Now that I'm at my new house, I want to give a party for the teachers at my school. The only problem is that there are 80 teachers, and I only have two gas burners to cook with. I want to introduce them to American cooking, but given the limits of my preparation resources, it's difficult. Thanks to my dad, however, I now know the best way to feed 80 people: a good old-fashioned Southern Low Country Boil!
The only problem is that I have no idea how to do that. Now, dear readers, I need your help! If you have a great recipe for a Low Country Boil, please send it my way. I'm ready and waiting!
80 people is a tall order on two gas eyes, BUT if you do it in shifts it could be done. Use 5 lbs potatoes, 5lbs corn on the cob (broken into halves), and 10 lbs of shrimp/crab/crayfish (whichever is available or appealing). Add a stick or two of butter, copious amounts of salt and boil seasoning... preferably Old Bay but whatever you can procure should work. Put the potatoes in first (or pre-boil them until about 10 minutes from done) then add your corn and seafood. Lay out newspaper and let them have at it. I like to make cornbread too but finding cornmeal may be difficult (Biscuits could be fun!). I generally calculate about 1-1.5 lbs of food per person.... but you can alter this if you feel like people will eat more or less. You could do one pound per person in 4 batches with the above recipe... it just depends how big of a pot(s) you can find.
ReplyDeleteAlso, something to think about. I have discovered that alot of thai people are allergic to shellfish. I was told it might be linked to S.E. Asian genetics... something that I had never heard of previous to coming here but seems to have some merit. You might want to ask a few people about allergies before buying your ingredients. I don't want to be a debbie-downer but if Indonesian genetics are anything like Thai, you could have about 15-25% of people who have allergy issues.