Years ago, I was in New Orleans and accepted an invitation to experience a true shrimp boil. The host had several picnic tables covered with sheets of white paper, beautiful plump shrimp, smoked sausages, potatoes and fat ears of corn. It was a beautiful display of Southern hospitality and Cajun tradition.
With cases of Abita beer on ice and a Zydeco band playing in a corner of the yard, this was a shrimp boil to remember.
(READ MORE: New Creole eatery coming to the old location of St. John’s)
But I’m sure it was also a huge mess to clean up at the party’s end. Fortunately, I wasn’t part of the cleanup crew. But when I left, I began thinking about repeating the fun back home in Chattanooga — without the mess. That’s the beauty. You can have your shrimp boil without a lot of cleanup.
One of the beauties of foil packets is that at the end of the meal, the corn cobs and the shrimp shells, if any, can be wrapped up in the foil and tossed in the garbage. Easy peasy and a delicious summer fun out by the pool, on the patio or at the lake.