About shrimp
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Ingredients
| Quantity | Ingredient | |
|---|---|---|
Directions
If I may, I'd like to give you some unsolicited advice on handling your shrimp. The better it's treated, the better it's going to taste in the end.
1. Only defrost the quantity you're going to use at any one time (I'm hoping here that the shrimp arrived frozen in manageable blocks. If not, place it in your refrigerator until it's thawed enough to portion, but still icy and essentially frozen. Portion and re-freeze what you're not going to use immediately).
2. Thaw the shrimp in the refrigerator or in a bucket, by running COLD running water over it. If you use the cold water method, allow the water to run over the top of the bucket and into the sink, to ensure a constant supply of fresh water (the temperature of the thawing water should never exceed 70 degrees, and the temperature of the thawed shrimp should never exceed 40 degrees.) If your tap water is hotter, add ice to the thawing shrimp. If the shrimp exceeds 40 degrees, place it in a bath of half ice and half COLD water, and refrigerate until it comes down to below 40. Store thawed shrimp under refrigeration in a mixture of half shrimp, half ice.
3. To peel, devein your shrimp, go to your local seafood market or gadget center, and pick up a nifty little gadget called a "shrimptool". It will cost a couple of dollars, and for the quantity of shrimp we're talking about here, it's worth it.
4. If you want to peel/devein the shrimp for a recipe, keep the unpeeled shrimp on ice as you work with it. Do not let the temperature exceed 40 degrees. Drop your peeled, deveined shrimp into an ice water bath until you're ready to use it. Peeled deveined shrimp may be held this way for up to 24 hours without much loss in flavor/texture.
This seems like a lot of trouble, but shrimp begins to lose flavor/texture almost immediately once it gets the least bit warm.
Health/safety questions aside, the ice method, while troublesome, results in a MUCH better tasting end product.
One other tip -- the iodine in the shrimp will be irritating to your hands, if you handle a large quantity at a time. To avoid this, soak your hands in a strong solution of baking soda and water after working with large amounts.
Finally, a quick recipe for fried shrimp that we enjoy: Go to the store and purchase a package of tempura batter mix. Make the mix according to package directions, substituting cold beer (or cold club soda, if you prefer to avoid alcohol) for the water called for in the recipe.
Dip butterflied peeled, deveined shrimp in the batter, and fry in hot deep fat until light gold (it won't and shouldn't get deep brown).
The leftover batter makes unbelievable onion rings.
Kathy in Bryan, TX