Party food par excellence. Shrimp, crabs, lobsters, oysters, clams, and all their shellfish kin reign unchallenged as the most regal of treats. Even on coasts where they’re common, they seem special, way out of the ordinary. To flatter a friend, impress a neighbor, or butter up a boss, just pull out the stops with the most majestic of seafood.
Cooking shellfish outdoors is a snap, both simple and quick. Even when you’re smoking shellfish, it takes little more than minutes. Grilling goes so fast you don’t dare desert your post for an instant Paella and similarly complex dishes require extra time, but even they are easy relative to their star quality and power to please. When you want to step out of the crowd without leaving your own comfort zone, it’s time to get cracking with shellfish.
Everyone asks for this recipe, so finally we had to write one. Before then, we just threw it together from shrimp we keep in the freezer and homemade Spanish romesco sauce that we usually have in the fridge during the summer. The two make a natural pair, like Babe Ruth and a bat. You can certainly buy romesco sauce at specialty food stores-often at the same places where you’ll find the richly flavored piquillo peppers used in the recipe-but the scratch version packs a lot more zest.
COOKING METHOD | GRILLING
Serves 6
Romesco Sauce
One 4-ounce jar piquillo peppers, with their juice, or pimientos, preferably fire-roasted, with their juice, plus ¼ to ½ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
1 red-ripe plum tomato
1 slice chewy country bread, about 1 ounce, toasted or grilled and torn into several pieces
¼ cup slivered salted almonds, Marcona if available
1 tablespoon hot paprika, preferably Spanish
2 plump garlic cloves
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
¾ teaspoon coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt, or more to taste
6 to 8 tablespoons flavorful olive oil
2 pounds medium to large shrimp (about 50 per pound), peeled and, if you wish, deveined
Prepare the sauce. Plop the piquillos and juice, tomato, bread, almonds, paprika, garlic, vinegars, and salt in a food processor. Add 1 tablespoon warm water and process until a thick puree forms. With the motor running, pour in enough oil to make a smooth and easily spoonable sauce. Let the sauce sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour or cover and refrigerate for up to several weeks.
a Summer Concert in the Park
Grilled Shrimp Romesco
Smoked Mussels with Saffron Mayonnaise (page 119)
Vegetable Riot Salad (page 448)
Crusty baguettes
Sparkling water
Peach Slushes (page 84)
Toss the shrimp with half of the romesco sauce and let sit at room temperature. Spoon the rest of the sauce into a small bowl and reserve it. (Chill if not using within an hour.)
Fire up the grill, bringing the temperature to high (1 to 2 seconds with the hand test). Arrange a small-mesh grill rack over the grate and oil it well.
Grill the shrimp uncovered on the rack for about 2 minutes per side, turning once. The shrimp are done when opaque, pink/white, and just firm with a few lightly browned edges. Serve hot or chilled with the bowl of sauce.
Skewered Grilled Shrimp and Piquillo Peppers This is fussier but well worth it if you have a little extra time. You’ll need an additional jar of piquillo peppers. Slice the peppers into ½-inch strips. Before cooking, wrap each of the romesco-marinated shrimp with a pepper strip around its center, then thread the shrimp on soaked bamboo skewers. For these kebabs, hold a shrimp so that its two ends make a lazy U and then thread the skewers up through the middle of each shrimp so that you have something that looks likes Neptune’s trident. Repeat with the remaining shrimp. Cocktail onions can be added to the skewers, too, if you like. Grill as directed, adding 30 seconds or so to the cooking time per side. If you want the kebabs as stand-up finger food, discard the tails before marinating and thread just 2 or 3 shrimp on each skewer.
Grilled Shrimp Tossed with Vinaigrette Replace the romesco sauce with a vinaigrette, perhaps Garlic-Orange Sherry Vinaigrette, (page 64) Garlic-Orange Barbecue Vinaigrette (page 63), or Mango Vinaigrette (page 64), or 1½ cups of a favorite of your own. Use half of the vinaigrette for the marinade, then half as the table sauce for dunking, as directed.
Restaurant menus in Mexico often give you a choice of preparation methods for fish and shellfish, almost always including mojo de ajo, meaning “soaked in garlic.” Shrimp in particular come out wonderful that way.
COOKING METHOD | GRILLING
Serves 6
Butter Sauce
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons flavorful olive oil
12 to 14 plump garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 pounds medium to large shrimp (about 30 per pound), peeled and, if you wish, deveined
1 to 2 tablespoons flavorful olive oil
Coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt
Minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
Lemon wedges
Prepare the butter sauce, warming the butter and oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and cook slowly, until it just begins to color. Remove the garlic with a slotted spoon immediately so the garlic doesn’t color beyond the nutty, light golden stage. Reserve the garlic and the warm butter sauce.
Australians, including mythical ones like Crocodile Dundee, fueled the popularity of shrimp on the grill for Americans. They’re power grillers down under, well aware that shrimp should be sizzled quickly over the hottest of fires. Here are some other tips for getting it right:
* Few of us will ever see a fresh shrimp except in an aquarium. They are so perishable that nearly all are frozen at sea. Buy thawed shrimp the day you plan to cook them, from a market that thaws them each morning, or buy them “individually quick frozen” in bags that allow you to pour out what you need and return the rest to the freezer.
* For grilling and smoking, we prefer medium to large shrimp, those that come about thirty to the pound.
* The kinds of shrimp you find at markets will vary with where you live, but we choose Gulf and Mexican white shrimp and Alaskan spotted prawns when they’re available.
* We avoid prepeeled shrimp in favor of ones that we peel ourselves. More work but much more flavor. If you’re hosting a huge event where it would be prohibitive to peel them yourself, use the prepeeled shrimp in a preparation with plenty of seasoning, such as Grilled Shrimp Romesco.
* Yes, we do peel shrimp before grilling, so that the flame can kiss the food. If you cook shrimp on a grill in their shells, the shrimp come out nicely steamed, but that’s a whole different method of cooking. Some authorities say the shrimp dry out or cook unevenly sans shell, though that isn’t our experience when we use shrimp of the recommended size and give them our brief undivided attention while grilling. The shrimp won’t be as plump and moist as steamed ones, but their concentrated flavor and the contrast of textures more than compensates.
* It’s easy to tell when shrimp are done. When they’re no longer translucent, but pink-white all over and just firm, take them off the fire. We generally turn and remove shrimp with a spatula so that we can flip or rearrange at least several at one time.
Toss the shrimp with the oil and salt and let sit at room temperature.
Fire up the grill, bringing the temperature to high (1 to 2 seconds with the hand test). Arrange a small-mesh grill rack over the grate and oil it well.
Grill the shrimp uncovered on the rack for about 2 minutes per side, turning once. The shrimp are done when opaque, pink/white, and just firm with a few lightly browned edges.
Spoon equal amounts of butter sauce over each portion of shrimp. Scatter with garlic and parsley and garnish with lemons. Serve hot.
Grilled Sesame Shrimp Replace the olive oil with 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil, added after the garlic is removed from the butter. Serve as directed, sprinkling with toasted sesame seeds, if you like, instead of parsley.
Grilled Shrimp with Martini Butter Add a splash or two of dry vermouth and 1 tablespoon minced lemon zest to the butter after the garlic is removed. Serve as directed, sprinkling with green olive slivers instead of parsley.
