I Finally Tried the Food Most Recommended to Me by Southerners
It was definitely an experience.
Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
I grew up as far away from the South as you could ever be. I was born and raised in Colorado and eventually went to school in Iowa. It was already a big culture shock going from the Rocky Mountains to fields of corn. After all, the Midwest is a little funky—just look at our fruit salads—so you can imagine the shock I had when I moved to Birmingham, AL recently in the past month. I had never visited Alabama before moving here, but I’ve since made it a point to try and experience all that I can. This includes shopping, sightseeing, and of course, eating all of the food I can get my hands on. There was one dish in particular that every Southerner recommended I try—and I finally did: a seafood boil.
My First Experience Trying A Seafood Boil
My roommate, another first-time Southerner, has always wanted to try a seafood boil so we decided to go together. A Crab Barrack location was pretty close to our apartment so off we went! As soon as we got there, I was entranced. The runners on the tables, the bibs, the gloves—I had never seen anything like that. We decided to share a 1/2 pound bag of lobster tails, shrimp, and crawfish, all of which I had never tried before. The bag also included potatoes, sausage, and corn, all covered in a mild creole seasoning. The service was quick and as soon as we got our bag, bibs, and gloves, it was time.
My Honest Review of My First Southern Seafood Boil
The first thing that I was excited to try was the shrimp. My roommate taught me the hack of pinching the back to perfectly get the meat out of the shell. By itself, the shrimp was extremely flavorful, but I dipped it in the juice of the bag to get the full flavor of the seasoning. It was slightly spicy and extremely hot—I definitely burnt a finger or two grabbing at these shrimp.
The next thing we decided to tackle was the lobster tail. We decided to get two so each of us could have one and I wish I had ordered more. This was the best thing in the bag; it was super tender, buttery, and extremely easy to get out of the shell.
The crawfish, on the other hand, was more difficult to eat. I think I was off put by seeing the little legs and the eyes at first, but once I got over that, I tried to tackle getting the meat out of the shell. But I could not figure it out for the life of me! Even my server couldn’t help me, as she didn't eat seafood. That’s when TikTok came to my rescue.
This will probably be controversial, but I don’t think I was a fan of the crawfish. The meat itself wasn’t nearly as flavorful as the shrimp or lobster. But, to give it credit, I enjoyed sucking on the head. Overall, I think it was a great experience and I found a lot of humor in the bibs and how messy everything was. Now that I've checked off the dish that was most highly recommended, onto the next Southern food!
Read the original article on All Recipes.
