What happens when you take two sisters from Panama City, Florida, one husband from Louisiana, one husband from Alabama and put them all together? In the case of our dear friends the Landrys and the Byrds, you end up with a family whose hospitality and joie de vivre are endless! You also end up with plenty of varying opinions on how to cook their native cuisine, especially when it comes to seafood. Luckily, though, few things about their shrimp boil recipe are up for debate!
I first met my friend Geri when our youngest girls were in kindergarten. By this point in my life I was feeling like I didn't have enough time to invest deeply in the friendships I already had and just didn't need new ones that would come along with my littlest's elementary career. Luckily for me, though, I was really, really wrong, and along came Geri. As her sister Gina tells the story, they decided to show me just how wrong I was! Fast forward a year and a half and I cannot imagine life without either of those sisters and their families. These are lifelong friends and I could not be more grateful for the bonds and memories we now share.
Anyone who knows the Landrys and the Byrds will tell you right off the bat how warm and friendly they all are and they will also tell you that these are people who like to have fun! We have enjoyed so many different kinds of gatherings at the Landry Farm and the Byrd Boat over the past couple of years and not once have we lacked for great food. I have gained so many great cooking tips and recipes that I was inspired to revisit my blog just so that I could share these with my readers. They all love to cook and have let me play in the kitchen alongside them.
Russell recently hosted his sisters and his niece for several days and invited us out to their boat to swim and to have a shrimp boil. Now, I need to confess that I generally steer clear of seafood but the Landry-Byrds have taught me to really enjoy shrimp. Even though I rarely order any food from the ocean, I love, love, love the culture related to all of it and enjoy learning all about tools and methods for procuring and eating seafood. Watching Russell prepare everything and helping him with some of it was so much fun and the end result was one of the most delicious meals I have ever eaten (luckily for me, I didn't have to watch the shrimp heads come off, though!) so I decided that's what I needed to share here.
I love the picture above that was taken by Russell's daughter Sarah because it showcases the little Cajun pirogue that Russell serves his shrimp boil in. I learned that this fiberglass facsimile is based on wooden boats used to haul in nets of shrimp or crawdads. I also love that you can see Gina's hands are in the pirogue sorting out the various parts of the finished boil; I learned that this is an important part of doing a shrimp boil correctly!
Russell's method came from another Cajun transplant to Knoxville who is a good friend of both the Byrds and the Landrys, Kevin LeBlanc. Kevin is another incredible cook and I love both watching him prepare food and listening to his accent!
As Russell and Chris, Geri's husband, talked me through the recipe, several things jumped out at me that make it work so well. First of all, they use the littlest potatoes they can find so that you don't have to cut them. I have always just quartered larger red potatoes and have always been disappointed in the results. I will definitely use little ones from now on! They also use a big basket in the pot for lifting everything out as opposed to pouring it all out in a colander which is what I have always done. They also use mushrooms, brussel sprouts, onions, and garlic. Now, there are tricks to the onion and garlic. The tops of the garlic bulbs are cut off and then wrapped in foil which is then poked with holes with a fork as are the whole onions (separately, though) before they go in the pot. The type of sausage can vary depending on your taste so Andouille works great or you can even use Kielbasa. The Landrys love Connecuh brand sausage which I can find at Ingles locally. As for the shrimp, their trick for serving it is spot on! Once all the other items in the boil come out, the shrimp go in separately and have their own section in the pirogue (just use whatever serving platter you have) and are iced down to keep them from continuing to cook. The result is perfectly cooked shrimp!
My two favorite pieces of advice from Russell are to first judge the amount of spices you use in the boil by sticking your head over the pot to see if you can still breathe. He says that if it takes your breath away but you can keep your head over it, you are good to go! He also advised me to always serve it with the remoulade that Gina or Geri whip up (mix mayo, sweet pickle relish, catsup, and hot sauce to taste) to dip your shrimp in.
I hope that you will find a time in the remaining days of summer to gather your friends and family together to try this shrimp boil! In the spirit of the Byrds and the Landrys, keep it fun and casual, work side by side to prepare it, and more than anything, just enjoy being with one another as you feast!
Deep South Shrimp Boil (click for printable recipe)
(Amounts of ingredients other than for the boiling water will vary depending on how large of a crowd you are serving so I am not going to include them)
3 lemons, halved
8 oz Zatarain's liquid crab boil or 3 bags of Zatarain's packets (leave spices in packets)
1/4 cup salt
1 bottle of beer (your choice of brand)
small potatoes (red or white), washed (if they have been in the fridge they will need extra time to boil) and left whole
mushrooms, washed and left whole
garlic bulbs, tops cut off, wrapped tightly in foil with holes poked in foil
onions peeled, wrapped tightly in foil with holes poked in foil
brussel sprouts, washed and left whole
celery, washed and cut in big pieces
Andouille or other sausage of your choice, cut in large pieces
fresh corn, shucked, silked, and broken in half
shrimp
remoulade recipe of your choice
Begin with 15 gallons of water in a large pot with a basket insert. Squeeze lemons and drop in pot. Add liquid crab boil or packets, salt, and beer. Bring to a rolling boil.
Add potatoes in whole. Bring back to a full boil.
Add mushrooms, garlic, onions, brussel sprouts, celery, and sausage. Bring back to a full boil.
Add corn. Bring back to a boil and only allow to boil for 1-3 minutes.
Lift basket and add all ingredients to serving dish. Leave an empty space for the shrimp.
Bring water back to a full boil with nothing in the pot. Add shrimp and cook for no longer than 3 minutes.
Lift basket out of water and add shrimp to the serving dish. Immediately pour ice over the shrimp to stop them from cooking.
