We didn't want to do any of the basic Southern cooking (much of which we've already done for other states) for South Carolina. Fortunately, we were able to find something fairly unique to that state. I say fairly unique because it's also done in Georgia, but that seems to be it. We prepared a low country boil for dinner. This is one of those dishes traditionally done outside in an enormous pot for a big crowd. We were too busy to deal with a big crowd, but we did at least make ours outside on the camp stove :-).
A low country boil is traditionally shrimp (shell on), corn, new potatoes, kielbasa, and sometimes crab, boiled in a big pot with some Old Bay seasoning. We skipped the crab since we were making crab cakes at the same time. Also, regretfully, we couldn't find any real Old Bay seasoning and had to go with Penzey's Chesapeake Bay seasoning instead. Being from Maryland, I didn't think it was a good substitute - it was too clove-y and not spicy enough. If we ever make this again, I'll definitely try hard to find real Old Bay. Anyway, the low country boild was easy to prepare, and kind of fun. You're supposed to eat it by dumping it onto a table covered with newspaper and then just roll the paper up at the end. We compromised and used plates for the corn, kielbasa & potatoes :-).
For dessert, we had a magnificent find! A Huguenot torte is an interesting cross between a pecan pie with apples, and meringue. The top comes out like a thin layer of meringue, and the inside is an apple-pecan pie like mixture. It's a really interesting recipe, and I'm surprised that it isn't more popular. It's easy to make and really good. I definitely recommend giving it a try! We used the recipe at http://dining.discoversouthcarolina.com/recipes/recipe-details.aspx?recipe=7