Simple Smoked Garlicky Shrimp Smoke the shrimp instead of grilling. Bring the smoker to 200°F to 250°F and smoke for 15 to 20 minutes.
Smoked Shrimp with Roasted Lemon Substitute Roasted Lemon Marinade (page 40) for the garlic butter sauce. Be sure to avoid overmarinating. Smoke instead of grilling. Bring the smoker to 200°F to 250°F and smoke for 15 to 20 minutes.
These shrimp come dressed to party, cloaked in a deeply sweet, cane syrup-infused Louisiana-style barbecue sauce. If cane syrup isn’t easy to find in your neighborhood, substitute dark corn syrup.
COOKING METHOD | GRILLING
Serves 6
South Louisiana Barbecue Sauce
½ cup cane syrup, such as Steen’s, or dark corn syrup
½ cup white vinegar
1 to 2 teaspoons Tabasco, Cajun Chef, or other Louisiana hot sauce
2 pounds medium to large shrimp (about 30 per pound), peeled and, if you wish, deveined
Stir together the sauce ingredients in a large bowl, adding enough hot sauce so that you can definitely taste it. Set aside ¼ cup of the sauce. Toss the shrimp with the sauce and let sit at room temperature 10 to 15 minutes.
Fire up the grill, bringing the temperature to high (1 to 2 seconds with the hand test). Arrange a small-mesh grill rack over the grate and oil it well.
Grill the shrimp uncovered on the rack for 2 to 2½ minutes per side, turning once. The shrimp are done when opaque, pink/white, and just firm with a few lightly browned edges. Serve hot or chilled piled high and drizzled with the remaining sauce.
No matter how large your group of diners, keep the shrimp on the grill at any one time to a manageable number. They cook quickly, and you need to get them off the fire immediately when done. With a large crowd, it’s easy to grill small batches back to back, especially if you use a large sturdy spatula. Make it part of “dinner and a show.”
Unlike other shellfish, there’s hardly an outdoor cooking method that doesn’t do well by shrimp. It would be awkward to put the little critters on the rotisserie, but they take readily to grilling, smoking, roasting, frying, boiling, and steaming.
These get a double dose of smoke scent, first from smoked paprika and then from smoldering wood, perhaps oak, orange, cherry, or another fruit wood. If you want a lot of smoked shrimp for a party and don’t want to peel them yourself, refer to the recipe for A Mess of Smoky Shrimp (page 117) for our smoke-’em-in-their-shells method.
COOKING METHOD | SMOKING
Serves 6
Dry Rub
1½ tablespoons smoked paprika, hot or sweet
1 teaspoon coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt
½ teaspoon celery salt
½ teaspoon brown sugar
½ teaspoon onion powder
2 pounds medium to large shrimp (about 30 per pound), peeled and, if you wish, deveined
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Fire up the smoker, bringing the temperature to 200°F to 250°F.
Prepare the dry rub, stirring the ingredients together in a small bowl.
Toss the shrimp with the oil in a large bowl. Sprinkle with the dry rub, then toss again until well coated with the spices. Let the shrimp marinate at room temperature for about 15 minutes.
Transfer the shrimp to the smoker (on a small-mesh grill rack or in a smokeproof dish if you wish) and smoke them until just cooked through and lightly fragrant, about 15 minutes. They are ready when opaque, lightly pink, and just firm. Serve hot.
To our taste, shrimp takes to brining better than some other foods, because plumping and flavoring shrimp with saltwater can enhance its briny nature. Use a cup of table salt and a quart of water for one and a half to two pounds of shrimp. Refrigerate for twenty to thirty minutes (no longer!), then drain and rinse. Eliminate any other salt from a recipe.
Smoky Shrimp with Tequila, Lime, and Jalapeño Replace the dry rub and vegetable oil with lively Tequila, Lime, and Jalapeño Paste (page 35). Serve with lime wedges on the side.
Smoky Shrimp with Piri Piri Use ½ cup of Piri Piri sauce (page 59) as a marinade instead of the dry rub and oil mixture. After smoking, serve with the remaining fiery sauce.
Our Carolina lowcountry friend, John Martin Taylor, author of The Fearless Frying Cookbook (1997), introduced us to shrimp fried in this superlative fashion. Dunk the shrimp, hot and crispy, into the accompanying classic cocktail sauce. Double the portions if you like, cooking in batches as needed.
COOKING METHOD | BIG-POT FRYING
Serves 8 to 12
Cocktail Sauce
2 cups bottled chili sauce
¼ cup prepared horseradish, or more to taste
Minced zest and juice of 2 medium lemons
Minced zest and juice of 1 medium lime
Hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco
Salt, optional
4 large eggs
1½ cups milk
2 teaspoons salt, or more to taste
4 pounds medium shrimp (about 36 per pound), peeled and, if you wish, deveined
3 cups fine saltine-style cracker crumbs
Peanut or other vegetable oil for deep-frying
Prepare the sauce, combining the ingredients in a bowl. Adjust the seasonings and add salt if needed for a sassy but not brazen sauce. Chill until ready to serve.
Whisk the eggs, milk, and salt together in a large bowl, then add the shrimp. Toss together to coat all the shrimp, then drain the shrimp. Pour the cracker crumbs onto a plate.
Pour at least 6 inches of oil into a 4-gallon stockpot or other large cooking pot. Warm the oil to 360°F. Dunk the shrimp in the cracker crumbs and shake lightly to eliminate excess crumbs. Fry the shrimp, in batches if necessary, until golden brown, about 1½ minutes. Remove with tongs, a mesh wok “spider” strainer, or another strainer rather than a slotted spoon. Drain and serve piping hot with the cocktail sauce.
Gaido’s Galveston Fried Shrimp This triple-dipped version uses cornmeal, buttermilk, and flour. It’s based on what we’ve learned about frying shrimp from the Gaido brothers, master fryers and owners of Galveston’s venerable Gaido’s restaurant, where the family’s skill with a skillet has been on display for nearly a century. Butterfly the shrimp, slicing down the curved lower side and pressing the shrimp open. It may seem like a lot of work, but it gives you more surface to get crunchy. Eliminate the eggs, milk, salt, and cracker crumbs. Instead, toss the shrimp with 3 cups cornmeal (yellow if you have a choice). Next, dunk the shrimp in 3 cups buttermilk seasoned with 2 minced garlic cloves and a few generous shakes of Tabasco or another hot sauce. For the final dipping, mix together 3 cups of all-purpose flour with 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper, 2 tablespoons hot paprika, and 1 tablespoon salt. Fry as directed and serve with the cocktail sauce.
This seafood boil gets its odd name from an ancestral home on one of the islands near Hilton Head. Preparations vary, so if you like, replace some of the water with a beer or two, fiddle with the seasonings, toss in a dozen small boiling onions when the corn goes in, or add a few blue crabs or some fresh crabmeat at the same time you put in the shrimp. The New York Times, in an article years ago, observed that beyond shrimp, corn, and sausage, the only common denominator among competing versions of Frogmore stew was that none was ever left.
