This Week is the first annual Seafood Boil Tailgate Party in the Green Lot. Everyone is welcome to stop by, good food, beverages and fun to be had. Hope this doesn't make you hungry!!
There are two kinds of social gatherings in South Carolina that revolve around shellfish. One is very much like a Louisiana boil, usually involving shrimp, corn on the cob, sausage, and red potatoes and is considered part of
Lowcountry cuisine. Known variously as Frogmore Stew,
Beaufort Stew, a Beaufort boil, a
Lowcountry boil, or a tidewater boil, they tend be a bit milder than their Louisiana Cajun and Creole cousins. For example, it is not unusual for a Lowcountry recipe to call for a mixture of hot and mild
crab boil seasonings, e.g.,
Zatarain's and
Old Bay, whereas a
Cajun recipe may start with
crab boil packets and add large amounts of
cayenne pepper and
hot sauce. While shrimp are most often used, crabs and or crawfish may be included if available. This is also a bit different from a Louisiana boil, which usually involves just one kind of shellfish.
This hearty one-pot dish is always a crowd-pleaser. When Frogmore Stew was first cooked in the 1960s, Frogmore was a little hamlet on St. Helena Island, near Beaufort, South Carolina. In the 1980s, however, the postal service abolished the name Frogmore. That changed the name of the popular dish to Lowcountry Boil or Beaufort Stew-except, of course, among the proud (and peeved) residents of Frogmore.
Richard Gay, whose family owns Gay Fish Company on St. Helena, created the dish in the early sixties. "I was on weekend duty in the National Guard," he says, "and I'd sometimes get a lot of shrimp, put it in a pot with sausage and corn, and boil it up. Within an hour, we could have a complete meal for 100 people. The boys teased me that since I was from Frogmore, we'd name it Frogmore Stew. We put out copies of the recipe at the seafood market at the dock and began selling the other ingredients as well."
The most well attended function to feature Frogmore Stew occurs in July at the 10 day Beaufort Water Festival (in the 54 years of the festival it has grown to be the largest totally volunteer run festival on the south eastern coast), the event feeds 2400, the recipe includes 1200 lbs of shrimp, 2400 ears of corn, 600 lbs of sausage, 72oz of seafood seasoning and is served with 350 lbs of coleslaw, 250 gal of iced tea, 2400 rolls and 90 watermelons.
The other kind of event is the Oyster Roast. Sheet metal or a fine mesh grill is placed over hot coals. Oysters are piled onto the grill (after having the mud washed off their shells). Wet burlap sacks are draped over the shells and the oysters are half grilled and half steamed. A shovel is used to scoop them onto nearby tables (plywood sheets on sawhorses works as well as anything). The shells have popped open (and are still hot), but the oysters are attached and just need a little coaxing to come free. This is particularly popular in the winter (the 'R' months) when the oysters are good and a hot fire keeps the coastal chill at bay.
Both of these events are often large social functions in which a neighborhood, family, or friends gather for fellowship. Music, drinking, and dancing, especially the
Carolina shag, are also common at these events. The most famous example of such a function takes place in Columbia, South Carolina, in early December, on King Street.
