Ingredients

The following ingredients have 7 Servings
  • 4 lemons, halved
  • 6 bay leaves
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons Old Bay seafood seasoning
  • 2 large garlic heads, halved horizontally
  • 6 medium onions, peeled and quartered
  • 2 dried chilies
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 16 sprigs fresh thyme, tied together with kitchen twine
  • 1 pound clams
  • 1 pound mussels
  • 2 pounds new red potatoes, unpeeled, halved if large
  • 8 ears fresh sweet corn, shucked and broken in half
  • 2 pounds tail-on shrimp, uncooked (frozen is OK)
  • 6 lobster tails, uncooked (frozen is OK)
  • 2 pounds spicy Cajun-style Andouille sausage (whole)
  • Butter, salt and pepper, hot sauce, and French bread for serving

Instruction

  • Fill a 6-quart stockpot with 4 1/2 quarts of water. Squeeze the juice of lemon halves into water and add rinds. Add bay leaves, seasoning, garlic, onions, chilies, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and thyme.
  • Bring water to a rolling boil on high heat. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.
  • Add potatoes and simmer 12 minutes.
  • Add corn and simmer 5 minutes.
  • Add shrimp, lobster, clams, and mussels to the pot. Add whole Andouille sausage. Cover, and simmer until lobster is opaque and sausage is cooked through (if not precooked) – about 5 minutes.
  • If using a steam basket, remove it from the stockpot and serve food right from the basket or dump food onto a newspaper-covered table or onto trays. Otherwise, use tongs to pick out the pieces of seafood, corn, sausage, and potatoes into a large bowl.
  • Serve Cajun seafood boil with melted butter and/or hot sauce. Squeeze and spread the cooked garlic on French bread. Serve the corn and potatoes with butter and salt and pepper.