COOKING METHOD | BIG-POT BOILING
Serves 8 to 12
Carolina Seafood Boil
¼ cup coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt
2 tablespoons celery seeds
2 tablespoons mustard seeds
2 tablespoons mixed pickling spice
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 to 3 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons ground ginger
3 or 4 bay leaves
8 ears fresh corn, in 2- to 3-inch sections
2 pounds spicy sausage links, in 2- to 3-inch sections
4 pounds medium to large shrimp (about 30 per pound), preferably without heads
Hot sauce, such as Texas Pete or Tabasco
Pour at least 2 gallons of water into a stockpot or other large heavy cooking pot of at least 4-gallon capacity. Stir in the seafood boil ingredients and bring the water to a rolling boil.
If your pot has a basket, plan to use it to make corralling all the ingredients easy. Add the corn and sausage to the pot, return to a boil, and continue boiling for 10 minutes. Add the shrimp to the pot, and continue to boil for another 3 to 4 minutes, until the shrimp are opaque and just firm and the corn and sausages are cooked through. Quickly drain and pile everything on a big rimmed platter or spoon with a slotted spoon into individual large shallow bowls. Serve on a bare table, over newspapers, or otherwise casually, with containers for shrimp shells. Encourage eating with Fingers and forks as needed and pass the hot sauce.
Sometimes an invitation to a “steam” really means a “boil.” In this case the event is true to its name. Cooking shrimp above simmering liquid keeps them firm textured, preventing overcooked mushiness. You can still infuse them with lots of flavor using a generous hand for the seasonings.
COOKING METHOD | BIG-POT STEAMING
Serves 8 to 12
4 pounds medium to large shrimp (about 30 per pound), preferably without heads
2 large lemons, thinly sliced
2 to 3 large celery ribs, thinly sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced into halfmoons, or 6 to 10 garlic cloves, slivered
¼ cup Chesapeake-Style Seafood Rub and Boil (page 28) or commercial Old Bay seasoning
1 tablespoon coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt
1 cup cider vinegar
One to two 12-ounce bottles mediumbodied beer
3 large bay leaves
Toss the shrimp, lemons, celery, onion, boil, and salt together in a large bowl. Let sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes while you finish the cooking preparations.
Pour the vinegar into a 10-gallon or larger pot, preferably with a steamer/colander insert Use another type of steamer insert if needed, such as the collapsible metal variety. Add enough beer to make at least a generous inch of liquid in the bottom of the pot. Toss in the bay leaves. Bring the liquid just to a simmer.
Dump the shrimp and other ingredients into the steamer, cover, and steam for 3 minutes. Stir the shrimp up from the bottom and continue steaming for about 3 more minutes, or until just cooked through and firm. Arrange in a big bowl or on a large platter. Save the steaming liquid, discarding the bay leaves.
Serve warm. Top each portion with some of the lemon, celery, and onion and then a tablespoon or two of the steaming liquid. Peel and eat with lots of paper napkins.
Coastal Shrimp Steam with Cocktail Salsa You can always serve shrimp with traditional ketchup-horseradish cocktail sauce, but for something a little different try Chilean Tomato Salsa (page 68).
Coastal Shrimp Steam with Green Chile Chutney Sweet sour, and spicy, the Green Chile Chutney (page 70) makes for a very different but satisfying dip.
Scallops grill exceptionally well. Inside, many cooks pan-sear them over high heat, so they adapt readily to the similar temperatures of the grill. With a little aid from their marinade, these come out with a fine crusty surface to contrast with their tender sweet meat.
COOKING METHOD | GRILLING
Serves 6
Mustard-Tarragon Marinade
½ cup dry white wine
¼ cup Dijon mustard
¼ cup tarragon vinegar
¼ cup fresh tarragon or 2 tablespoons dried
¼ cup flavorful olive oil
2 garlic cloves
30 medium to large sea scallops of about equal size (about 2 pounds)
Coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt
Puree the marinade ingredients together in a blender or food processor. Place the scallops in a large zippered plastic bag and pour the marinade over them. Seal, then toss back and forth to coat them evenly. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Fire up the grill, bringing the temperature to high (1 to 2 seconds with the hand test). Place a small-mesh grill rack over the cooking grate.
Drain the scallops, discarding the marinade. Pat the scallops lightly with paper towels to soak up excess moisture. Sprinkle them lightly with salt.
Grill the scallops uncovered on the well-oiled rack for 2 to 2½ minutes per side, until opaque with a few browned edges.
Orange Fennel Sea Scallops Substitute Orange Fennel Marinade (page 39) for the mustard and tarragon mixture. The sugar in the orange juice will help the scallops get nicely browned on the surface.
Grilled Scallops with Brandy Cream Scallops go well with creamy sauces, but you don’t want too many flavors mixed together, or they’ll be masked. For this cream, reduce ½ cup brandy by half over high heat, then add 2 cups cream and reduce by about half again. Stir in 3 ounces mascarpone or cream cheese until melted and season with salt. Instead of marinating the scallops, sprinkle them with Serious Salt-and-Pepper Rub (page 22) or Smoky Salt-and-Pepper Rub (page 22).
Corpulent sea scallops are made for a celebration, but they’re pretty darned expensive for entertaining a group. You can extend them in one of several ways. Use them in small portions as an appetizer or one of several tapas or make them part of a mixed grill with sausages, beef tenderloin, or other compatible ingredients. You can also use them in an elegant pasta or a special salad.
* For grilling and plank-roasting, use sea scallops rather than small bay scallops.
* Most scallops are treated with a phosphate solution, which plumps them and makes them keep longer. It reduces their cost, but they ooze so much liquid when cooking that they shrink substantially and don’t sear easily. Ask your fish market for “dry” scallops, which feel a touch tacky rather than watery. If you see them side by side, you can usually tell them apart by color. “Dry” scallops will look naturally creamy and the treated ones blindingly white.
* Use your hottest fire for scallops, cooking them just until their translucence fades to opaque white
Blue crabs flourish all the way from New England south to Florida and around the gulf to the Texas shore, but they particularly thrive on the thousands of miles of shoreline around the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland cooks generally prefer heavy male crabs, called jimmies, for boils and steams like this. They flavor the water with copious seasonings, and when the crabs are done, everyone joyfully goes after their meat with mallets, crackers, picks, and paring knives. Ifs a lot of work, but also a major feast and social rite. For a home event, tape down several layers of newspaper over the table as the tablecloth, which makes cleanup a breeze. All you need are lightning bugs to make a summer evening complete.
COOKING METHOD | BIG-POT STEAMING
Serves 8 to 12
Three 12-ounce bottles or cans mediumbodied beer
About 3 cups cider or white vinegar, plus more for the table
1 cup Chesapeake-Style Seafood Rub and Boil (page 28) or commercial Old Bay seasoning
⅓ cup salt
3 dozen live large blue crabs, preferably male
An hour or two before you plan to steam the crabs, pour the beer into a 10-gallon or larger pot, preferably with a steamer/colander insert. Let the beer sit to go flat. When you’re ready to cook, pour in the vinegar. You’ll need enough to have about 2 inches of liquid in the bottom of the pot. Place a steamer insert in the pot (or improvise one with a baking rack sitting over crumpled foil).
Stir the boil and salt together in a small bowl.
a Baltimore Memorial Day Blue Crab Steam
Steamed blue crabs, heaps of them, with bowls of cider vinegar for dipping
Macaroni salad
Sliced red-ripe tomatoes
Lemon meringue pie
lcy beer and ginger beer or ginger ale
If the crabs are especially feisty, or you’re nervous about handling them, give them a plunge in a tub of ice water for about 10 minutes to stun them. The water bath will wash away some of the flavorful brininess, but it also helps the seasonings stick to the shells.
