A Low Country Boil

Today our University Marketing and Communication Office held its annual summer lunch. Martha Hunn, our interim vice president and chief communication officer, once again outdid herself by making a delicious Southern meal for all of us in the department. We were treated to BBQ pork, baked beans, pecan sweet potatoes, cole slaw, and banana pudding!

A look at our conference room as people started to filter in for the UMARK+COMM lunch. Can you see me creeping in the corner? (photo cred: Tad).

But tonight I want to talk about another tasty Southern meal I enjoyed yesterday evening. Sidney’s family celebrated the end of the weekend by preparing a Low Country Boil. Now for my local readers, you are probably very familiar with this unique feast. However, if you are from the West you probably have no idea what those three words mean.

This was the Low Country Boil that my father-in-law cooked up yesterday.

A Low Country Boil can also go by names such as Frogmore Stew or Beaufort Stew but the concept is the same: A plethora of ingredients are boiled in a large pot of water over an outdoor cooker. Seasonings are added and a unique flavor is produced. But wait, I am getting ahead of myself. Don’t you want to know what the ingredients actually are?

I hope you like shrimp, red potatoes, sausage, and corn on the cob!

Well, I hope you like a couple of those foods at least. To be honest, I don’t care for shrimp but I still thoroughly enjoyed the Boil. You see, although the ingredients are cooked together, it is very easy to just grab what you want.

I don’t like shrimp, but I was still able to enjoy the Low Country Boil simply by choosing the food I wanted to eat. This was my boat.

Ah yes, that brings me to discussing how the dish is eaten. A Low Country Boil is just as much a social event as it is a meal. Once it is prepared, the large platter is placed in the middle of a table for people to serve themselves. It is not unusual for those partaking in the meal to eat standing up at the serving table. It is also very common for the contents of the Boil to be poured out of the platter completely and spread across the newspaper-covered serving table.

Low Country Boils might not be that appealing to children, so it is good to offer an alternative dish as well. Last night, Sloan ate popcorn chicken.

Last night we took a different approach. We put our contents in boats and then sat down at the kitchen and dining room tables of my sister-in-law’s house to eat. As I mentioned above, it was very simple to only select the specific portions of the Boil that I wanted to enjoy.

Our family gobbled up last night’s Low Country Boil.

What a treat it was! My father-in-law cooked the Boil and it was one of the best things I have eaten in a long time. We topped off the family dinner with peach cobbler.

We topped off our Southern dinner with a Southern dessert…peach cobbler!

Looking for something fun to serve as you enjoy the second half of summer? Impress your family and friends by making a Low Country Boil! Don’t Blink.

Leave a Reply