First Boil got me in Hot Water....

[SonnyE]

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!;)

 

[chilerelleno]

There is knowledge and there is wisdom.
You now have some of both.

 

[pc farmer]

Filled the belly thou, cant complain.

Sounds like me cooking. If something can go wrong it will.

I love red taters, what happened to them? To soft?

 

[SonnyE]

Filled the belly thou, cant complain.

Sounds like me cooking. If something can go wrong it will.

I love red taters, what happened to them? To soft?

Thanks Adam.
I believe that by cutting the red potatoes, it allowed them to overcook and turn into potato soup.
Hides this way, mush that way. Shameful way to treat a nice tater. LOL
I Love red taters, too.
Everybody left stuffed, and almost everybody took some home, too.

I promise to do better henceforth.... :rolleyes::oops:;)

There is knowledge and there is wisdom.
You now have some of both.

Thank You John!
Always more to learn.
I want to keep trying, but on a smaller scale.
I really went overboard. :oops:

 

[chilerelleno]

Thanks Adam.




I really went overboard. :oops:

Hah! I always go overboard.:p
Man all you did was make everybody happy with leftovers.;)

 

[SonnyE]

Hah! I always go overboard.:p
Man all you did was make everybody happy with leftovers.;)

Even if I didn't make them happy, I made Mama happy 'cause there is 5 gallons more room in the chest freezer. LOL!
I was ascared I'd flub it up real bad. But now, I'm kind of encouraged and happy with how it turned out in spite of me.
I need to not fill the pot so danged full though John. Or invite about 20 more hungry tummies. ;):D

 

[gmc2003]

Sonny, Sounds like a great success from your description and pics. I'd much rather get stuffed on crab meat then shrimp(I love shrimp BTW). Shrimp can be had anytime, but crap is special. At least in my neck of the woods. Congratulations on your first boil. May there be many more in your not so distant future.

Point for sure.

Chris

 

[SmokinAl]

Sounds like a fantastic meal to me!
Al

 

[HalfSmoked]

Yup the way things go Murphy's law prevails. But sounds like you had a great party anyway.

Warren

 

[chilerelleno]

Now just don't try those shenanigans when deep frying turkeys.
I hear they can see those fires from space :eek:

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Sounds like a great meal Sonny! Love some crab. How was the 1/4 cup of seasoning for your liking...too much too little?

 

[mike5051]

Wow Sonny! Sounds like a great time was had by all, that is a huge success! We do break our boils down to 2 or 3 pots. Dump the first one and while everyone is enjoying cook the next. The water is already hot and seasoned and doesn't take long to boil. You may want to add a bit more water so that they aren't too spicy. My second pot is always a tad hotter, but the guests are already used to the heat! Great job!

Mike

 

[Xendau]

SonnyE - Like you said live and learn... BUT you, your family, and guests had a good time and all ate well! Everybody was happy... I do it myself a lot, and always say, "We are our own worst critics..." +

 

[HalfSmoked]

Thanks for the like SonnyE it is greatly appreciated.
Warren

 

[SonnyE]

Sonny, Sounds like a great success from your description and pics. I'd much rather get stuffed on crab meat then shrimp(I love shrimp BTW). Shrimp can be had anytime, but crap is special. At least in my neck of the woods. Congratulations on your first boil. May there be many more in your not so distant future.

Point for sure.

Chris

Thank You Chris! I think I've found a great Old Farts sport, Crabbing! Pitch, or drop your traps, and when you see of feel action, bring them in. My Daughter bought her husband and I both a Crab Hawk crab snare from the originator on the docks in Hoodsport opening day of crab season. We caught a total of 5 keepers. I got 1, but was thrilled!
The Grandson and I went on to catch and process the entire 5 gallon horde.

Now just don't try those shenanigans when deep frying turkeys.
I hear they can see those fires from space :eek:

Thanks Chile! No, no plans for deep frying birds.

Sounds like a great meal Sonny! Love some crab. How was the 1/4 cup of seasoning for your liking...too much too little?

VOL, that was the toughest part of all. Very little info around about the amount to use. So I kept digging around and found recommendations for a TBS of Old Bay, to a 4 pound bag of Louisiana Boil. And while I might flub and put all my crab in one basket :rolleyes:, I did not want to error on making it uneatable. 1/4 cup happened to be a lonely scoop in the drawer, and it smelled and looked right. Also, the volume of water in the Boil seemed to be another well kept secret. I used a total of 6 gallons, in the end. The only thing that seemed to take on a lot of spice was the Kielbasa medallions. Some were "hot". Just enough to make you say, "Oh, spicy!" But in a good way. I think maybe 1/2 a cup would be good. I'm going to have to go crabbing for more experimenting. But this first time boil has inspired me to do it again.;)

Wow Sonny! Sounds like a great time was had by all, that is a huge success! We do break our boils down to 2 or 3 pots. Dump the first one and while everyone is enjoying cook the next. The water is already hot and seasoned and doesn't take long to boil. You may want to add a bit more water so that they aren't too spicy. My second pot is always a tad hotter, but the guests are already used to the heat! Great job!

Mike

Thank You Mike! Yep, one pot met with resistance from the CFO of the house. And we have a very limited crowd of Crab Crackers here. But were there to be a crowd.... I do have a 6 Qt. enameled steamer pan I got in Washington that works fine for steaming the catches of clean crab halves. Then I vacuum bagged the crab halves into ~ 1 Qt sized bags for freezing. I had it out and watered up in case anybody shied away from the Cajun Boil method. Nobody did, and it was mild enough for all the crackers to enjoy.

I would like to privately try Old Bay in a boil by itself. Might be a better, easier spice for me to get. But right now I has a huge amount of the Lousiana Boil Spice to work on.
But first I need to take advantage of California's year round Red Crab season. Ho, Ho, crabbin I will go. ;)

 

[SonnyE]

Thanks for the like SonnyE it is greatly appreciated.
Warren

You're Welcome, Warren.
For a first timer, nobody complained, and everybody interested ate their fill and more.

Well, the 5 year old Grand Daughter did complain, said the smell upset her tummy. And of course Grandma had to B&M, which the Son thought contributed to the Grand Daughters discomfort. Otherwise, no whiners. :rolleyes:

Good times! I need to plan the next one closer to trash day though. The leavins sure do make the trash can stink!
Holy Moly! :p:D:(

 

[HalfSmoked]

I know what you mean about the trash can our pick up day is Thursday and wooooow by then with 90 degree heat.

Thing strange about this thread to me is in my local we steam everything, Boil??

Warren

 

[tropics]

Sonny I enjoyed the story what kind of Crabs did you use? Sounds like good time was had by all.LIKE
I know how the trash can smell I freeze the trash till collection day.