JUST RIGHT

The classic low-country boil is a celebration of place, tradition and ratio.

- AMANDA M. FAISON

Ricky Moore, the James Beard-nominated chef and owner of Saltbox Seafood Joint in Durham, North Carolina, loves a good seafood boil. The experience-the cooking of shrimp, sausage, corn, red potatoes and savory spices in an enormous pot before it's dumped onto a newspaper-lined picnic table means just one thing: an occasion. "It's always been a celebratory thing," he says. "It's 4th of July, after church on Sunday, graduation, a marriage. It's a feast."

The low-country boil, as it's often referenced, hails from South Carolina, Moore says. But the boil is, in fact, regional, and its components entirely depend on where you're from and what's available. "It could be crab, it could be clams, it could be what's growing in the garden," he says. "And everyone has their own secret seasoning." What's constant is that a boil is accessible and not complicated: You cook it all in a huge pot, drain it into a delicious pile and then get your hands dirty peeling shrimp, squeezing lemon, dashing on hot sauce and swiping into butter and dips.

As free-flowing as it sounds, there is a method. The key to any boil, emphasizes Moore, is balance. "It's understanding the ratio of corn to potato to sausage to shrimp. I'm going to be a bit offended if the majority of my plate is sausage. For me, shrimp is a priority and everything else is the supporting cast. It's a seafood dish first."