Quote: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.

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).


Richard ###### of ###### 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 ######, the Steamer Restaurant on Lady's Island was the first establishment to offer Frogmore Stew commercially, almost 20 years ago. ###### campaigned to have Frogmore Stew declared the official seafood dish of South Carolina, but the recipe remains an "unofficial" delight.

(Above information based on 1991 telephone interviews with persons named and on The Carolina Housewife by Sarah Rutlege)

Frogmore Stew Recipe:

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

INGREDIENTS:

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)
INSTRUCTIONS:

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.
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.
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.

' Wrote:"Special" Fried Rice

Ingredients:

Rice
Soy Sauce
whatever you have lying around that looks like it will fry
Possibly some garlic and/or chili if can be bothered

1. Boil the rice (if lazy you can use the microwave so long as you remember the water).
2. Chop up the other stuff while this is happening.
3. Put rice in a pan and fry it along with everything else.

Theres a proper student recipie for you. Cheap, lazy, and serves as many as you like as long as you have enough rice.

Quote:Open tin of Heinz Baked Beans

' Wrote:The shrimpers are out on the water all day while someone at home starts the pots boiling with the corn, sausage and potatoes, when the shrimpers come in you decap the shrimp and toss them in the pot, couple minutes later you drain the pot and dump it on an aluminum foil covered table so that people can pick out the things they want on their plates and being a southern thing....we have biscuits Frogmore Stew
(also known as "Lowcountry Stew" and "Beaufort Boil")