Low Country Boil Hosted at the Kentucky Bourbon House

Low Country Boil

The Kentucky Bourbon House hosted a Low Country Boil last week. Our house captain Kentucky Colonel Rosemary Lewis born and raised in Beaufort, South Carolina cooked the feast for our fifty guests, all friends who came to the Kentucky Bourbon House to celebrate the birthday of my wife Margaret Sue. I am telling you certain the Low Country Boil was a huge hit.

Colonel Rosemary lightly cooked homemade sausage in garlic and butter until they were brown and crispy on the ends. She then washed the wild caught shell- on prawn sized shrimp in salt water. Colonel Rosemary took great care in shucking twenty five ears of corn; she then cut the ears of corn in half making them the perfect size for the boil.  She then quartered fifty red skin potatoes.

Instead of flavoring the boil with Old Bay seasoning she made her own seasoning learned from her dear mother who has cooked for extended family for sixty years with the ocean’s bounty brought to her by the menfolk who fished and net caught oysters, shrimp, scallops and mussels each day. Colonel Rosemary seasoned the boil with a blend of garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper. She tasted the blend several times, adding a little bit of this and that until it was perfect to her palette.

Colonel Rosemary brought a huge pot of water to a rapid boil and added her seasoning. She then added the potatoes, corn, sausage and shell-on shrimp to the pot in that order. She placed a lid on the pot telling me that the steamy froth rising from the boiling pot and pressing against the lid would cook the shrimp perfectly. Man O’ Man was she right.

After about ten minutes on the boil she removed the pot from the heat and drained the water.

We held the boil inside the Kentucky Bourbon House as the weather outside was cold and raining. That was just fine with Colonel Rosemary. She set the tables for five guests each. She then placed platters of the boil on each table.

Our bartender at Kentucky Bourbon House, Billi Jo was busy pouring drinks. Her sister, Sharonda, was busy seating our guests, making certain they had everything they needed to enjoy this incredible meal.
Colonel Michael Masters, Kentucky Bourbon Master

Contact: Colonel Michael Masters, Kentucky Bourbon Master
                 Kentucky Bourbon House
                 Bardstown, Kentucky
                 www.kentuckybourbonhouse