While visiting our friends Dave and Sandy in FL they informed me that we were having a seafood boil. YUM, I think. I had heard of them, but had never tasted one. Due to the fact that they couldn’t secure crab and crawfish (I was ok with that), it turned into a Shrimp Boil.  It was very interesting in a variety of ways.

Due to the abundance of seafood in Florida, seafood boils are done quite often, but I had never had it before. The most weird part of the boil was the ingredients Davey was putting in the pot. Of course there was fresh shrimp being that we were in FL, but some of the other main staples didn’t make any sense. I get potatoes and corn on the cob, but hard boiled eggs and sausage????? All these ingredients are boiled in water with two packets of “seafood boil” seasoning. It looked easy enough and smelled delicious while it was boiling.  Of course, the potatoes take longer, so they're put in first, then the corn on the cob, the sausage if you're adding any, the hard boiled eggs and shrimp, which only takes a few minutes to cook.  Then, when it was done they just put tin foil out on a table and ladled the boiled food out of the broth onto it and we picked from there.  Sounds easy, right?

We were on a quest to find the seasoning they used and give it a go in MN. My husband and I are trying to eat healthier and we decided that boiled shrimp in seafood boil seasoning is the way to go instead of deep frying. (we’re going to skip the hard boiled eggs).  We couldn't find the the same seasoning they used in the FL seafood boil.  We found two brands to choose from at our local grocery store and the one picked made the broth taste like tea. The ingredients weren't very flavorful either.  I ended up using the shrimp in a salad.  I have no idea what we did wrong other than it was a different brand of seasoning, so we're going to have them send us their seasoning and give it another shot.

Have you ever had a seafood boil?  Got any suggestions?  What else should I put in it?

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