Not only did I not have the chance to finish the NYC post(s) but I never posted on the Crab Boil (read as Steam) we hosted for Caleb's birthday!!! His parents came down (from South Carolina) and they SO seem like people we'd (Bob agreed, hence the "we") like to get to know better. They'll be back next month, so hopefully we'll get together then.
This is the rig we use for crawfish boiling. I couldn't quite figure out how to steam the crabs in it, so we pretty much used it just for the veggies. Surprisingly, the veggies are always a big hit. We do artichokes, mushrooms (my personal favorite) corn, red potatoes... hmmm what am I missing here? Oh, those little link sausages (also a big hit on my list). We made so much - well you can see where the boil line is... we boil them in the same seasoning we do the crawfish in.
This was a real adventure because I've never steamed crabs for more than, oh, 10 people. Since I couldn't figure out how to do big batches, I was inside the little kitchen cooking away for most of the night. Which actually proved to be very interesting. There was most of Caleb's fraternity here (it was thin on the girls) and some friends of his drove in from various places (notably West Point). They were ALL a nice bunch of guys, several who kept me company while I steamed away.
So, there I was using my "little" steamer. It probably does maybe 3 dozen crabs... maybe more, at a time... so it was slow going for 25 people! The seasoning is home made (very hot!) thanks to some stuff that Lolly sends me down from New Jersey. She grew up in Baltimore so she does steamed crabs too. The end result is this... which turns into...
THIS! Seriously, we were eating for about 5 hours. Maybe more! One of Caleb's friends was asleep for a good portion of the evening (which those of you who remember the Mardi Gras posts will recall) we don't tolerate too well, so out came the Sharpie and voila! Captain Morgan!!! Once he woke up he had just a fine time... as did we all!
Ban on women driving should be considered world wide... :-) I would never allow my wife driving my car.. :-)
Posted by: supra vaiders | October 15, 2011 at 12:58 PM