Funny, long story follows....
OK, how much crab fits in a 36 Quart Turkey Fryer/boiler?
A 5 gallon bucket full. And I mean a full damn bucket. And 6 gallons for filtered water.
How much seasoning do you put in?
Oh, 1/4 cup seemed a good start.
How much Kielbasa Sausage? (Next time I promise to drive to Food 4 Less and hunt down the Andouille sausage, 2 ropes seemed good. Cut into 3/4-1" pieces.
I decided to do a little "tricky Ricky" and seared crosses in mine for a nice effect. Just an idea I had for an added touch. I decided to call these a Southern Cross.
Surprisingly, these little morsels soaked up the Louisiana Brand spies in my boil.
Some of them seemed to bite back. :eek: ;) Nicely....
Mini corns (10 each) were in there.
Some blatant mistakes I made with my first Boil:
The wife couldn't find any new potatoes. So she brought home red potatoes. I picked out 10 of the smallest in the bag. I had the bad spots trimmed out, and had them in a bowl of filtered water and Kosher salt to keep them looking good.
Just before I put them and the sausage in the boil, the wife insisted I quarter the potatoes. I compromised and halved them. Big mistake. :mad:
The potatoes virtually devolved into the boil for the most part. The blind were leading the blind with this "You must cut them." Damn it. :(
Crab. Too much. I thawed out my horde of crab. In the packages it filled the boil bucket. I thought it would reduce when the bags were removed. It didn't much.:oops:
It was too much. Oh it all fit in my 36 quart pot. But holy moly, just bearly.
I had 4 gallons of water and seasoning roiling-boiling away. I figured I'd see the pot run over. Nope. Had to add my last 2 gallons of water, and the pot was full.
It also took a bit to come to a complete boil again.
When unbagging my Steamed crab halves from Puget Sound, I put the contents in my clean 5 gallon Lowe's crab bucket. Whoo-Hoo, about filled that booger with crab-0-lisus crabby halves. It was my transfer bucket to dump into the boil.
In retrospect, it was too much. Live and learn, first timer. 2 1/2 - 3 gallons of crab halves coulda been good enough.
We were worried about not enough. We always worry about coming up short. We came up w-a-y long.
I completely forgot the shrimp we held for the Boil. As it were, it was not needed. We stuffed ourselves on crab! And, we had plenty to send home with everybody.
All our crab grabbers, including me, got our fill and more.
The only thing that was a complete flop was those poor red potatoes. Shrug!
I was using a piece of stainless steel hex stock to crack what was too tough to break apart. Just some light tapping and the shell cracked easily. That is going to be my go-to crab-cracker from now on.
One guest grabbed a small horn hammer. I was expecting the plate or table to break under the heavy handed hammering. :eek: But everything held up.
Otherwise, there was the traditional nut cracker, some dowel stick pieces the size of a shovel handle, and another round piece of Stainless Steel rod (5/8" diameter).
Shells were aflyin, occasionally.
Clarified butter. Sorry, not impressed with this. I think I like just plain butter melted down, and add enough garlic powder, or granulated garlic to make it bite your tongue. :p
I called our hammer happy friend today to get his shrimp recipe so I can fry up the last of the shrimps for an afternoon meal. He's a great cook, just messy as a kid in a sandbox in the kitchen. Makes a wreck where ever he sets to cooking anything.
So I did the milk/vinegar soak, Mixed up the dry seasonings, And had a tasty meal of Shrimp.
I plan to do this again. So much so I ordered the right burner to run Natural Gas under my pot. My adapted burner works, but not to my satisfaction.
My 36 Quart pot during the prep work.
Then the SHTF. I was A'Holes and Elbows, over cooked the Tri-tip, and generally was up to my nose in busy.
But in spite of no more pictures :oops:, everybody had a great feed and got stuffed!
With plenty to send home ta boot.
Don't cut the taters.
Don't put all your crab in one pot.
Don't forget your shrimps.
Get your bigger burner before you need it.
And don't overcook the Tri-Tip for the non-seafood eaters.
