About Shrimp

Title:
About Shrimp

Yield:
1 Text file

Categories:
Shellfish




Ingredients:









 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


 


 Posted to FIDO Cooking echo by Kathy Pitts from Dec 1, 1994 - Jul 31, 1995.


 


 File ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/kpitts.zip