Recipe

Lowcountry-Boil Boiled Peanuts

Jimmy Hagood shares the Lowcountry alchemy that takes boiled peanuts to a new level of snacking deliciousness

Photo: courtesy of Jimmy Hagood


As a Charleston-based purveyor of specialty foods, former caterer, and all-around champion of local culinary traditions, Jimmy Hagood, owner of Food for the Southern Soul, has cooked up his fair share of Lowcountry boils (aka Frogmore stew) and boiled peanuts. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago, however, that it occurred to him to use the byproduct of one to make the other even more addictive.

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“The light bulb went off one summer day when I was doing a Lowcountry boil,” Hagood says. “We were going to the beach the next day, and I thought, ‘You know, I’m going to take this leftover boil water and boil some peanuts to take along.’”

Once you hear it, the idea makes so much sense. The shrimp, smoked sausage, potatoes, corn, and seasoning of a Lowcountry boil are bound to lend loads of flavor to the water left in the pot. And peanuts soak up a lot of the water (typically just salted) in which they are boiled. The experiment was an instant success. “My daughter and her friends went through those peanuts like no tomorrow,” Hagood says. “It was the birth of something.”

Even so, Hagood says the notion wasn’t a total epiphany. “When you buy boiled peanuts on the side of the road, you sometimes find different flavors, like spicy ones. Years ago I ran into a guy who told me about including a ham hock. So I think the idea collected over time.”

Hagood likes the peanuts’ depth of flavor so much that he doesn’t always hold off on making his next batch until he does a Lowcountry boil. Instead, he’s formulated a boil water with ingredients that closely approximate the same flavors. He shares that recipe below, for those of us who are eager to experience this wizardry for ourselves.


Ingredients

  • LOWCOUNTRY-BOIL BOILED PEANUTS (YIELD: 15 SERVINGS)

    • 1 smoked ham hock

    • ¾ cup iodized salt

    • ¼ cup Old Bay seasoning

    • 1 tsp. shrimp base (can be ordered online)

    • 5 lb. dry raw peanuts or fresh green peanuts, in the shell


Preparation

  1. Add water to a 15-quart stock pot until two-thirds full (about 2½ gallons). Add ham hock, salt, Old Bay, and shrimp base. Bring to a vigorous boil.

  2. Add peanuts. Cover with lid, return to a boil, and reduce heat to a slow boil. Cook for 3 to 3½ hours for dry peanuts, or 2 to 2½ hours for green peanuts. Sample several peanuts to check if they have been fully cooked. (They should be tender, not crunchy.) Allow peanuts to rest in the hot water for another hour after turning off heat to soften the shells.

  3. Note: A Crock-Pot allows for overnight cooking. Adjust ingredient amounts proportionately for the size of the Crock-Pot, and cook on high for 10 hours.


Steve Russell is a Garden & Gun contributing editor who also has written for Men’s Journal, Life, Rolling Stone, and Playboy. Born in Mississippi and raised in Tennessee, he resided in New Orleans and New York City before settling down in Charlottesville, Virginia, because it’s far enough south that biscuits are an expected component of a good breakfast.


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