Gather 'Round the Shrimp Boil

A couple weeks ago, some friends and I played in a local golf tournament. When we finished our round, the golf course management provided a large steak grilling pit where we grilled our T-Bones. There was a sense of community and gastronomical anticipation while waiting for those fine steaks to reach that perfect state of meat grilled right.

Well this sense of community got me to thinking about other community cookouts. What clearly came to mind was a shrimp boil. So I went about gathering the tools. First, the pot. I went to the local hardware store and found a 32 quart pot for frying turkeys. It had a sieve liner which seemed exactly right for holding shrimp boil ingredients. Then I looked at the box, and there was a recipe for a seafood boil; perfect.

We set the time for this last Saturday out at the back deck of the Ardolino household overlooking scenic Anamosa. I put the pot up on a propane burner stand, and filled it 1/2 way full of water, setting it to boil. I poured in a can of Fosters Lager for flavor, then added a bag of Zatarains crab boil seasoning. I added salt, pepper and Old Bay seasoning. After the mixure began to boil, I added potatos to boil for 15 minutes. Then came corn, serrano chiles, onions, mushrooms and Andouille sausage. I let these boil for 20 minutes. Last, I turned off the flames and added the shrimp to steep for 15 minutes. The whole cocoction was lifted out of the pot using the sieve basket, and it was spread over large baking sheets. Eating was pure bliss.

Here are the ingredients:

16 quarts water
1 can Fosters Lager
2 TBLSP salt
2 TBLSP pepper
4 Serrano chiles
4 onions, quartered
4 red potatos, quartered
4 ears sweat corn, quartered
3 lbs Andoullie sausage, cut in 1 inch pieces
3 lbs shrimp