1 no ingredients
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
Servings: 1 text file
About Shrimp Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Fish; Seafood; Shrimp
The History of Recipes
It is quite possible to prove the history of transcribed cooking instructions back into history, in truth as far as ancient Egypt, and potentially, even further back. Interesting though that maybe, these, ancient records were just primitive hieroglyphic instructions for meal preparation.
Fascinatingly, the oldest recipe discovered so far, according to academics are some ancient tablets in Sumerian describing the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making drinkers feel wonderful. Progressing into The time of the roman empire around 25BC a man called Apicius compiled a few scripts detailing recipes prepared by wealthy Romans. In his works, Apicius describes how the meals were divided into hors d`oeuvre, entrees and afters, a very modern way of dining. Additionally, he describes how the cooks of his times made use of a wide range of aromatic flavors, including some that we all recognise like bay, rue and dill. As our culinary historical trip moves to more modern times there are a couple of cookery books which appeared in the 1300s ; a cookery book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another titled `Curye on Inglish`. Surprisingly, these are nothing to do with the spicy food that we all know today, but rather descriptions of the types of food enjoyed by the upper classes of the period. In the 15th century, knights returning from the crusades brought us a variety of foods and herbs from Arab cuisine, including spices such as basil and coriander. These new herbs and spices prompted an outbreak in manuscripts on cookery, the majority of which still exist in academic collections. Over the following few centuries, the wealthy families of Wesstern Europe competed to lay on the most exotic meals, and because of this chefs and their recipe collections were at a premium. Nevertheless, it wasn`t until the 1800s that cooking and cookery books became really popular. Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Farmer in the US, dedicated the best years of their lives to assembling, trying out, and writing down recipes to allow everyone to enjoy them. By the arrival of the twentieth century, recipe publications are highly popular mostly as a result of higher levels of literacy, more spare time and having more disposable income. |
We hope you enjoy this About Shrimp recipe.
