Southern · Authentic-ish Southern
Frogmore Stew
449 kcal a serving, against 703 for the traditional version. That is 254 kcal off, or 36%, with 51.2g of protein. Serves 6. 45 minutes.
What the traditional version is
Potatoes, sweetcorn, smoked pork sausage and raw shell-on prawns boiled in a big pot with spiced water (usually Old Bay). Finished with a generous pour of melted butter and served with lemon. Pick your bits and eat with your fingers.
What changed, and what each change costs
400g smoked Italian pork sausage for 350g reduced-fat pork sausage
You need the smoky bite for flavour and to make the whole thing feel like a meal, but pure pork fat doesn't help you out much on this page.
What it costs you. You'll get a bit less richness and the sausage slices won't drip quite so appealingly. If you're lucky enough to find a properly smoky low-fat sausage, use it. Otherwise, you're just getting something that looks the same, but tastes a little cleaner and less decadent.
900g shell-on prawns to 1.1kg
Since you're cutting back the sausage, it's only fair to bump up the prawns. They're still the main event and you'll barely notice the swap.
What it costs you. You do have to peel more of the little beasts. If you eat with your hands anyway, that's more fun than hardship.
100g melted butter for 20g olive oil to finish
Pouring melted butter over everything is the last hold-out of mischief here. Olive oil at the end still makes things glisten, just with far fewer regrets involved.
What it costs you. You'll miss the buttery hit, but not as much as you might think. There's enough shellfish brine and lemon to keep things interesting. If you demand the butter, just use less.
Potatoes down from 900g to 600g
More shellfish, less starch. With bigger prawns and more of them, no one is going away hungry.
What it costs you. You'll have less ballast for soaking up the brine at the bottom, but no one ever finishes the potatoes anyway. Promise.
The numbers
| Per serving | Traditional | Lightened |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 703 | 449 |
| Protein | 45.2g | 51.2g |
| Fat | 35.9g | 9.1g |
| Saturated fat | 15.5g | 2.2g |
| Carbohydrate | 55.8g | 45.7g |
| Protein per 100 kcal | 6.4g | 11.4g |
Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Southern prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked.
Allergens. gluten, crustaceans, mustard, celery.
The method is in the book
Frogmore Stew doesn't mind losing calories. You're already boiling most of the fat away, so this is the rare one where nothing vital gets lost. Swap the sausage, add prawns, skip most of the butter - nobody will notice at all. If you insist on big pats of butter melting over everything, well, I'm not your conscience.
The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Southern, along with 50 more. It is not out yet. The swap kit is free in the meantime.