Frogmore Stew (Lowcountry Boil)

Named for a tiny community on St. Helena Island, this one-pot boil of shrimp, sausage, corn, and potatoes is Gullah Geechee cooking meant to feed a crowd off a newspaper-covered table. Everything goes in by the clock so nothing turns to mush.

Ingredients

• 5 quarts water
• 1/2 cup Old Bay seasoning, plus more to serve
• 3 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 lemons, halved
• 1 lb smoked sausage or kielbasa, cut into 2-inch lengths
• 2 lbs small red potatoes
• 6 ears corn, husked and halved crosswise
• 1 large yellow onion, quartered
• 4 lbs large shell-on shrimp, head-on if you can get them
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (to serve)
• Cocktail sauce and hot sauce, to serve

Instructions

1. Fill a large stockpot with the water and add the Old Bay, salt, and lemon halves. Squeeze the lemons in as you drop them. Bring to a rolling boil.
2. Add the sausage and potatoes and boil for 15 minutes. The sausage flavors the water and the potatoes get a head start since they take longest.
3. Add the corn and onion and boil for another 8 minutes.
4. Add the shrimp and cook just until they turn pink and firm, 3 to 4 minutes. Watch them closely because they overcook fast.
5. Turn off the heat and let everything sit in the pot for 2 minutes to soak up seasoning.
6. Drain the pot into a large colander or lift the food out with a spider. Pour it all onto a table lined with newspaper or butcher paper.
7. Serve with melted butter, cocktail sauce, hot sauce, and extra Old Bay for dusting. Eat with your hands.

Tips

• The order and timing matter more than the ingredients. Potatoes first, then corn, then shrimp last, so each item comes out cooked through but not falling apart.
• Head-on shrimp from a Beaufort seafood dock taste far better than the peeled frozen kind. Suck the heads if you know what's good.