Frogmore Stew

We’re back from the Outer Banks and home in old, familiar Richmond. We only got a little bit lost on the drive home last night, which involved a detour through what I think was the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel in Hampton Roads, Virginia, and only a minor panic attack  on my part, as I am terrified of tunnels filled with cars which go underwater. Especially when one of the cars is the one I am riding in. *shudder*

I waited until I got home to post about my favorite vacation meal – Frogmore Stew! When it was announced that we would be dining on Frogmore stew, a few vacationers became concerned that this meant we would be eating frogs. After a brief flurry of activity on various iPhones, the vacationers were much relieved to learn that Frogmore Stew is just a type of seafood boil, named after a fishing community in South Carolina.

Basically, Frogmore Stew involves throwing a bunch of good things into a huge pot and cooking them. Aaron’s dad used red potatoes, sweet yellow corn on the cob, kielbasa sausage, and shrimp, which was all cooked together in a bubbling brew of water, Old Bay seasoning, and two Sam Adams Summer Ales. This is what the Frogmore Stew looked like boiling away on the stove.

The recipe Aaron’s dad used was a modified version of this one from allrecipes.com. One of the major modifications was the addition of beer, which imparted a delicious flavor to all the ingredients, especially the sweet corn. A few slices of lime were added to the boil as well. The shrimp were deveined but not peeled, which (I thought) made the stew more fun to eat. Once all the ingredients were cooked, the liquid was drained and the shrimp, potatoes, sausage, and corn were all dumped out on the big dining room table, which we had spread with newspapers. Steam is hard to photograph!

There was much fogging-up of glasses at this point.

The stew looked like a huge trough down the middle of the 10-person dining room table. Everyone sat down and helped themselves right away.

This photo was taken only moments before everyone began to devour the feast before them.

This is the approximate point where I began my attack.

My first plate, after which I completely abandoned the use of plates.

When it was all over, and everyone had eaten way more than they ever thought they were capable of, the only thing that was left was the corn cobs, shrimp tails, damp newspaper, and this lone chunk of sausage.

All that remained of the Frogmore Stew

There you have it – the best meal I ate while on vacation. And while it probably wasn’t especially healthy, it was dang tasty and cheap, since the only thing Aaron and I contributed was the beer. 🙂