Bring the liquid in the pot to a boil over high heat.
Arrange layers of crabs and spices upward from the steamer basket quickly, to avoid the haze of steam. The number of crabs and amount of seasoning will vary depending on the size of the pot and crabs. After you make a layer of crabs, sprinkle them heavily with seasoning and repeat until all the crabs and seasonings are used.
Clamp the lid on the pot, reduce the heat to medium-high, and steam for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the crabs are all bright red. Remove the crabs with tongs and pile up on platters. Serve right away.
Have all the crab whacking and picking paraphernalia on the tables, along with bowls of vinegar for dunking the crabmeat as it comes from the shells. Flip a crab over and break off the T-shaped apron or flap. Lift off the top shell and scrape or cut out the spongy whitish gills and gooey innards. The gold-colored “mustard” or fat is edible and delicious. Break the body in half. Split the crab body sections horizontally to expose the pockets of meat in the body cavities. Twist the back end fin or flippers around and pull, which should pop out the backfin meat. Pull all the little legs off and suck the bit of meat out of each. We save the scrumptious claws until the end, cracking them open to finish with their sweet meat.
If you live near the eastern seaboard, you probably can find live soft-shell crabs. If you’re squeamish, have the store clean them for you. If not, the process Isn’t really hard. On each crab, cut away the mouth and eyes with a scissors. Lift the top shell on both sides and scrape or cut out the spongy whitish gills with a small knife. Turn over on the back, pull down the triangular or T-shaped apron or flap, and cut off with the scissors.
Soft-shells are one of nature’s fleeting treats, available only in the few hours between the time when maturing blue crabs molt their original shells and their new shells harden. Chesapeake legend says the ritual begins with the first full moon in May, but depending on the harvesting techniques and provenance of the crabs, they may be found as early as March and as late as September. If you can’t find them fresh, look for frozen ones from a reliable market. Otherwise, plan to cook the crabs the day you purchase them. Of the cracker crumbs we’ve tried for coating soft-shells, we favor those made from Carr’s croissant crackers, which have a buttery character, though any saltines or lightly flavored crackers can be used. Finish every bite, because the entire crab is edible.
COOKING METHOD | BIG-POT FRYING
Serves 8 or more
1 cup all-purpose flour, preferably unbleached
2 to 3 teaspoons Southwest Sizzler dry rub (page 26) or Wild Willy’s Number One-derful Rub (page 23)
1½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt (reduce quantity or eliminate if the cracker crumbs are harshly salty)
1 cup buttermilk
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons Dijon or yellow mustard
3 cups (about 6 ounces) finely ground cracker crumbs
16 cleaned fresh soft-shell crabs, preferably 3 to 4 ounces each
At least 1 gallon peanut or vegetable oil for deep-frying
At least 4 large lemons, cut into wedges
Stir together on a plate or in a shallow dish the flour, dry rub, pepper, and half of the salt. In a shallow dish, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, mustard, and remaining salt. Arrange the crackers crumbs on another plate or shallow dish.
Dip each crab into the seasoned flour, then into the egg mixture, and then into the cracker crumbs. Shake gently to eliminate excess crumbs. Lay each crab out gently on a baking sheet Refrigerate uncovered while you finish preparations.
For draining the crabs, arrange several layers of paper towels to cover another baking sheet. Top with one or more baking racks to cover the towels.
Heat at least 6 inches of oil in a stockpot or other large cooking pot to 360°F. Fry the crabs, in batches if necessary, until golden brown and crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Watch out for popping, because the crabs are full of moisture. Remove with tongs, a mesh wok “spider” strainer, or another strainer rather than a slotted spoon. Drain the crabs on the baking racks and serve as soon as all are fried, with lemon wedges.
Soft-Shell Crab Sandwiches Place a fried crab and a couple of lettuce leaves between 2 slices of soft white sandwich bread smeared with some tartar sauce or mayonnaise. Crispy legs should be dangling out for the full effect. Repeat, eat.
Most of the big, beautiful Dungeness crabs caught in the Pacific are steamed or boiled before being shipped across the country. To get them live for a boil of your own, check an Asian market or get a seafood supplier to make a special order. Cook the crabs the day you acquire them, seasoned simply with light citrus flavors to let their mild, sweet meat shine. Be sure to have mallets, crackers, and picks for everyone, or at least enough to share easily. Spread out newspapers, pile the crabs high, and get cracking.
COOKING METHOD | BIG-POT BOILING
Serves 6 or more
2 large lemons, halved
1 large orange, halved
2 tablespoons coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt
3 bay leaves
6 live Dungeness crabs, heavy for their size and frisky, preferably 2½ to 2¾ pounds each
Lemon Butter
½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt
Pour about 3 gallons water into a 10-gallon or larger pot. Squeeze the lemons and orange into the pot, then toss in the shells of the fruit. Add the salt and bay leaves. Bring to a rolling boil. Add the crabs to the pot and cover, to help bring the water back to a boil as soon as possible. Cook for 12 to 16 minutes (or 5 to 6 minutes per pound once the water has returned to a boil), until the crabs are bright red-orange, with opaque meat The water will have some whitish-yellowish film. To check doneness, twist off a leg from one crab and look at the tendril of meat If still translucent return to the pot and cook for a few minutes more.
a Festive Northwest Crab Feed
Dungeness Crab Boil
Grilled Dungeness Crabs with Asian Marinade (page 249)
Asian Rice Salad (page 482)
Rhubarb-Berry Ice (page 516)
Don’t keep crabs or any other living seafood in a plastic bag. They need to breathe. Place them in a grocery store brown paper bag and close with a double fold. Dampen the top with water, then place inside a second grocery bag. Stash in the fridge or a cooler until you’re ready to cook. Once you remove the crabs from the bags, turn them on their backs to keep them from taking over your kitchen. They will usually stay where you put them. If they go skittering elsewhere, it will just add a little natural excitement to your party.
Remove the crabs with tongs. Rinse the crabs in cold water to stop the cooking, but then drain so they don’t sit in water.
On each crab, cut away the mouth and eyes with scissors. Lift the top shell on both sides and scrape out the yellowish goo, then scrape or cut out the spongy whitish gills with a small knife. Turn over on the back, pull down the triangular apron or flap, and cut off with scissors. Alternatively, break the body in half, pulling the apron off at the same time. If you want to give your guests a head start, crack the body and legs in a few spots. Repeat with the remaining crabs. (After cleaning, the crabs can be chilled if you wish, but they’re best eaten immediately.)
Pile the crabs up on a platter. Melt the butter and stir in the lemon juice and salt to taste. Serve the crabs with die butter. Heavenly.
While all crabs benefit from mild seasonings, the briny Dungeness also takes especially well to ginger, garlic, soy, and other bold Asian flavors. We parcook these crabs in a pot, then marinate and finish them on the grill, where salivating friends inevitably gather to watch and rave. As with the previous recipes, a newspaper- or oilcloth-covered table will work best. Offer plenty of hand wipes.
