Many regionally-based dishes, such as jambalaya and New York style pizza, are widespread across the country. Categories of these dishes include pizzas, chicken, stews, sandwiches, salads, and fish and seafood.
From California to New York and New Orleans to Rhode Island, there are several fish and seafood dishes featuring freshwater, saltwater, or shellfish known to specific areas. New England, for instance, is known for a clambake, a steamed seafood dish, while Wisconsin is the origin of a fish boil made with freshwater whitefish, potatoes, and onions.
In the South—particularly along the South Carolina coast but also in North Carolina and Georgia—you’ll find a seafood dish known as a low country boil.
In this recipe, you’ll combine the best seafood in Atlantic Beach, NC, with corn, potatoes, and sausage and make a delectable dinner for you, your family, and your friends. The dish—also known as Frogmore Stew—is made typically with shrimp. However, you can substitute or accompany shrimp with crawfish, crab, or other Atlantic Beach seafood you can catch yourself or buy at an Atlantic Beach seafood market.
You might even consider throwing a low country boil party by gathering the ingredients and making the savory dinner at the Atlantic Beach, NC, rental you’re vacationing in!
What Goes Into a Low Country Boil?
Traditionally, a low country boil consists of shrimp, corn, potatoes, and sausage, cooked together in one big—we mean huge—pot. A low country boil is not typically a small indoor meal, but rather one cooked in volume and meant to feed a hungry crew.
Besides shrimp (crab, crawfish, or another shelled fish), use baby red potatoes, smoked sausage, and cut-up sections of corn on the cob.
Whether you’re using shrimp, crab, or another shelled fish, you might boil that fish along with the sausage, then add them to a spicy seasoned broth along with the corn and potatoes. Add a half-cup of seasoning (go with Louisiana-style shrimp and crab boil seasoning) to that giant pot of water (a seven-gallon or 29-quart pot is typical) and boil. Add potatoes, return to a boil, and cook for five minutes.
Add in sausage and, if desired, onions, and after a boil is reached again, cook for 15 minutes. Corn goes in at this point, and the water is again brought to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes (or until potatoes are done), then add the shrimp. If you didn’t boil the shrimp before, cook for about three minutes until the shrimp is pink.
Serving on newspaper in the center of the table is common to soak up the brine. Then, the family takes as much as they want. Voila! You have a meal that, despite its volume, is usually devoured by a family or group of friends—no leftovers!
For a seven-gallon or 29-quart pot, you would use four pounds of medium red potatoes, four pounds of peel-and-eat shrimp, eight ears of corn cut in half, two or three peeled sweet onions (quartered unless they’re small), and two-and-a-half pounds of smoked pork sausage cut into three-inch pieces. If you add or replace shrimp with crawfish, make it about 15 pounds of frozen or live fish. You could also add four pounds of frozen crab legs if desired.
With all those tasty and diverse ingredients cooked together, a low country boil is fine all by itself, but if you’re feeding a crowd or want side dishes, some choose sourdough bread, a green salad, or coleslaw to accompany this meal.
Secure the Freshest Seafood
So, where do you find the best seafood restaurants in Atlantic Beach, NC?
You might start at Blue Ocean Market. This locally caught fresh fish is not only popular on the North Carolina coast but is found in dishes at fine restaurants all over the country. Here, you’ll find the freshest of more than 25 varieties of fish, including grouper, flounder, black bass, king mackerel, salmon, speckled trout, snapper, tuna, and mahi-mahi, not to mention monk, sea mullet, sheep head, and sword.
Shellfish include clams, scallops, oysters, crab, shrimp, and soft shell crabs. The market’s founders catch much of the fish they sell locally, and the on-premises chef prepares fresh seafood dishes daily.
Besides Atlantic Beach Causeway in Atlantic Beach, Blue Ocean has a second location on Bridges St. in Morehead City. Blue Ocean Market in both locations is open Monday – Saturday, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Capt. Jim’s Seafood Market on Highway 70 in Morehead City, just over two miles north of Atlantic Beach (three miles from the Atlantic Beach bridge), has a wide selection of fish and shellfish brought in by local fishermen. Seasonally available seafood ranges from hard- and soft-shell crabs, oysters, clams, and shrimp all year round to seasonal-only fish such as Spanish mackerel from June through November and striped bass from September to May.
Capt. Jim’s also sells frozen products (king and snow crab, mussels, and chopped clam) and canned chopped clams. Capt. Jim’s is open every day except Tuesdays, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. (10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Sundays).
Atlantic Beach Seafood and Fresh Market on Atlantic Beach Causeway features cooked takeout items such as jumbo shrimp, tuna, and excellent crab and shrimp dips but also sells freshly caught seafood. This Atlantic Beach seafood market will also boil shrimp, crab, or other fish for your low country boil, or they can steam clams and even shrimp and sausage for you if you’re looking to save a bit of time and effort on your part.
The Atlantic Beach Seafood and Fresh Market steam pots to go are a popular item—you’ll see five-star reviews on TripAdvisor—and you can go off to the beach or any attraction for the day and not have to worry about preparing your low country boil. It will mostly be done for you!
Atlantic Beach Seafood operates seven days a week, from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Plan Your Atlantic Beach Vacation!
If you’re ready to explore things to do in Atlantic Beach, the time to start planning is now! All you need to do is view our unbeatable Atlantic Beach rentals, reserve your favorite, and prepare for an incredible getaway!
Cooking at Your Atlantic Beach Rental
If you’re staying at one of our Atlantic Beach vacation rentals with fully stocked kitchens and plenty of room for your own low country boil party, then, by all means, plan a day and do it! You’ll find many of our Atlantic Beach condo rentals include communal pools, so you can have a great outdoor low country boil party and have a great time with pool games and swimming.
Some Atlantic Beach, NC, rentals like those offered by Cannon & Gruber are oceanfront condos or cottage rentals with top-of-the-line appliances in full kitchens. On top of that, you’ll find cozy dining spaces with room for the whole crew, letting you come together and dine like royalty on your Atlantic Beach vacation.
Our accommodations also feature washers and dryers, high-speed internet, and flat-screen TVs, ensuring you have everything you need throughout your stay. If you’re ready to explore what to do in Atlantic Beach besides preparing your own low country boil, stay with us! Contact the Cannon & Gruber team to learn more and book one of our Atlantic Beach vacation rentals.
