I take shrimp to several levels and dishes in the next few posts. As we go forward, I will add some side dishes as well. When I have posted the grilled and/or fried shrimp on my FB page, my friends have remarked the quantity as being huge and they are right. We will grill a lot of shrimp and store them for a few meals each time. Yesterday, I fried a bag of shrimp and you will begin the reinvention process. Here is how I prepped them and the awesome trick of batter enhancement. You may fry the best shrimp and if you do, that is great and please share your secrets. I am into how I go from one taste to another and how I incorporate changes to keep our meals from being anything but boring.
Fried Shrimp and Pickle Juice Slaw
1 Bag of Medium size 40 – 50 Shrimp 24 oz. deveined and thawed (I had to shell mine and removed tails, but there are selections that are already shelled). Clean shrimp with water and drain with colander.
Buttermilk to cover shrimp with enough Old Bay Seafood Seasoning or Zatarain’s with garlic powder sprinkled into buttermilk. Allow to soak in mixture for at least an hour (minimum 30 minutes) I soaked mine for 2 hours.
Flour Self Rising 2 cups and White Fine Cornmeal 3/4 cup together in large bowl. This is where you can adjust flavor by adding more seasonings which I did: I didn’t measure but I sprinkled more Seafood Seasoning, Spicy Paprika, Garlic Seasoning with Herbs, Coarse Kosher Salt, Ground Black Peppercorns, Onion Salt, and a few I might not remember (just kidding, but it is like mad scientist in my kitchen with a little of this and a lot of that, so try others if you like more heat)
Ginger ale or beer Add to the bowl of the flour/cornmeal and allow to sit 5-10 minutes. This is the ingredient that makes the difference. I was elated when I saw a tip that Ginger ale works as good as beer. In fact, you can use any clear citrus/lemon drink but I loved using ginger ale. This makes the batter light while giving a substantial coating
Drop shrimp into batter after shaking off excess buttermilk mixture. Move coated shrimp into the next bowl listed below for flour coating.
Flour 1 cup (can be AP or SR) in a separate bowl without cornmeal but add some of the same seasonings. This is for the final coat before dropping into hot oil (375 degrees).
In a large dutch pan or fryer (can easily deep fry if you have a deep fryer) but important, whatever pot or pan, the bottom should be heavy and I chose my large dutch oven with ceramic interior and placed a thermometer to reach desired temperature before placing shrimp in to try. They browned and cooked quickly (approximately 4-5 minutes) and I kept adding more shrimp as the first ones browned and I scooped them out onto a paper towel lined platter. This part of preparation demands your complete attention as this oil is hot. To give you an idea of how much oil to place will depend on you. I placed enough oil to go half fill so that none of my shrimp would be touching the bottom but enough for them to go completely under and back up to top when I dropped them into the pan.
Pickle Juice Cole Slaw
Arline’s Pickle Juice Slaw
1 pkg Cole Slaw mix with carrots
½ Vidalia Onion
1 heaping T. Mayo
1 t. horseradish sauce
1 heaping T. Sweet Pickle Juice from sweet pickles
1 heaping T. Sugar
Sprinkle of Dill Weed to taste
2 Spring Onions Chopped Use Only the tops
Bread and butter pickles (I use the ones I make but not sure how many I use)
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste
My secret ingredient (LOL) 2 T. Homemade Hot Pepper Jelly
Mix together and allow flavors to marry for full savory tasting slaw.
Note: I decided a while back to use pickle juice in place of so much mayo so these measurements may be slightly more or less to your taste. Today I used sugar but I have made it with Stevia if I am making it just for us. Y’all better save this…..Arline Miller
Reinvention of Shrimp to come next.
- Shrimp Po Boys
- Shrimp Salad
- Shrimp and Grits
- Surf and Turf
I haven’t decided which of these and it will depend on how many shrimp I have left after making some of them. Whichever I chose, they will be tasty and easy. The intention of Reinventing is to make the most of of my kitchen efforts and keep our meals delightful. I do some of my dishes with grilled shrimp so it is not always fried so look for those meals to post too.
One tip for the batter: I made homemade onion rings from some garden freshly plucked sweet onions and I used this same batter but I left out the seafood seasoning of course. Here is a photo of those mouth watering, good even leftover by heating in my power air oven. Two battered recipes from the same basic ingredients for frying.
Until We Cook Again……Happy Meals…….Reinvent Your Food…..Arline Miller
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