A Cajun Seasoned Boil for a Big Party
'The first thing Jared Austin did when I asked him about Lowcountry seafood boils was to set me straight. “With all due respect,” he explained politely, “we are not Lowcountry. South Carolina is Lowcountry. Sure, it’s the same basic heritage, influenced by indigenous ingredients and multiple cultures. But here in New Orleans, our cooking is Cajun.”
I was referred to Austin by a mutual friend who vouched for his mastery of the seafood boil, the Southern tradition of gathering around a newspaper-lined table to eat large amounts of boiled shellfish with your bare hands. What I didn’t yet know is that Austin, 46, is also a Mississippi riverboat pilot — one of a handful of African-Americans who hold the title. Every other week, he’s on call 24 hours a day to guide massive ships and tankers loaded with fuel and commodities between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The rest of the time, he cooks. “I grew up in the kitchen on my mama’s hip — cooking is my passion,” he told me when I called. “If I didn’t drive ships for a living, I’d be cooking all the time.”
I asked where he first learned about boils. “As a kid, we always had crayfish boils because crayfish were dirt-cheap — maybe 80 cents a pound.” These days, he said, “the right time for a boil is any weekend when you want to get together with your friends.”
I figured Austin was talking about cooking for a dozen friends. Maybe two dozen. But as he continued, I realized he’s a lot more popular than I am. “My brother and I used to throw a big boil every Memorial Day. We did it for 12 years, and it grew every year. By 2005 — a few months before Hurricane Katrina — we were hosting 700 people. Buses brought people in from Georgia. We even had a three-piece jazz band playing.”
By this point, Austin was ready to start my cooking lesson. Before I could protest, he switched our phone call to a video chat. “Look,” he said, walking over to his pantry, “in New Orleans our boils are much more spice-forward. We start with a seasoning mix, but then we add a lot more cayenne.”
Was he referring to Old Bay seasoning? “No,” he corrected me again, “that’s what they use in the Chesapeake Bay. Down here, we use Zatarain’s, Louisiana or Cajun Land.” He reached for a few boxes of Louisiana, his favorite brand, from the back of a cabinet and offered to send me some.'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/magazine/cajun-seafood-boil.html?
Cajun Shrimp Boil
'In New Orleans, a seafood boil, the Southern tradition of gathering around a newspaper-lined table to eat large amounts of boiled shellfish with your bare hands, is all about salt and spice. In the words of Jared Austin, a Mississippi riverboat pilot and seafood-boil master, "Nothing about any of this is subtle — people standing around the pot should sneeze and cough.’’ The key to a successful shrimp boil is layering ingredients into the pot so that everything is done cooking at once: First add the potatoes and sausage, then the shrimp, then the frozen corn to bring the temperature down and prevent overcooking. Let it all soak to absorb the salt and spice, then dump it out onto the table and eat with copious amounts of remoulade. While this recipe can easily be halved, it's a simple – and extraordinarily fun – way to feed a crowd. Just remember to heed Austin's advice: ‘‘Don’t be afraid of cayenne. Don’t be afraid to let your nose run.’’'
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019530-cajun-shrimp-boil
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