The Shrimp
Boil: Spices, Shrimp and Garbage Cans
If I am completely analytical,
I am forced to trace the shrimp boil's roots back to an
event when I was five. The neighbor across the street from
us threw a fundraiser for then Vice President Richard M.
Nixon. I watched only from a distance, but ever since, a
big fundraiser has always held my fascination. With the
Shrimp Boil I could combine my love of crustacea with
politics. It was perfect.
I
was an early adopter of the Cajun craze. By 1981, I knew
that "l'haricot" was pronounced Zydeco in certain parishes
of Louisiana and John Delafose was my favorite musician. I
read an account (in "Creole Gumbo and All that Jazz",
Howard Mitcham, 1980) about shrimp placed in pillowcases
and boiled in a spicy broth in big garbage cans in New
Orleans. That seemed like a great idea to me and now I
simply needed a reason for a big party.
A
friend worked for then U.S. Representative Mike Lowry and I
talked him into letting me throw a fundraiser for his boss,
using this idea. Looking back on that decision, we both
shake our heads. The first year, we learned that nobody
boils shrimp in a pillowcase. The next year, with smaller,
mesh-sided garbage cans to hold the shrimp in the spicy
broth, we came back with the promise of "bigger, better
shrimp." The event, all-you-can-eat for $25, featured
shrimp, corn and potatoes, all cooked in the spicy broth.
Cole slaw, french bread and your beverage of choice rounded
out the menu. It was an immediate success and became a
political institution in Washington State. In 1988, when
Mike ran for the U.S. Senate, we had more than 1800
guests.
Over
the years, I did this event for many others running for
political office and it led me to branch out to many other
cooking extravaganzas. I learned to be calm when faced with
hundreds of eaters and that cooking for a crowd and raising
money for good candidates was just as much fun as I thought
it would be when I was five. While I haven't done a shrimp
boil in years, rumors are that what we started persists in
certain communities in the Pacific
Northwest.
The Shrimp Boil Recipe
Files
P.S.
Use only a new clean garbage can.
