When I was growing up, I didn’t have a favorite “summertime” meal. In our house, the seasons didn’t significantly affect what we ate. I’ve written other pieces about my experiences at Sunshine Lake and our summer Sundays spent there. Our “picnic” dinners at the lake weren’t typical.
I remember my dad cooking spaghetti sauce or frying chicken on the large brick flat-top grill. Even as the seasons changed, our food stayed mainly the same, which was fine with me.
However, all that changed when I first shared a home with my son Chris and his family. Everyone knows what I readily admit – I am not a good cook. In fact, I don’t cook at all if I can help it. 😊
Rather, I embrace my lack of culinary skill by surrounding myself with those whose skills I admire – my daughter-in-law Amy and my daughter Christine.
When Christine lived with me, we enjoyed home-made French onion soup, freshly baked bread, and “BLT” paninis made with prosciutto, fresh spinach, and San Marzano plum tomatoes.
Amy and Chris got me hooked on my current favorite summertime meal – low country boil.
Our low country boil tradition was created to “consolidate” May/June family celebrations. To illustrate:
May: Mother’s Day, Amy’s birthday, Jess’s birthday, Linda’s birthday, Memorial Day
June: Father’s Day, Chris’s birthday, Kelly’s birthday (and July 4th the next weekend)
It felt like we were celebrating every weekend for two months. It became exhausting, and expensive.
The solution was one get-together, one celebration on Memorial Day weekend. Once that was settled, the next question, “What do we cook?” (By the way, in this case, I use the term “we” very loosely since, true to form, I didn’t cook anything. I gladly contributed cash.)
Chris had been experimenting with his relatively new turkey fryer, which led him to start looking up “turkey fryer recipes.” That search took him down the ever-changing path of various uses for a turkey fryer that ultimately got him to “using your turkey fryer as a cooker.” And there you have it.
Next came Google’s suggestions for one-pot seafood dishes. The answer became obvious. Of course, the solution was a low country boil Chris & Amy style (which translates to “as much seafood as you can fit in the pot”).
For example, “add shrimp” became “add shrimp and clams,” which became “add shrimp and clams with separate steamed clams and melted butter,” which became “shrimp, clams, and crab in the boil along with separate dishes of shrimp with cocktail sauce and clams and crab legs with melted butter.” You see my point.
Also in the low country boil basket was smoked sausage, possibly some kielbasa, baby corn, small red potatoes, and Old Bay seafood seasoning. Delicious!!
Of course, you can’t have low country boil without cold beer. If you’re going to have beer for all those people, you might as well get a keg or half-keg. Plenty of soft drinks and water on ice, oh – and alternatives to beer, maybe white wine or home-made Sangria … and so, over several weeks, the planning took on a life of its own.
The next big decision was dessert. Amy would bake something (or more than one something) and ask everyone to bring their favorite sweet treat. You might guess that desserts, sides, and snacks were laid out on our dining room table and kitchen counters. (Yes, we needed sides and snacks.)
If I thought eight weekends in a row was exhausting and expensive, I was being introduced to the Chris-and-Amy version of a summer family get-together. I loved it!
That’s the story behind my favorite summertime meal – low country boil cooked in a turkey fryer and spilled onto newspaper covering the table on our deck. It doesn’t hurt that there was always music, laughter and games.
Last July 4th, our Kentucky family came to Florida for the holiday. You guessed it. Our traditional low country boil with the awesome addition of more grandkids, corn hole, and fireworks!