Now, he lives in the Deep South, where his shrimp boil has taken on a slight Cajun accent. It still bobs with corn and potatoes, but the Italian sausage is andouille, the Old Bay spice mix is sometimes Zatarain's, and the wild shrimp is always sweet, plump, and scooped from the Gulf.
Ingredients
- 2 lemons
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3 ounces)
- 1 tablespoon cajun seasoning or old bay seasoning, plus more for serving
- 2 garlic cloves, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
- 5 tablespoons plus 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided
- hot sauce (such as tabasco), to taste
- 11 quarts water (44 cups)
- 1 (750-milliliter) bottle dry unoaked white wine (such as pinot grigio)
- 1 (8-ounce) bottle clam juice (such as bar harbor)
- 1 large yellow onion (about 12 ounces), quartered lengthwise, root intact
- 2 garlic heads, halved crosswise
- 8 dried bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- 2 (3-ounce) packages boil-in-bag crawfish, shrimp, and crab boil (such as zatarain's) or 1/4 cup old bay seasoning
- 2 pounds small yellow, red, or gold potatoes
- 8 (8-ounce) shucked ears fresh corn, halved crosswise
- 3 pounds fresh or smoked sausages (such as italian sausage, bratwurst, or andouille) (about 8 [6-ounce] sausages or 16 [3-ounce] sausages) (see note)
- 4 pounds unpeeled raw large wild shrimp
- cocktail sauce (see note), for serving
- whole-grain mustard, for serving
Instruction
- Grate zest from 1 lemon to measure 2 teaspoons. Set grated zest aside. Cut zested lemon and remaining lemon into quarters; set aside. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low. Stir in Cajun seasoning, minced garlic, 1/8 teaspoon salt, hot sauce to taste, and reserved lemon zest. Remove from heat; cover to keep warm.
- Place a 24-quart pot on an outdoor propane burner. Add 11 quarts water, wine, clam juice, onion, garlic heads, bay leaves, thyme, quartered lemons, and remaining 5 tablespoons salt to pot; cover and bring to a boil over high flame. Stir in crab boil packets; cover and cook 10 minutes. Place a fitted strainer inside pot.
- Add potatoes to strainer in pot; cover and cook 5 minutes. Stir in corn and sausages; cover and cook until a thermometer inserted in thickest portion of sausage registers 155°F (or until heated through if using smoked sausages), about 10 minutes. Stir in shrimp; cook, uncovered, until shrimp are pink, opaque, and cooked through, 2 to 4 minutes.
- Lift strainer from pot, letting liquid strain back into pot, and transfer shrimp boil mixture (potatoes, corn, sausage, and shrimp) to a large heatproof bowl; discard onion, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, lemons, crab boil packets, and strained liquid inside pot. Add reserved butter mixture to shrimp boil mixture; toss to coat. (If you don't have a large enough bowl, you can do this step in batches, tossing half of the shrimp boil with half of the butter mixture at a time.) Arrange coated shrimp boil on a platter or a covered table. Season with additional Cajun seasoning or Old Bay, if desired. Serve with cocktail sauce and mustard, if desired.