COOKING METHOD | GRILLING
Serves 6 or more
2 tablespoons coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt
6 live Dungeness crabs, heavy for their size and frisky, preferably 2½ to 2¾ pounds each
Marinade and Sauce
½ cup vegetable oil
1½ cups Korean Barbecue Sauce (page 56)
½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter
Pour about 3 gallons water into a 10-gallon or larger stockpot and add the salt. Bring to a rolling boil. Add the crabs to the pot and cover to help bring the water back to a boil as soon as possible. Parcook for 5 to 6 minutes. The crabs will have just begun to throw off a whitish film, and the shells will be turning bright red-orange just around the edges.
Remove the crabs with tongs. Immediately rinse them in cold water to stop the cooking, then drain them.
On each crab, cut away the mouth and eyes with scissors. Lift the top shell on both sides and scrape out the yellowish goo, then scrape or cut out the spongy whitish gills with a small knife. Turn over on the back, pull down the triangular apron or flap, and cut off with the scissors. Alternatively, break the body in half, pulling the apron off at the same time. With sturdy kitchen scissors, cut the bodies into 4 sections, exposing some of the interior meat. Crack the body and legs in multiple spots. Repeat with the remaining crabs.
Prepare the marinade, mixing the oil with half of the Korean barbecue sauce. Slather the marinade over the crab pieces, rubbing it into their crannies. Let sit covered lightly at room temperature. Melt the butter and stir the rest of the barbecue sauce into it.
Fire up the grill, bringing the temperature to high (1 to 2 seconds with the hand test).
Arrange the crab pieces on the grill and cook uncovered for 5 to 8 minutes, turning on all sides. The crabs are done when the marinade is caramelized on the surface.
Pile the crab pieces on a platter. Serve with the butter.
These always strike friends as exotic, but few things are easier to master. The oysters pop open for eating over the fire, eliminating any shucking, and require only a simple dressing to accentuate their natural flavor. Buy a few extra oysters to avoid disappointment if one or more don’t open. They won’t go to waste. We serve them with a classic mignonette, which is something like a vinaigrette without oil.
COOKING METHOD | COVERED GRILL
ROASTING
Makes 2 dozen oysters, serving 4 or more
Mignonette
½ cup rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons minced shallot
2 teaspoons minced lemon zest
Pinch of coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper
2 dozen fresh oysters in their shells, scrubbed, preferably smaller oysters with somewhat flat shells
Rock salt, raw rice, seaweed, or a platter’s worth of fresh herb sprigs
Whisk together the mignonette ingredients in a small bowl. Refrigerate until serving time. (It will hold well for several hours.)
Fire up the grill, bringing the temperature to high (1 to 2 seconds with the hand test). Arrange the oysters in a single layer on the grill grate, deeper shells down. If they don’t all fit, place as many on the grill as you can and then add those remaining as you remove ones that are done. Cover the grill. Roast the oysters for about 5 minutes, then remove the grill cover. Continue cooking for 5 more minutes, removing the oysters with sturdy tongs as quickly as each one pops open. They burble and sputter a bit as they cook. After 10 minutes, remove any remaining unopened oysters and discard them.
Arrange the oysters on plates or one big platter, on a bed of rock salt to hold them upright to retain their juices. Spoon a few drops of mignonette into each oyster and serve more on the side. Eat as soon as the shells are cool enough to handle, popping oysters out with a fork and slurping as you go.
Grill-Roasted Oysters Gulf Style For a Louisiana-style feast, substitute Tabasco Vinaigrette (page 64) for the mignonette.
Barbecued Oysters Chesapeake Style Cook in the same way, then top the oysters with a tomato-based barbecue sauce, such as Genuine Kansas City Barbecue Sauce (page 50), with some vinegar added to thin it. Put a square of crisp-cooked bacon on each oyster before eating.
Grill-Roasted Clams Small clams like littlenecks, cherrystones, or Manila clams can be cooked just like oysters and pop open on the grill in the same way. If the clams are really small, you may want to arrange them in a single layer in one or more cast-iron or other ovenproof skillets. Serve with the vinaigrette or barbecue sauce in the preceding variations or with Anchovy Butter (page 64).
In American cookbooks from earlier centuries, recipes often instructed cooks to fry foods “like an oyster,” assuming everyone knew how to do that. Most modern cooks missed out on that lesson, so here’s the quick skinny. You typically dunk oysters in eggs, milk, or both and then coat them with cornmeal, flour, bread crumbs, or the cracker crumbs that we favor in this case. Then fry quickly in hot oil. Ready, set, go.
COOKING METHOD | BIG-POT FRYING
Serves 8 to 12
Horseradish Rapture
One 6-ounce horseradish root
3 tablespoons white vinegar, or more to taste
½ cup sour cream
¼ cup mayonnaise
Coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt, and freshly cracked black pepper, optional
6 large eggs
2 tablespoons whole or 2% milk
1 tablespoon coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
3 to 4 cups saltine-style cracker crumbs
2 quarts drained shucked medium oysters
Peanut oil or vegetable oil for deep-frying
a Carolina Outer Banks Supper
Lots ol Grill-Roasted Oysters
Coastal Shrimp Steam (page 245)
Scalloped Sweet Potatoes (page 490)
Fig cake and fig or vanilla ice cream
Prepare the sauce. Peel the horseradish with a vegetable peeler and cut the root into about 6 chunks. Put the horseradish and vinegar in a food processor and process until evenly minced. Stop and scrape down the sides as needed, but avoid taking a deep whiff of the fumes. Add the sour cream and mayonnaise and pulse until smooth. Stir in salt and pepper to taste if you wish. Chill until serving time.
Lightly beat the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper together in a large shallow bowl. Pour about 1 cup of the cracker crumbs on a square of wax paper. With a fork, pick up an oyster and dip it into the egg mixture. Transfer it to the cracker crumbs, laying it on them. Lift up one of the sides of the wax paper to shift the crumbs so that they coat the oyster. (This process keeps the crumbs from getting mashed down and wet.) Transfer the coated oyster to a platter. Repeat with the remaining oysters, adding more cracker crumbs as needed. Place the uncovered platter of oysters in the refrigerator for 10 to 20 minutes.
Arrange a large baking rack over a paper-towel-covered baking sheet and place it close to the fry pot.
Pour at least 3 inches of oil into a stockpot or other large sturdy cooking pot Warm the oil to 375°F.
Cook the oysters in batches, avoiding crowding, until golden brown and crisp, about 2 minutes per batch. The oysters may pop a bit as they fry. Drain the oysters on the baking rack, keeping them in a single layer. Repeat with the remaining oysters until all are cooked. Serve immediately, with the sauce on the side.
Summer in New England means fried clams, sold at seafood shacks on the coast from Connecticut to Maine. We love the crunchy critters, so we developed this backyard cooking alternative to enjoy them far from the Atlantic shore. We fry lemons right alongside the clams, which flavors the cooking oil and makes the frying more fragrant We can eat these like popcorn.
COOKING METHOD | BIG-POT FRYING
Serves 6 to 8
About 2¼ cups stone-ground cornmeal, preferably yellow
2 teaspoons coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
¼ teaspoon cayenne Vegetable oil for deep-frying
2 pounds shucked small clams, preferably littlenecks or cherrystones
2 lemons, thinly sliced and seeded
Malt vinegar, optional
Stir the cornmeal, salt, pepper, garlic, and cayenne together in a broad shallow bowl or baking dish.
Heat at least 4 inches of oil in a large stockpot or other sturdy large fry pot to 350°F.
