How to Create a Seafood Tower at Home

Seafood towers consist of copious amounts of fresh shellfish served in a tiered stand containing three serving platters of descending sizes. They’re primarily presented at informal functions and served family-style – like a refined seafood buffet. Classic fruit de mer constitutes the tower’s offerings, which commonly include oysters, clams, crabs, lobster, shrimp and caviar. Making a seafood tower at home is simply a matter of acquiring the proper serving vessel – the tiered seafood stand and trays – and arranging the seafood on them.

Things You'll Need

3-tiered seafood tray holder with trays
1 lobster
4 king crab legs
1 1/2 pounds shrimp
Lobster cracker
Crushed ice
1 pound seaweed (optional)
Oyster knife

Clam knife
20 oysters, such as Olympia
15 clams, such as littleneck
Lemon wedges
Seafood sauce, such as mignonette
Lemon butter
4 ounces caviar, such as osetra

Instructions

Crack the lobster claws. Separate the crab legs at the joints and cut through the shells to expose the flesh.
Fill the trays of the 3-tiered seafood tower with 2 inches of crushed ice. Cover the ice with seaweed. Shuck 20 oysters and 15 clams.
Arrange the oysters around the edge of the bottom tray. Place the clams inside the circle of oysters, making a second circle.
Place several lemon wedges and a ramekin of sauce, such as mignonette, in the center of the bottom tray.
Remove the shellfish from the refrigerator. Position a ramekin of lemon butter in the center of the second tray. Arrange the crab legs around the lemon butter.
Line the perimeter of the second tray with the shrimp. Position the caviar in the center of the top tray and arrange the lobster around it.

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