I'd call it a success in spite of myself. LOL!;)
OK, how much crab fits in a 36 Quart Turkey Fryer/boiler?
A 5 gallon bucket full. And I mean a full damn bucket. And 6 gallons for filtered water.
How much seasoning do you put in?
Oh, 1/4 cup seemed a good start.
How much Kielbasa Sausage? (Next time I promise to drive to Food 4 Less and hunt down the Andouille sausage, 2 ropes seemed good. Cut into 3/4-1" pieces.
I decided to do a little "tricky Ricky" and seared crosses in mine for a nice effect. Just an idea I had for an added touch. I decided to call these a Southern Cross.
Surprisingly, these little morsels soaked up the Louisiana Brand spies in my boil.
Some of them seemed to bite back. :eek: ;) Nicely....
Mini corns (10 each) were in there.
Some blatant mistakes I made with my first Boil:
The wife couldn't find any new potatoes. So she brought home red potatoes. I picked out 10 of the smallest in the bag. I had the bad spots trimmed out, and had them in a bowl of filtered water and Kosher salt to keep them looking good.
Just before I put them and the sausage in the boil, the wife insisted I quarter the potatoes. I compromised and halved them. Big mistake. :mad:
The potatoes virtually devolved into the boil for the most part. The blind were leading the blind with this "You must cut them." Damn it. :(
Crab. Too much. I thawed out my horde of crab. In the packages it filled the boil bucket. I thought it would reduce when the bags were removed. It didn't much.:oops:
It was too much. Oh it all fit in my 36 quart pot. But holy moly, just bearly.
I had 4 gallons of water and seasoning roiling-boiling away. I figured I'd see the pot run over. Nope. Had to add my last 2 gallons of water, and the pot was full.
It also took a bit to come to a complete boil again.
When unbagging my Steamed crab halves from Puget Sound, I put the contents in my clean 5 gallon Lowe's crab bucket. Whoo-Hoo, about filled that booger with crab-0-lisus crabby halves. It was my transfer bucket to dump into the boil.
In retrospect, it was too much. Live and learn, first timer. 2 1/2 - 3 gallons of crab halves coulda been good enough.
We were worried about not enough. We always worry about coming up short. We came up w-a-y long.
I completely forgot the shrimp we held for the Boil. As it were, it was not needed. We stuffed ourselves on crab! And, we had plenty to send home with everybody.
All our crab grabbers, including me, got our fill and more.
The only thing that was a complete flop was those poor red potatoes. Shrug!
I was using a piece of stainless steel hex stock to crack what was too tough to break apart. Just some light tapping and the shell cracked easily. That is going to be my go-to crab-cracker from now on.
One guest grabbed a small horn hammer. I was expecting the plate or table to break under the heavy handed hammering. :eek: But everything held up.
Otherwise, there was the traditional nut cracker, some dowel stick pieces the size of a shovel handle, and another round piece of Stainless Steel rod (5/8" diameter).
Shells were aflyin, occasionally.
Clarified butter. Sorry, not impressed with this. I think I like just plain butter melted down, and add enough garlic powder, or granulated garlic to make it bite your tongue. :p
I called our hammer happy friend today to get his shrimp recipe so I can fry up the last of the shrimps for an afternoon meal. He's a great cook, just messy as a kid in a sandbox in the kitchen. Makes a wreck where ever he sets to cooking anything.
So I did the milk/vinegar soak, Mixed up the dry seasonings, And had a tasty meal of Shrimp.
I plan to do this again. So much so I ordered the right burner to run Natural Gas under my pot. My adapted burner works, but not to my satisfaction.
My 36 Quart pot during the prep work.
Then the SHTF. I was A'Holes and Elbows, over cooked the Tri-tip, and generally was up to my nose in busy.
But in spite of no more pictures :oops:, everybody had a great feed and got stuffed!
With plenty to send home ta boot.
Don't cut the taters.
Don't put all your crab in one pot.
Don't forget your shrimps.
Get your bigger burner before you need it.
And don't overcook the Tri-Tip for the non-seafood eaters.
I'd call it a success in spite of myself. LOL!;)