In the last year to year and a half, I’ve tried a number of new foods – brussel sprouts, tacos de lengua (beef tongue tacos), caviar, lobster, salmon, crab cakes, ceviche, and a few other things.  One of the “other things” was king crab legs.  Last Christmas dinner (I brought this fruit kabob appetizer), our extended family branched out from making our traditional Grandma Lois’ Swedish meatballs.  Instead, my cousins prepared a Seafood Dump.  My goodness, the crab legs were amazing!  I’ve been missing out for all these years!

My parents made the seafood dump for some friends of theirs this last weekend.

It reminded me that I hadn’t shared it with you, yet!  It serves about 8-12 people (my parents served 10 and they had very little left over).  From start to finish, you’re looking at about an hour.  Here is the recipe:

Ingredients / Other Supplies You’ll Need for the Dump

• 30 quart pot filled 2/3 – 3/4 full of water and a propane tank/fryer (a turkey fryer works well)
• 4 Lemons
• 2 Onions
• Garlic (1 bulb)
• Baby Red Potatoes  (3-4 per person)
• Corn on the Cob (.5 – 1 per person)
• Artichokes (2-3 large or 4 small)
• Crab Legs (2 per person)
• Crab Claws (2 per person)
• Lobster tail (1 for every 2 people)
• Shrimp in Shell (deveined) (4 per person)  TIP:  Frozen shrimp in the shell at Costco is already deveined.
• 6-10 Andouille Sausage
• Zatarain’s Crab Boil packet or some other spices you like
• Optional:  mussels (2-4 per person) and Little Neck Clams (2-4 per person)

Ingredients Needed for Sauces

• Artichokes – mayo/mustard mixed together and/or ranch dressing
• Sausage – spicy mustard
• Potatoes – sour cream and butter
• Seafood – 1) melted butter, 2) cocktail sauce, and 3) tabasco

Preparation

• Start with filling the pot and adding lemons, onions, artichokes, garlic, baby red potatoes, crab boil packet and any other spices you’d like to add.
• Turn on the burner and get it boiling.
• Once water is boiling, your clock starts.  Boil for 15 minutes.  During that time, prepare your seafood.
• Add crab legs and boil for 10 minutes.
• Add sausage and boil for 5 minutes.
• Add corn on the cob and crab claws – boil for 3 minutes
• Add shrimp, mussels and clams and boil for 1 minute
• Turn off the heat and let everything sit under the hood for 10 minutes
• Strain, ring the bell and get everyone around the table, dump it in a pile and start eating!

Ideas

• Have a big table which people can sit or stand around.
• Cover the table with a disposable table-cloth like this one.
• Dump the seafood straight onto the table.
• Put the sauces in little ramekins around the table.  People can dump their share on the table cloth in front of them or simply dip in the ramekins.
• The shells can just be tossed into a pile on the table.
• When everything is done, you just wrap up the tablecloth and throw everything in the garbage.  Clean up is finished!