Cody's Low Country Boil Ya'll!

We had a GREAT time in southern Georgia!  Laughter, love, memories, new beginnings, and FOOD!  Thank to our son and daughter-in-law for making our visit so warm, oh wait, mother nature did THAT part for us!  Anyway, thank you guys for making our trip comfortable, fun, and memorable, we love you both! 

Is there a reason non of you, my fantastic readers who are from GA didn't tell me how hot and HUMID it was?  I mean, I get it, even in Omaha we have horrendous humidity, the kind you walk outside and can't get your breath for a second, but THIS....holy moly, this was some kind of humidity!  I broke out in a rash "prickly heat" all over my arms, it was attractive for sure. NOT.  It rained almost everyday followed by the sun coming out and slowly steaming us alive!  I will never complain about humidity or heat again, never, never, never.  Well, at least not until next summer!

We had a great time, and visited Savannah and Kellers Flea Market which felt almost like being back in Jersey.  On our way back, George even got a North Carolina style BBQ sandwich from "Ida Mae" topped with coleslaw and he was in heaven.  In the parking lot was a fresh shrimp tent, so we nabbed 5 lbs and headed home for Cody to prepare us a delish traditional dish from his area.

He wants me to let you all know this is not a traditional low country boil.  He made it once from what he had on hand, and threw in a few extras and just liked it.  He didn't want his daughter to have to dig in her food to eat corn on the cob so he used frozen kernels.  He is like me, a big fan of eating certain things all mixed together and on the cob, you can't do that.  See he did get some of my traits through osmosis.  He also says you can do this with blue claw crabs, or change up the sausage, as he uses Italian and most use just a smoked sausage.  Anyway, he just wants ya'll (I use this word any chance I get, HA) to know this may not be your traditional recipe but it is his and he loves it! 

Let's get going on this one pot wonder!  By the way, there is a reason they sell shrimp with the heads already cut off, I do NOT enjoy popping heads off of shrimp.  Just for the record, ya'll......

Cody's Low Country Boil
8-10 cups water
1/4 cup seafood seasoning (check out Mr. Pete's Cajun Spices) You can adjust this to your personal taste
1 tbsp red pepper flakes (completely optional)
1 lb Italian Sausage (links or a ring cut into chunks)
2 lbs shrimp (fresh is best but frozen works well too)
3 lg potatoes (scrubbed and cut into 2-3 inch cubes or 2 lbs red new potatoes)
2 cups frozen corn kernels
2 cups green beans (fresh or frozen)

In a large pot add your water, seafood seasoning and red pepper flakes to a boil. 

Add in potatoes and sausage, boil for 10 minutes.  Add in corn and green beans.  Simmer for 10 more minutes.  Add in shrimp and cook 5-7 more minutes. 

Serve in a bowl with the broth.  Have some crusty bread on hand to dunk in the juice and enjoy...kind of like this.

Thank you for trotting down memory lane with me!  My son loves to cook and it was a complete pleasure to just sit back and watch exactly how much he DID learn from me! (and maybe his dad, MAYBE)

Your "though I hated the humidity, I LOVED the people of GA" chefwannabe

PS  He also made the most amazing crabcakes I have ever eaten.  As soon as I get his recipe, you will all get it too!

Mr. Pete's Cajun Spices, DO NOT go another day without it!

Where to begin.......first of all, I am in no way, shape or form being paid for this review.  I am not gaining anything but satisfaction in knowing that I stand behind an excellent product that not only delivers, but delivers at an incredibly budget friendly price.  I want to share it because I feel I would be doing my readers a disservice if I didn't.  

When I first started a Facebook page for my blog, one of my first "fans" was Mr. Pete's Cajun Spices.  It seems we just kind of struck up a friendship via our FB pages and clicked right away.  They have been great supporters of my blog.  Though their products are not available to me locally, I was interested in their spices for myself and obtained their famous "Fish Fry".   Now it is no secret I am a seafood fan but not a huge FISH fan.  Well, when I read this could be used for chicken, or pork chops as well, I was all in!

Tonight I decided to try the fish fry on some boneless pork chops.  I had a large pork loin that I had cut into 3 pieces.  (I buy those big boys when they go on sale).  I cut 1.5
inch thick pieces and pounded them out to half their original thickness.  

I love hot and spicy so I knew with "cajun" in the name, we were looking at some spice.  I admit, I stuck my finger in the bag and tasted it to see if I was going to be breathing fire when I was done, but didn't actually taste much "hot" at all.   It really wouldn't have mattered, I was going for it either way!  Flames couldn't be so bad a cold beer couldn't put them out right?

Here is what I did....

Soak your meat in a bowl of water.  Not like a 2 or 3 hour soaking, I just put the meat in literally 1 or 2 minutes before I was going to dip them in the mix.  As you can see.....

Dipped them in the bowl of Mr. Pete's, coating them well, really pressing the mixture into the meat.  

I don't have a deep fryer so I just used a skillet with a little more than necessary oil in it. (I used canola) I had pounded the pork chops thin so I knew that they would be totally covered in oil.  I let the oil get to 350 degrees or very close to it.  I did one chop at a time, approx 3-4 min was all it took.  Put them on a cooling rack in the oven (just on warm) until I had them all done.  

Let's face it, we eat with our eyes first.  The color on these bad boys was incredible!!  So visually pleasing!  I was still basking in how pretty they were when my husband came in, saying, "WOW, those look AWESOME".  

Yea, we were pretty impressed with the taste too.  And spice, oh yea, there is a little kick but it comes and goes,doesn't stay so long you can't enjoy the rest.  I mean it is perfection in a bag.  It isn't horrible spicy even on a short note, it is just the right amount of spice, like a pleasant WOW and then it's gone. The flavor is delicious.  You can see how the pork chops turned out, don't they look great?  This isn't a breading and it isn't a full on batter, I don't know.... it is again a perfect combination.  

Now, I used the 16 ounce pkg.  I did 7 pork chops that were quite sizable and I have half of it left.  I can taste it on fried chicken as I type.  My husband is dreaming of it on some fresh oysters and some nice flounder much like this....Mr Pete!   This 16 ounce bag comes at a cost of, $1.95. (plus shipping if you order online)  No, I am not kidding.  You can order it here Mr. Pete's Cajun Spices Online Store.  Now I happen to know for a fact, because I have done it NUMEROUS times, that you can go to your favorite grocery store and ask them to carry it!  I am doing this myself.  You should too!

There you have it, my first product review.  Oh boy did they set the bar pretty dang high for everyone else!!

Your "lovin' her spicy friends"chefwannabe

Chris