Dredge the clams and lemon slices in the cornmeal mixture and fry in batches, including some clams and lemons in each batch. Cook just until golden and crisp, a brief minute or two. Drain each batch on paper towels as it is done. Serve immediately.
Fried Clam Rolls Skip the lemons. Serve the clams on hot dog buns (the top-split kind if available) with tartar sauce or sprinkles of malt vinegar.
The New England clambake may be America’s most esteemed seafood celebration, capable of stirring fond memories among people who’ve never even attended one. For an authentic version, you need an Atlantic beach, a rock fire pit, seaweed, wood burned down to coals, and a goodly assortment of clams, other shellfish, and vegetables. The food steams and smokes simultaneously during the cooking. We’ve adapted the idea here for roasting in a fairly large covered grill (if your grill is kettle size or so, halve the ingredients and guest list). Even for a backyard bake in other areas of the country, try hard to get rockweed, preferably, or other seaweed from a local fish market because it definitely influences the flavor. If you don’t find it, persevere anyway with the party. You’ll still have a prodigious feast.
On the fair isle of Isleboro, just off Down East Maine’s coast, Sandy Oliver and Jamie MacMillan know how to throw a big outdoor party, feeding on occasion as many as 150 people. They first find a stretch of beach that offers a lot of small driftwood chunks and granite rocks in easy walking distance, then dig a shallow bowl-shaped cooking pit to fill with the rocks. They light a driftwood fire over the rocks that turns the stones white-hot over a couple of hours. After raking the coals, Sandy and Jamie pack seaweed around the pit. Ears of corn go on next, followed by a mess of mussels in hardware-cloth cages. Live lobsters go on top, trapped in place by more seaweed, and then an old pot loaded with butter. The cooks put their charred canvas tarp, which has been dunked in seawater, over everything. After an hour, with a heavily gloved hand, Jamie fishes out a lobster for testing. When he declares the bake done, the cooks unload the pit and lay out the feast.
COOKING METHOD | COVERED GRILL SMOKE
ROASTING
Serves 8 to 10
8 to 10 medium Yukon Gold, Yellow Finn, or waxy red potatoes
8 to 10 small to medium onions
8 to 10 small ears corn
2 to 3 cups wood chips or chunks, preferably maple or oak, soaked
5 to 6 pounds steamer clams, or 7 to 8 pounds littleneck clams, soaked in several changes of water
Several pounds damp rockweed or other seaweed, wet, or 6 to 8 feet cheesecloth plus 3½ to 4 ounces dried kombu or other dried seaweed (from the Asian section of a supermarket), soaked together in water
Several cups clam broth or juice, heated if using steamer clams, optional
½ pound (2 sticks) salted butter, melted
Parcook the potatoes and onions together in salted water for about 5 minutes, until soft on the surfaces, then drain.
Fold the husks down on each ear of corn and remove the silks. Return the husks to their original position and soak the ears in a bowl or clean bucket of water while you get the grill going.
Fire up the grill for covered grill roasting. Turn on 1 burner on a gas grill or build a charcoal fire to one side. Place an oven thermometer on the grill in the center of the un-heated portion and heat the grill covered to 350°F to 375°F. Regulate the temperature as needed by turning the gas up or down or opening or closing a charcoal grill’s vents.
If using a gas grill without a smoker box, wrap the wood loosely in foil, then poke holes in the foil with a fork in a half dozen spots. Place the foil pouch on a burner or the wood chips in a gas grill’s smoker box before you begin cooking. If using a charcoal grill, simply toss the wood on the fire just before you start.
Arrange the food on the grill, over the unheated section of the grill. Try to put the potatoes and onions closest to the heat, the corn farthest away, and the clams on top. Food can be stacked if needed, with the clams on top of the corn. Cover the food with seaweed. If using the wet cheesecloth, arrange it to cover the seaweed, folding it as needed and keeping the edge away from the fire. Close the grill.
Plan on a total cooking time of 30 to 45 minutes. Cook for about 15 minutes, then open and mist with water from a spray bottle. Repeat in about 10 minutes more. Check the progress and cook for a few minutes more as necessary. When ready, the clams will have opened and the vegetables should all be tender. With tongs, remove everything from the grill. Pile it on a baking sheet or platter and try to keep as much clam broth in the clam shells as you can. Discard any clams that haven’t opened by the time the rest of them and the other foods are ready. Divide the ingredients among plates and serve.
To eat, pop a clam out of its shell, then dunk in the optional clam broth (which should eliminate any grit from the sand-prone steamers), then in butter, and pop into your mouth. Intersperse clams with corn, onions, and potatoes, dressed with a little butter, too.
Water Smoker Lobster Bake Following the model of the Isleboro lobster bake described in the sidebar, start with 4 Maine lobsters, 2 pounds mussels, and 4 ears corn. Pile the lobsters on top of each other, then the corn, and finally the mussels on top, wrapped loosely in perforated grill foil to help hold them in place. If you get seaweed, and please try to, put some in the water pan and some over each rack of food. Smoke at 200°F to 250°F over six or so soaked maple or oak chunks for 45 to 60 minutes.
Lots of cooks boil Maine lobsters, but we prefer them steamed. As with other steamed shellfish, the lobsters don’t come out waterlogged, which can dilute their flavor and diminish their firm texture. We look for lobsters in the one-and-a-half-pound range, though we give information here on steaming those of other sizes. Whatever the weight, you can count on a most magnificent and memorable meal.
COOKING METHOD | BIG-POT STEAMING
Serves 6
3 tablespoons salt
6 live lobsters, about 1½ pounds each
½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
At least 1 dozen lemon wedges, cut from 3 or more lemons
Lobsters are traditionally steamed over seawater, and some cooks swear by it, so use it if you have it, but don’t worry about it if you don’t.
Pour 2 inches of water into a 10-gallon or larger pot and add the salt. Place a steamer basket in the pot or improvise one with a baking rack sitting on crumpled foil. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Using tongs, add the lobsters to the pot and cover immediately.
Reduce the heat to medium-high and steam for 14 to 16 minutes. If you’re new to this and want to make sure the lobsters are ready, break one open where the tail and body meet. The meat should look fully white without any remaining transparency. Remove the lobsters with tongs and cool briefly in a clean sink.
Place a lobster on a well-anchored cutting board. Using a cleaver or sturdy chef’s knife, split down the underside of the tail to drain out some of the liquid and make eating a little easier at the table. Cut off the claw bands and crack the claws in a few spots, too.
Transfer the lobsters to large plates and pass butter on the side. Have lobster or nutcrackers and lobster or nut picks handy for everyone. To get at the lobster, twist it apart where the tail and body meet The greatest amount of meat is in the tail, but the claws have a fair bit too. Twist off the claws from the knuckles and pick the meat out of them, dipping in butter or squeezing lemon over as you go. To attack the tail, pull off the little flat flippers at the end. Bend the tail backward to crack it apart Discard the dark vein and then eat the tail meat There will be some more meat in the joints that you can dig out too. The green goo inside near the head is tomalley, which many people consider a delicacy. You might find coral-colored roe in a female lobster, another delicacy. Eat both if you wish or offer them to guests.
