Low Country Boil

On the coast in the Southeast, especially the Atlantic side (Georgia and the Carolinas)- there is a treat called a Low Country Boil. It consists of throwing smoked sausage, new potatoes, corn on the cob and shrimp into a large pot of seasoned water to boil. It is usually dumped out onto a table covered in newspaper (after being drained) and enjoyed family style. The Gulf Coast (Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama) does something quite similar but usually with crawfish in place of the shrimp and sausage. Attend a crawfish boil and you will hear “Pinch the tail and suck the head”- they are referring to the crawfish, not something naughty… so be prepared for that.

But back to the Low Country Boil. My attempt to give it a kick was to use Chorizo Sausage (a spicy Mexican sausage) instead of regular smoked sausage and to spice up the dipping sauces to go with it. I got some chorizo that was tied in links at my local Mexican market. You normally put in precooked (smoked) sausage cut into 2-3” pieces, but that would not work with raw chorizo- hence, tying the raw sausage in casing into links. So I put it all in the pot and invited over some friends. While chorizo was great in theory, it did not turn out quite as I had hoped. We drained the boil, then had to cut off a link, and then cut the casing off. Chorizo is a pretty greasy sausage and the grease is very thick and very red, and it oozed out when the casing was cut. My friend Deanna commented that the whole procedure was very “LorennaBobbit-ish”! Next time I will just try to find a fancy jalapeno/chorizo infused smoked sausage. But the accompanying sauces turned out pretty fabulously!



Low Country Boil

¼ cup old bay seasoning
¼ lb smoked sausage, cut into 2” pieces (per person)
2-3 small new potatoes (per person)
1 ear fresh corn, broken in half (per person)
½ lb. large fresh shrimp (per person)

Fill a large pot with enough water to cover all ingredients.
Add sausage and Old Bay Seasoning- boil for 20 minutes so sausage can flavor the water
Add potatoes and boil for 15 minutes.
Add corn and boil 10 minutes more.
Add shrimp and cook 3 minutes. Taste a shrimp- if done, drain immediately and serve.

Chipotle Potato Sauce

½ cup mayo
½ cup sour cream
2 cups finely chopped yellow onion
1 tsp Paula House Seasoning
3-4 diced Chipotle peppers and adobo sauce

Avocado Cilantro Sauce

1 cup sour cream
1 ripe avocado, pitted and chopped
½ cup cilantro
1-2 Serrano chilies, depending on desired spiciness
1 tsp Paula House Seasoning
¼ cup water.

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Transfer to bowl and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until time to eat- the avocado will discolor (turn brown) if left in open air.