My family loves to vacation together in Topsail North Carolina. We have been going there since the late nineties. Just recently we started preparing a low-country boil. The tradition started a few years ago with purchasing a pot that a local restaurant would prep for you to take back to the beach house to prepare. This year we bought all the ingredients and made our own (we even brought with us our own 12 qt stock pots. We like to make this the night we all get in to the island since it is minimal prep and time to cook. Plus super easy clean up. Bonus lots of leftovers.

Serves 8-10 (with enough leftovers for a low country shrimp boil salad or frittata the next day)

Ingredients:

1 cup of old bay seasoning, plus more for sauce
3 pounds of small red skin potatoes (cleaned but keep the skin on)
2 pounds of Kielbasa (cut into thick coin slices)
6 Corn on the cobs (cut in half)
3 pounds of shrimp ( in shell)
Ketchup
Horseradish (prepared in jar)

Directions:

1. Add water & old bay to a large pot (or two) and allow to come to a boil.
2. Add potatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add kielbasa and cook for 12 minutes.
4. Add corn on the cob and boil for 2 minutes.
5. Add shrimp and cook for 2 to 4 minutes until pink.
6. Strain into a cooler or place on newspaper or we used 2 half sheet pans with rack inserts which worked well too.
7. Service with homemade cocktail sauce (mix together horseradish, ketchup, and additional old bay to taste.