Maine Lobster Vacationing on St. Barths If you ever get to the isle of St Barthélemy, you have to try the Maine lobster Annie Ange prepares at her beachside restaurant La Langouste. She gives you a choice of lobsters from her tank and then serves your selection with a wonderful Creole sauce. For a home rendition, offer Fiery Creole Relish (page 69) on the side, with or without melted butter.
* Buy the lobsters at a store where the tanks look clean and well tended. Lobsters are always sold alive because enzymes released after their death cause the meat to deteriorate quickly.
* Most lobsters come with their claws banded. There’s no reason to remove the bands until after they’re cooked.
* Plan to cook them the day that you get them, keeping them refrigerated in the box they came in or in doubled paper grocery sacks. Do not store them in plastic, a closed cooler, directly on ice, or in tap water, any of which will kill them.
* If the feistiness of the lobsters bothers you, stash them in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes before they go into the pot The brief chill won’t kill them, but it will subdue them.
* Steam 1¼-pound lobsters for 12 to 14 minutes, 1½-pounders for 14 to 16 minutes, 1¾-pounders for 16 to 18 minutes, and 2-pound bruisers for 18 to 20 minutes. Don’t overcook, but do cook lobster through fully, avoiding a rare center.
a Maine Lobster Feed
Maine Lobster Steam
Corn on the cob
Creamy Coleslaw (page 476)
Blueberry pie, blueberry bread-and-butter-pudding, or blueberry cobbler
Now that much of America has discovered Baja-style fish tacos, it’s time to delve more deeply into the peninsula’s seafood treasures. The spiny or rock lobster common to Baja’s coast and other subtropical waters isn’t as rich as the large-clawed cold-water Maine crustaceans, but it doesn’t cost nearly as much either. In U.S. supermarkets, these lobsters are usually sold just as tails, which are perfectly easy to halve and perfect for the high heat of the grill. Muy sabroso.
COOKING METHOD | GRILLING
Serves 6
Three ¾- to 1-pound or six ½-pound spiny or rock lobster tails
Flavorful olive oil
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
Juice of 2 large limes
Juice of 1 large orange
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 or more splashes of Mexican hot sauce, such as Cholula
1 teaspoon crumbled dried oregano, preferably Mexican, optional
2 pinches of salt
Lime and orange wedges
Avocado slices, optional
Split the lobster tails in half lengthwise with a cleaver or long sturdy knife. Watch your fingers, because the shells tend to be slick. Oil both the shell and exposed lobster meat.
Fire up the grill, bringing the temperature to medium-high (3 seconds with the hand test).
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter with the lime and orange juices, garlic, hot sauce, oregano if desired, and salt. Keep the butter sauce warm on the side of the grill.
Place the lobster tail sections on the grill, cut side down. Grill the lobster uncovered for 3 minutes. Turn the sections shell side down and baste the meat of each lobster generously with the butter sauce. Grill for 5 to 7 more minutes for smaller lobsters and 8 to 9 minutes for larger ones. The meat should look fully white with no remaining transparency.
Consider hosting a BYO lobster event, as a friend of ours once did for the Fourth of July. She supplied side dishes, pies, drinks, and sturdy plates as well as multiple big pots for steaming. Each family put their lobsters together in a pot and enjoyed them later with melted butter. It was a great way to share the expense and have fun.
Transfer the lobster sections to a platter and drizzle with any remaining butter if you wish. Garnish festively with lime and orange wedges and optional avocado slices.
Anguillan Grilled Lobster Similar spiny lobsters roam Caribbean waters and are a specialty on a coral speck of an island called Scilly Cay, a stone’s throw off the coast of Anguilla. There whole spiny lobsters are split in the same fashion as the tails in the main recipe, the dark vein discarded. Substitute just the tails if that’s what you find readily. Leave the oregano out of the butter and replace the Mexican hot sauce with a Caribbean variety.
Grilled Naked Lobster Tails with Lemongrass Skewers After you’ve split the lobster tails, pry the meat out of each half in a single piece. Skewer each half lengthwise on a lemongrass stalk of at least 8 inches, using a metal skewer to start the hole if necessary. You’ll have lobster lollipops. Leave the oregano and hot sauce out of the butter and brush the lobster lightly with the melted butter. Place on the grill with the lemongrass stalks away from the fire or with a small piece of foil under the lemongrass. Grill uncovered for about 6 to 7 minutes, turning on all sides and basting again with the butter. Serve two per portion.
Cajun crawfish boils can be huge affairs, where guests sometimes consume hundreds of pounds of the little shellfish. Most common between March and May, when fresh crawfish are at their plump, tasty best, they’re also a Good Friday and Lenten tradition. For a backyard rendition, you’ll need at least a twenty-gallon pot with a basket insert and a shipment of live purged (cleaned) crawfish arranged through a local fish market or overnight from www.nuawlins.com, (800-682-9546 or 504-243-9500). Serious aficionados can devour five to eight pounds of crawfish each-there’s a lot of shell relative to meat-but most people fill up on a couple of pounds, particularly if you cook some vegetables along with the shellfish. It’s messy work-you have to peel and eat crawfish with your fingers-and if you don’t want to look like a Yankee, be sure to suck the fat from their heads.
COOKING METHOD | BIG-POT BOILING
Serves 8 or more
20 pounds live crawfish
1 cup salt
½ cup concentrated liquid Louisiana crawfish/crab/shrimp boil, such as Zatarain’s
1½ cups Cajun Zydeco Rub and Boil (page 29) or three 3-ounce packages dry Louisiana crawfish/crab/shrimp boil, such as Zatarain’s, plus ½ cup salt
4 or more large lemons, halved
2 whole heads of garlic, loose papery skins removed
Bay leaves, whole peppercorns, lots of cayenne, and Louisiana hot sauce, optional
2½ pounds red-skinned potatoes, about 1 to 1½ inches in diameter
3 large onions, quartered
8 andouille sausages, halved, optional
4 to 6 ears corn, shucked and cut into thirds
½ to ¾ pounds (2 to 3 sticks) butter, melted
Our friend Ray Tell, a Louisiana native, hosts a weekend crawfish boil every spring. It started in his backyard but got so large that he moved it to a local brew-pub and set it up as a charitable fund-raiser. Ray flies in about 500 pounds of live crawfish for the boil, which he calculates will serve 333 eaters. His grocery list also includes 666 potatoes and button mushrooms, 190 lemons, 190 large onions and about as many heads of garlic, 117 ears corn, 15 large bunches of celery, 30 pounds salt, and 5 pounds cayenne to add to pounds of premixed boil.
An hour or so before you plan to start cooking, dump the crawfish into the basket of your pot for boiling. Wearing heavy gloves, sort through the crawfish, discarding any that are dead or any other debris from the sack. Leave the crawfish in a shady or relatively cool spot.
Pour about 6 gallons water into your pot. It may be easier to run your garden hose to the pot over your burner than to carry the pot with water to the burner. To the water, add the salt and the liquid and dry crawfish boils. Squeeze a teaspoon or so of juice from each lemon half, then throw them all into the pot, followed by the garlic. Customize your boil with some or all of the optional ingredients. You need plenty of seasonings to penetrate the crawfish in their relatively brief cooking time. Bring to a boil over high heat (This will take a while and will be faster if you cover the pot.)
