The Time-Saving Trick Every Seafood Boil Lover Needs To Know

Along the U.S. coast from New Orleans all the way to Chesapeake Bay, no celebration or community event is complete without the almighty seafood boil. This may not sound like an exciting dish to the uninitiated, but traditional boils are chock-full of everything from fresh seafood and spicy sausage to corn on the cob and whole potatoes. Experienced boil aficionados avoid the mistake novices often make with seafood boils by carefully timing when each ingredient goes into the pot, and seasoning everything to perfection with fresh herbs, onions, citrus, and big handfuls of classic Old Bay.

The result is a succulent feast of crab legs, clams, jumbo shrimp, and an array of veggies eaten with minimal help from a fork and knife. Of course, few of us beyond the coastline have the time and space to dedicate to this process, so when a craving hits we have to turn to the foil pack meal cooking method. This is a great alternative to a traditional seafood boil, as putting everything inside a tightly sealed little pocket of aluminum foil creates a moist microclimate perfect for steaming all your favorite boil ingredients to perfection.

The biggest difference between cooking methods is that you can't add ingredients to the foil packet at carefully timed intervals, meaning ingredients like potatoes and corn will need to be par-cooked before going into the pack. After boiling these firm veggies until just fork tender, it's crucial to let them cool completely to avoid overcooking your delicate seafood.

Something else crucial to keep in mind when making seafood boil inside foil packs is how you're going to build flavor. Simmering things together for several hours in well-seasoned broth produces a deep richness you won't get in 20 minutes or so of broiling in the oven. That means you'll want to create a flavorful, fat-forward sauce to drizzle inside the packets to bring the flavor and to keep everything from drying out.

Key ingredients in this sauce are Old Bay (or your favorite seafood seasoning mix), lemon juice, and fresh herbs like thyme. An easy way to whisk these together with some butter is to add some of the hot water from par-cooking your veggies and let it melt the butter for you. The starches in the water will also help the seasoning cling to the seafood boil ingredients, which is very important as it's your only chance to infuse everything with flavor.

Since most of the components in this meal are fairly large, you'll need to plan to use lots of foil, or embrace one of the many useful aluminum foil hacks for easier cooking by getting some pre-sealed foil bags made for grilling and baking. Available online and in grocery stores, you can simply fill these bags with your boil ingredients and seal them shut before tossing them in the oven to bake, or stacking them in your fridge as part of meal-prep prior to a celebration.