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Recipes · Comfort

Frogmore Stew

Comfort · Diabetic Friendly · High Protein · Soup · Southern Cookin · Weight Loss Friendly

Frogmore Stew
View source — Swanfarms.com ↗

Ingredients

  • 2-3 long links smoked beef sausage
  • 3-4 dozen ears shucked, cleaned corn on the cob (best if cut in half)
  • 1 1/2 pound shrimp, headed
  • Several heaping tablespoons of seafood seasoning (to taste)
  • 10 pounds smoked beef sausage in long links
  • 2 dozen ears shucked, cleaned corn
  • 1/2 bushel crabs
  • 15 pounds shrimp, headed
  • 2 small boxes of seafood seasoning (which brand is best has been a matter of friendly controversy)

Directions

Frogmore Stew

  1. (also known as “Lowcountry Stew” and “Beaufort Boil”)
  2. I first had Frogmore Stew while living in Beaufort, SC back in 1992. I was driving through the Low Country on Lady’s Island and saw a small little restaurant just off the road. The parking lot was packed, which I consider a good sign, so I stopped in. The first thing I noticed was that all the tables had big holes in the center and there was a big bucket inserted into them. I soon learned that this was for your crab shells, corncobs, shrimp shells, etc.
  3. When the waitress came and asked what I’d like (in a southern accent that was so rich I almost couldn’t understand her), I asked wht their specualty was. She then proceeded to tell me about Frogmore Stew. It sounded so good, I just had to try it… It was FANTASTIC!!! Over the next few years while living in Beaufort, I had Frogmore stew many many times and I also madde it myself on occassion when entertaining large groups of friends. The bottom line though? None was nearly as good as I had at that little restaurant deep in the Low Country. Here is a little bit more information on Frogmore Stew.
  4. Origins
  5. by
  6. Dennis Adams
  7. Beaufort County Public Library

Information Services Coordinator

  1. It seems that this seafood “boil” is a fairly recent recipe, not older than 60 years and more likely only about forty years old. According to Beaufort historian Gerhard Spieler, the kind of link sausage used in Frogmore Stew came to this area no earlier than the 1940s as a result of immigration (before then Beaufortonians used only patty-type sausage). Mr. Spieler believes that the recipe was the invention of local shrimpers who used whatever food items they had on hand to make a stew.
  2. Sarah Rutledge’s 1847 Charleston cookbook, The Carolina Housewife, had no recipes like the present-day mix of shrimp, corn and sausage. In a 1991 telephone interview, Emory Campbell, executive director of Penn Center on St. Helena Island, does not remember anything like the present-day Frogmore Stew when he was growing up – although boiled shrimp has always been a part of Sea Island daily life. Another St. Helena Island native, Agnes Sherman, could not recall any traditional recipe similar to what she preferred to call “Lowcountry Stew” (because Frogmore is only one of several St. Helena Island communities).
  3. Richard Gay of Gay Seafood Company claimed to have invented Frogmore Stew. On National Guard duty in Beaufort about 40 years ago, he was preparing a cookout of leftovers for his fellow guardsmen. He brought the recipe home with him, and it soon became popular in this area. According to Gay, the Steamer Restaurant on Lady’s Island was the first establishment to offer Frogmore Stew commercially, almost 20 years ago. Gay campaigned to have Frogmore Stew declared the official seafood dish of South Carolina, but the recipe remains an “unofficial” delight.
  4. (The above information is based on 1991 telephone interviews with persons named and on The Carolina Housewife by Sarah Rutlege)

Simple Frogmore Stew Recipe for 3-4 People

  1. Here is Dennis Adams’ simple Frogmore Stew Recipe for 3-4 people:

INGREDIENTS

  1. 2-3 long links smoked beef sausage
  2. 3-4 dozen ears shucked, cleaned corn on the cob (best if cut in half)
  3. 1 1/2 pound shrimp, headed
  4. Several heaping tablespoons of seafood seasoning (to taste)
  5. INSTRUCTIONS:

Fill a big pot halfway with water.

  1. Add seafood seasoning, cover pot and bring water to a boil.
  2. Add corn, cover pot and cook for ten minutes at full boil.
  3. Cut sausage into 2″ pieces and add to corn in the pot. Cook for five minutes at full boil.
  4. Add shrimp all at once. Cover pot and bring back to full boil. Cook until shrimp are reddish and completely done (sample one).
  5. Pour contents pot into a colander and let the liquid drain into a sink for a minute.
  6. Put cooked sausage, corn, and shrimp on plates and serve hot!
  7. NOTE: Some people like to add potatoes to the recipe. If you do, add several medium potatoes, unpeeled and quartered, five minutes after the corn.

Big Frogmore Stew Recipe for 30 People

  1. Here is a Frogmore Stew recipe, based on the South Carolina Wildlife Cookbook which serves 30

INGREDIENTS

  1. 10 pounds smoked beef sausage in long links
  2. 2 dozen ears shucked, cleaned corn
  3. 1/2 bushel crabs
  4. 15 pounds shrimp, headed
  5. 2 small boxes of seafood seasoning (which brand is best has been a matter of friendly controversy)

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Use a big, 20-gallon pot filled to about half full with water. The best thing is to clean the crabs before you put them in the pot. You can use the whole crab, too, but it takes up more room in the pot and is messier to eat.
  2. Cut sausages in one-inch sections. Bring water to a boil put sausage and seasoning bags in water and let boil for about 10 minutes or so.
  3. Put the corn in and bring back to a boil. Then put the crabs in and bring back to a boil. Finally, add the shrimp, and when the water comes back to a boil, pour off water. Serves 30 people

Notes

NOTE: Some people like to add potatoes to the recipe. If you do, add several medium potatoes, unpeeled and quartered, five minutes after the corn.