After the water has boiled for at least a full 5 minutes, add the potatoes, onions, and sausages if you’re using them. Return to a boil and boil for 5 more minutes. Dump in the corn and crawfish and cover the pot. When you begin to see steam coming out from under the lid and the mixture is back at a boil again, time 3 more minutes at a rolling boil, then check a couple of crawfish for doneness, peeling off the shells. If the meat doesn’t appear cooked through, boil for an additional minute or two. Turn off the heat and let the mixture steep for about 10 minutes. The crawfish will be neon red-orange.
Drain and pour out onto platters or a table covered in newspaper, plastic, or oilcloth. You can separate the vegetables from the crawfish or just leave it all piled together. The crawfish are best eaten warm. Pass the butter to pour over the vegetables.
To peel and eat the crawfish, first twist the head from the tail and set the head aside. Peel away some of the shell from the tail to expose the meat. Pinch the bottom of the tail with one hand while pulling the meat out with your other hand and eat as you go. Suck the head of its juices and the buttery fat before you proceed to the next crawfish.
Swedish Crayfish Boil Visiting Gothenburg, Sweden, one summer, we discovered another completely different and just as enthusiastic crayfish tradition. To replicate the Scandinavian version of the feast, use about 1 cup Scandinavian Sugar and Spice (page 31) instead of the dry rub, then add 1 to 2 bunches of fresh dill (with heads in blossom, too, if you can get them). Serve the crayfish with black bread or crisp flatbreads of mixed grains and iced aquavit.
When it’s time to eat, Louisiana cooks often dump crawfish onto a table covered with newspaper or flattened-out brown paper grocery bags. It’s handy, because at the end of the meal, when shells are everywhere, you can roll up the whole mess and stash it in the trash, hoping that the garbage man comes soon. There’s so much juice, though, we prefer a table covering that won’t get soaked through, like cheap plastic in festive colors that can be wadded up and discarded. Put the crawfish on the table directly or onto huge platters or bowls. Arrange the vegetables on separate platters and place them on a nearby buffet table to keep them out of the way of the serious peeling and eating.
Americans have gotten enthusiastic about mussels only in recent years, way after the rest of the world. We have some catching up to do, so don’t wait any longer. Relatively inexpensive compared to other shellfish, the rope-cultured, farm-raised mussels come free of grit and mud. They’re good steamed, but we prefer them smoked.
COOKING METHOD | BARBECUE SMOKING
Serves 6
Dill Mayonnaise
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill or 1 tablespoon dried
¼ teaspoon fresh lemon juice or white vinegar
Mussel Mop
One 6-ounce bottle clam juice
¼ cup dry white wine or fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
About a dozen ice cubes
5 to 6 dozen mussels in their shells
Prepare the mayonnaise, whisking the ingredients together in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate.
Prepare the mop, combining the ingredients in a small bowl.
Fire up the smoker for barbecuing, bringing the temperature to 180°F to 220°F.
Put the ice cubes in a smokeproof 8-inch-square or 9 x 12-inch baking pan or in a deep pie pan. Place the mussels in a shallow smokeproof dish large enough to hold them mostly in a single layer.
Place the mussels over the ice in the smoker as far from the fire as possible. Plan on a total cooking time of about 25 to 30 minutes. Drizzle some of the mop into the mussels that have opened after 15 to 20 minutes. The mussels are done when all or nearly all have opened and they are plump and juicy. Discard any mussels that haven’t opened within a couple of minutes of the rest of the batch. Drizzle the rest of the mop over all the mussels when they come off the smoker. Serve the mussels in large shallow bowls accompanied by the mayonnaise. Pop them from the shells with a fork, dunk into the mayonnaise, and savor.
Piles of cooked shellfish in their shells look great tossed with bright bits of vegetables and mounded on platters. Halved cherry tomatoes, little squares of any color bell pepper, or sections of snow peas cut on the diagonal all liven up the presentation.
Smoked Mussels with Saffron Mayonnaise Replace the dill mayonnaise with the saffron variation on page 65.
Smoked Clams with Dill Mayonnaise Treat small unshelled cherrystone or littleneck clams in similar fashion. We like them smoked over slightly higher heat, though, 200°F to 250°F. Their shells seem to pop open more readily in the higher temperature range.
If we had to pick one mixed shellfish dish for outdoor entertaining, this would be it. Paella originated as an outdoor dish and is still best that way. Mix and match the grilled seafood as you wish.
COOKING METHOD | GRILLING
Serves 8 to 10
For the Grill
1 pound medium shrimp (about 36), peeled and, if you wish, deveined
½ pound small squid, preferably about 3 inches long, with tentacles separated, cleaned, or ½ pound squid steaks
Flavorful olive oil
Coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper
16 hard-shell clams, such as cherrystones or littlenecks, or mussels, cleaned
1 pound (about 6) precooked Spanish chorizo sausage links or other cooked spicy sausage links
For the Pan
5 cups chicken stock
1 cup seafood stock or bottled clam juice
1½ teaspoons crumbled saffron threads
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, diced
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 cups short-grain rice, such as Bomba or Arborio
Coarse salt, either kosher or sea salt
¾ cup briny green olives, black olives, or a combination
½ cup slivered cooked artichokes or baby peas, fresh or unthawed frozen
⅓ cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
Store-bought allioli (Spanish garlic mayonnaise), optional
Rub the shrimp and squid lightly with oil and season with salt and pepper. Cover them and let sit at room temperature, along with the clams, while you start the rice.
Fire up the grill, bringing the temperature to high (1 to 2 seconds with the hand test). If you would like to cook the rice over the grill fire instead of on a side burner or stovetop, you’ll need the capability for medium-low heat as well.
Begin the rice. Stir the stocks and saffron together and let the mixture stand. Warm the oil in a 12- to 14-inch paella pan or skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion, bell peppers, and garlic and sauté for several minutes, until the vegetables are just tender. Stir in the rice and continue cooking until translucent, about 4 to 5 minutes. Give the stocks a stir and pour over the rice. Add salt to taste. Cook the rice over medium-low heat uncovered, without stirring, until the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. After about 15 minutes of cooking, insert a spoon or spatula straight down into the rice in several places to make sure that the rice isn’t browning on the bottom in one spot before the liquid is absorbed in others. Shift the position of the pan over the heat if necessary. When done, the liquid should be absorbed and the rice should be tender but have the barest hint of crust on the bottom and sides.
While the rice cooks, grill the sausage links and seafood uncovered over high heat Arrange the sausage and clams on the grill first The sausage just needs to get a bit crusty on all sides, 3 or 4 minutes. Take it off when ready. The clams will be on the grill until they pop wide open, 8 to 10 minutes. Discard any that refuse to open within a couple of minutes of the others. Remove them from the grill carefully to avoid losing the juices in the shells. Place them over the hot rice once it is tender. Grill the shrimp and squid over high heat for a total of about 4 minutes, turning to cook on all sides. The tentacles will likely be ready first so take them off as soon as they are firm. When done, the shrimp should be pink and opaque with lightly charred edges and the squid bodies opaque and firm but tender. Heap the shrimp over the rice. Slice the sausage and squid bodies into thin rounds and add them to the rice.
Stir the grilled ingredients into the rice and scatter with the olives, artichokes, and parsley. Serve immediately or cover with foil and keep warm in a low oven or on a corner of the grill. If using a paella pan, serve from the pan. If using a skillet, spoon out onto a platter and then serve. In either case, pass the allioli on the side if you wish.