Frogmore stew

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 dish at its most basic contains shrimp, seafood seasoning, smoked sausage, corn on the cob, and potatoes. But onions, crab, and butter are other frequent additions. "Every time I see someone else serve it, there are a couple of ingredients that I don't use," Richard says. He adds 1/2 pound of butter for every six people, and he prefers crab boil seasoning that comes in a bag so the loose spices don't get all over the corn. (We used a loose, finely ground seasoning blend in our stew, however, and the results were delicious.)

Whatever the ingredients, it's a take-your-shoes-off-and-relax kind of dish. "People on vacation like it because you cook everything in one pot," Richard says. Beachgoers often serve it on heavy brown paper or even newspaper for ease of cleanup.

Richard is justifiably proud of his creation and its popularity. Ten years ago, he petitioned the South Carolina senate to have Frogmore Stew named the state seafood dish. "There was a state dog, flag, and flower," he says, "but no seafood dish." He let the matter drop when he moved to Tulsa, but he still dreams of the day when his boil will be the state's official seafood dish, proudly bearing the name Frogmore Stew.

FROGMORE STEW

MAKES 12 SERVINGS

PREP: 10 MIN., COOK: 30 MIN.

We found that the sausage adds plenty of richness to this dish, so we omitted the butter.

5 quarts water

1/4 cup Old Bay Seasoning

4 pounds small red potatoes

2 pounds kielbasa or hot smoked link sausage, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces

6 ears fresh corn, halved

4 pounds unpeeled, large fresh shrimp

Old Bay Seasoning

Cocktail sauce

BRING 5 quarts water and 1/4 cup Old Bay Seasoning to a rolling boil in a large covered stockpot.

ADD potatoes; return to a boil, and cook, uncovered, 10 minutes.

ADD sausage and corn, and return to a boil. Cook 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

ADD shrimp to stockpot; cook 3 to 4 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Drain. Serve with Old Bay Seasoning and cocktail sauce.

NOTE: For testing purposes only, we used Hillshire Farm Kielbasa.

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Aug 2003
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