Low Country Seafood Boil

Well, Julia Child will just have to wait. Lauren requested seafood, and she's gonna get seafood, New England style. Actually, this is something we did a lot growing up in the south, sans lobster... and beer. And my mom always insisted that you dump everything out onto newspaper and eat it with your hands. We're purists. 

I can't believe its August and I haven't done anything like this yet! Seafood boil is another quintessential summer meal. I like how I have to convince myself that its summer with food, this being the first time in my life that I have to work through the summer (I used to be a teacher). But there is something very summer about crackin' into seafood and getting all sticky from butter and lobster juice.

Anyway! Lauren and her friends Jennie and Hailey came over and we got straight to work...

shuckin' corn

choppin' potaties 

conducting reaserch

mixin dranks

 ... and then the business at hand. The Samuel Adams Tasting. I love the seasonal variety packs. I picked up one of those and brought out my promotional tasting glasses. We were excited; there were a few new bottles we hadn't tasted before!

I think the Rustic Saison was the winner, followed by the East-West Kolsch. There was also an IPA and a Light, not pictured.

Humiliating the lobsters is part of the process. Before you boil them to death, you have to take silly pictures with them. I'm sorry, lobsters; I didn't make the rules.

first lobster

serial killer

apron queen

kissy face

I guess I should tell you how we actually did this. It's really all about timing. Fill a big ol' pot about 2/3 of the way with water, season with Old Bay seasoning and bring to a boil. The corn and potatoes should go in first, since they take the longest to cook. Then add the lobster and sausage, which take about 15-20 minutes. Throw the shrimp in at the last 2 minutes or so. They'll turn pink pretty quickly, and they are done.

get your butt in the water

I heard somewhereCurtisStone, that if you put the lobsters in the freezer for a while before you cook, it puts them in some kind of a trance, and they suffer less, or something. Well, that's a lie. I think it actually woke them up. We should've listened to Julia Child, who puts her lobsters out of their misery by stabbing them in the brains. Oh well, live and learn.

Don't forget the butter...

or you'll walk the plank!

 ... about 6lbs will do. I kid, I kid!

shiny red buttsss

tail meats

delish!

leaky

After dinner, we talked staff infections and wrote postcards. You know, the usz.

A new reason to love the summer, since moving up here, is people coming to visit. Whenever a friend stops in, I get to do somewhat tourist-y things. It reminds me of what a fun city I live in, with lots of diversity in food and culture.

Speaking of visitors, we have two more tomorrow night! Preparations are underway to knock the socks off of self proclaimed burger-man Les Comee and his FeDish-loving wife Marilyn. SO excited! And later in the week, my dearest Madaline will be here! Try to keep up, guys! We've got lots of cooking to do!

m