How to Do a Backyard Seafood Boil (Cajun Foreplay, a Rolling Boil, and One Big Dump)

For his oldest boy's birthday, Pat's rule is that the kid eats like a king. This year that meant a seafood boil in the backyard: shrimp, snow crab, sausage, corn, red potatoes, onion, and lemon, all cooked in one pot and dumped down the middle of the table.

A boil looks like a production. It is actually one of the easiest big-crowd cooks there is, because the pot does the work and the order you add things is the entire recipe.

The seasoning is the other half. We use Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Cajun Foreplay, and the caption said why in five words: it has every flavor you want packed into it. One shaker, no blending.

What goes into a seafood boil

The birthday pot had shrimp, snow crab legs, smoked sausage, corn, red potatoes, onion, lemon, and peppers. [CONFIRM the sausage brand and whether the peppers were sweet or hot.]

The rule for what else you can add is simple. Anything that takes a long time to cook goes in first, anything delicate goes in last. Sausage and potatoes are first-in food. Shrimp is last-in food, always.

Why Cajun Foreplay

A boil seasons from the outside in, so the water has to be aggressive. Cajun Foreplay is Dinosaur's Cajun blend with the salt, pepper, garlic, and heat already balanced, which is why it works dumped straight into the pot. [CONFIRM how much went in the birthday pot; a full 5.5 oz shaker to a large pot is a reasonable starting point.]

If you want more heat at the table instead of in the water, Dinosaur's Wango Tango habanero sauce is the one Pat keeps next to the shrimp. Sweet first, then a habanero kick.

The order matters: how Pat ran the pot

1. Fill the pot, season the water, bring it to a rolling boil. Pat watches for 210 degrees on a thermometer. You are looking for a hard, rolling boil, not a simmer.
2. Vegetables and sausage first. Potatoes, corn, onion, and the sausage go into the basket and into the boil. They need the most time. [CONFIRM: peppers and lemon with the vegetables or with the seafood.]
3. Watch the potatoes. When a fork slides into a potato with no resistance, you are about ten minutes from done.
4. Crab and shrimp with ten minutes left. They cook fast. In at the ten-minute mark, out with the basket when the shrimp are pink and curled.
5. Pull the basket and let it drain. A minute over the pot so the table does not flood.
6. Dump it. Roll butcher paper down the table first. Pat rolled his out from a paper dispenser clamped to the end of the table, had to pull the last of it clear at the last second, then lost a potato on the way. One down, many to go.

Best seafood boil you'll ever have.Pat, birthday cook, July

The gear you need

• An outdoor propane burner and a tall stockpot with a basket. This is a lot of water. Do not try to boil it on a kitchen stove. [CONFIRM the burner and pot Pat used.]
• A thermometer. For the water at the start, and for the potatoes if you are not sure.
• Heat-proof gloves. The basket is heavy and the handle is hot.
• Newspaper or butcher paper for the table, and a roll of paper towels per person.
• Cajun Foreplay, and Wango Tango for the table.

How to serve it

Melted butter in cups. Lemon halves. A bottle of hot sauce. That is the whole spread. Everybody stands, nobody gets a plate, and the corn is the first thing gone.

Leftover shrimp and crab come off the shell that night and go into the fridge. Boiled potatoes and corn are tomorrow's hash.

When a boil is not the move

• Four people or fewer. A pot this size needs a crowd. For a small dinner, do the same seasoning in a skillet with shrimp and sausage.
• No outdoor burner. A charcoal grill will not bring five gallons to a boil. Borrow a burner or wait until you own one.
• Picky about doneness. A boil is a timing cook, not a thermometer cook. If overcooked shrimp bother you, add them with five minutes left instead of ten and pull the basket early.

Cajun Foreplay and Wango Tango are on the shelf inside the McKinley Mall and online. Bring us your boil photos, potato casualties included.