INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

1995    
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.  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). 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. 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. 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,  File
ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/kpitts.zip

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