Culinary School New York

Posts Tagged ‘shrimp gumbo’

Boiled shrimp has got to be my favorite type of seafood and cooking method. Since I was a little kid I have been going to Mobile, Alabama to visit my grandma and the first night of our visit she would always cook up a few pounds of fresh shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico. She would always buy it right off the shrimp boat.

Cooking boiled shrimp is pretty easy. You either use Rex or Zatarains crab boil. I always get the kind that comes in the mesh bag. It will season up to 3 pounds.

To boil shrimp you need a big pot and fill it with water, make sure you have enough to cover the shrimp when they are boiling and that you don’t put too much water in the pot because you do not want boiling water to overflow when adding the shrimp.

Once your water is boiling add the crab boil and let that boil for a couple of minutes, then add the shrimp. Let the water come back to a boil and boil for 3 minutes, then turn the heat off and let the shrimp soak in the water for 10 minutes. This helps soak up the spices from the crab boil.

Then drain the cooked shrimp and put it in a bowl and put it in the refrigerator, or if you are like us, in the freezer. Once that shrimp is cooked we can’t wait to eat it. It is best if it is cool.

The next step should be done while you are waiting for the water to boil. You need to make some cocktail sauce to dip your shrimp in. Use a half cup of Heinz Cocktail sauce (it’s near the ketchup at the grocery store) and about a tablespoon of horseradish. You might need to experiment depending on how spicy you want it. You can make cocktail sauce with ketchup or chili sauce, but I find this pretty easy and it tastes good. You can add some lemon to the sauce as well.

Now all you have to do is peel the shrimp and dig in. We always peel them one at a time and peel and eat. If you don’t know how to peel a shrimp, it is usually easiest to learn by watching. But what I do is break the tail off and peel away the legs which will peel some of the shell off and just get the remaining shell off. When eating boiled shrimp we never de-vein them.

Cooking shrimp this way is excellent for gumbo.