Deep pockets and finding a niche market with staying power is about the best you can do.  Full props to anyone who can get in and survive.
Hopefully @badinfluence beats the odds as I know he is busting his ba--s just to make it go.  FWIW-

RRP

You sure know how to hurt a land-locked guy in the middle of the country!!! THAT looked heavenly!!!

bo31210

Sweet!    Love a seafood boil.  When we had a beach house a few years back we had and old table that was to be used for nothing but pouring the low country boil onto.   Nothing is better than a low country boil and cold beer!

SGH

RRP said:

You sure know how to hurt a land-locked guy in the middle of the country!!! THAT looked heavenly!!!

Ron, if you ever find yourself around the coast, say just this side of Biloxi, give me a shout my friend. I will whip up something similar to this and also will send you home with a load of fresh shrimp. On the house of course.