Seafood boil

made just like in New Orleans, Louisiana, with shrimp, crawfish, Manila clams and a homemade Cajun seasoning and butter sauce. So easy and delicious!

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. (0.4 kg) head-on and shell-on shrimp, rinsed
1 lb. (0.4 kg) crawfish, rinsed
1 lb. (0.4 kg) Manila clams, rinsed and scrubbed
water, for boiling
1 lemon, halved
2 ears corn, cut off the cob into 2-inch pieces (5 cm)
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
2 heads garlic, peeled and minced
2 tablespoons Louisiana hot sauce

SEAFOOD BOIL SEASONINGS
4 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

Rinse the shrimp with water, Use a pair of scissors to cut off the mustache and legs. Set aside. Soak the crawfish in water and rinse a few times until the water becomes clear. Rinse and scrub the Manila clams. Drain and set aside.
Combine all the ingredients of the Seafood Boil Seasoning in a bowl. Stir to mix well. Set aside. Seafood boil seasoning.
Fill a large stockpot halfway with water and bring to a boil. Add the lemon halves, follow by the shrimp, crawfish, Manila clams and corns. Cover the stockpot and cook the seafood and corns until they turn red or cooked through, about 2 minutes. Drain the seafood and corns, discard the water and lemon. Set aside. Boiling seafood in a seafood boil pot.
While the seafood is cooking, in a big skillet over medium heat, add the butter and stir in the minced garlic. Saute the garlic for 1 minute (not brown). Add the Seafood Boil Seasoning and Louisiana hot sauce. Stir to mix the spicy butter sauce well. Turn off the heat. Seafood boil sauce.
Transfer the seafood and corn into the spicy sauce, stir to combine well. If you have a small skillet, mix the butter sauce and the seafood in two batches. Serve immediately. Seafood boil in a skillet.

NOTES

Adapted from Cultural Chromatics. This is a Vietnamese-Cajun version of seafood boil, which in my honest opinion, so much better than traditional seafood boil.

I skipped potatoes and smoked sausage. Feel free to add 8 oz. of baby potatoes and 8 oz. of sausage in the seafood boil.

You may also add crab legs, blue swimmer crab, Dungeness crab and mussels in your seafood boil.