Gunner wrote:
> "Sonoran Dude" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Gunner wrote:
>>> "Sonoran Dude" > wrote in message
>>> . ..
>>>> Man I hope this group didn't die. I know you are out there lurking... I
>>>> haven't been inspired to write anything either so no problemo.
>>>
>>> Brad, I hope it doesn't either.
>>>
>>>> Personally I love the vein but most people get squeamish. The main
>> reason I leave the shell on but split down the back is to allow the
>> marinade or sauce to come in contact with the meat. Since I grill or
>> sautée the shrimp 90% of the time the shell helps keep them warm, moist
>> and tasty while plating. If zipped and cooked correctly your guests should
>> be able to easily pull the shell off very easily.
>>
>> IMHO the key to any shrimp preparation shell on or off is to cook them
>> medium rare. Splitting the backs on the prawns will allow the meat to
>> "butterfly" or spread open indicating that they are done. It only takes 1
>> to 3 minutes to cook 21-25/LB size shrimp with high heat. If they are
>> opaque and spreading remove them.
>
> Brad, you need to tell give us recipes then, squid, shell fishies, Sea
> Urchins, scallops for sure, squat lobster????, abalone, how about crawfish?
> I found a 5 lb bag cooked & frozen the other day for 20 bucks, that was a
> bit too expensive to see how they tasted. Now those I will "suck the head
> and eat the tail" on them. There is an "New Ager" in AZ that is building a
> aquaponic system using the Aussie red tail, but I don't see many outside of
> the Bayou country eating them so he will have to create a local market;
> herbs and crawdads, ohh but I do like em,the po man shrimp. spent hours as
> a kid catching em. Maybe show us how your knife skills and how to make
> shrimp pops. what is/are your favorite seafood recipes?
>
> Think about it.
> de
>
>

My all time favorite fish is a large rock fish grouper caught in the Sea
of Cortez called Baquetta. Cabrillo is the darker, smaller cousin. We
used to get these in bulk iced palletized bins gutted and head on.
We would fillet thousands of pounds a week and send the carcass to the
tallow vendors. As with any fish the cheek meat was superb so at the end
of the day I would go through the tallow buckets and cut all the cheeks
out. I would take these 1/4 lb or bigger medallions home and marinate
them in a can of El Pato Sauce and a little oil. They would grill up
moist on the mesquite fire and could serve these to people that didn't
"eat" fish. Tasted more like steak than fish. Great in soft tortilla
with the standard border food condiments.

I'm a big fan of large silver skin mackerels. The king mackerel or
Hawaiian Ono is another excellent fish for the grill. In Mexico they
have a smaller Sierra that is awesome.

Crawdads where never my favorite because of all the salt boil needed to
get them to taste good. (Don't forget to let them purge in some fresh
water first.) California was growing a larger crawdad that was much more
meaty but did not have the flavor of the Louisiana dads.

Scallops... two kinds bay and sea scallops. I never liked bay scallops
but working Christmas day one year for a sweat shop early in my seafood
career. We broke a gallon tub of bay scallops packing an order. I was
the warehouse manager so I asked an old black guy named Ernest who lived
near by if his wife wanted to come down and we could give her some stuff
to make lunch. We worked under the worst conditions and the cheap
******* I was working for would have had a cow if he had known I was
going to use some of his product to feed the crew. She took these
scallops and made crabcake like pancakes with cornmeal, egg, onion and
I'm sure bacon grease. They were hot and delicious and even better when
we opened up some cocktail sauce from the boss's inventory.

Sea scallops are the bomb! My favorite is to place them on parallel
bamboo skewers, coat with a glaze and grill. Position the skewers about
an inch apart and put large scallops on them so the scallop will lay
flat on the grill. Using two skewers for both shrimp and scallops allows
you to turn them easily and make great grill marks. You can put
de-veined shrimp or pineapple in between the scallops and marinate with
something thick and sticky. Don't over cook!

I was a big fan of shell fish. I can shuck oysters faster than most
folks. You get very good at it when you shuck for 12 hours straight for
a hotel buffet order. (What Anthony Bourdain says about Sunday Brunch is
so true! Use caution eating shellfish on mega displays!) My favorites
are the pacific oysters because of their frilly deep shells and the
natural sea water seasoning. I also like gulf and eastern blue points
but only at peak of season plump and moist. Pacific Oysters seem to be
consistent year round and you can find more pearls. Probably 1 out of a
thousand shells. I never found any pearls in Eastern or Gulf shells.

Clams are good anywhere in the world. I prefer the small little necks
and small ****er clams raw or steamed.

I'm also a big fan of New Zealand seafood because of the pride they put
in their product and packaging. It's expensive but delicious. Green lip
mussles are fantastic with a dijion and mayonnaise toss in the sautée
pan give it a try.

I was never a big fan of catfish. That is until the Department of
Commerce came in and ordered us to throw out a 1,000 lbs of fresh
catfish fillet. The fillets will sometimes arrive smelling of sulfer.
Probably something to do with the pond water not sure. Anyway we had
ozonated water that we would routinely rinse fish that came in this way
and after rinsing the fillets would smell fresh as if you caught it
yourself.

The government rep had red tagged it to be disposed of so later that
night I rinsed them and took them to my black friend Ernest's house in
south Phoenix. We were giving away free fish all night long and sat
there and got drunk as skunks. My friend's wife took out some salt
pepper, white corn meal and some bacon grease and started frying. That,
hush puppies and lots of beer and whiskey we were stuffed to the gills.
I don't think I've had better fried fish than that simple recipe.

BTW.. nobody got ill from eating that toxic shipment...

I loved those days. Me, my crew and my friends ate free just about every
night. Our tallow buckets was a gold mine for Asian restaurant owners.
We would routinely trade the fresh filleted bones for piles of steaming
hot Chinese or Thai food. We would fly in Eastern Lobster twice a week
and put them in our salt water tanks. On each delivery we would probably
freeze 100 or more pounds of weak lobsters that were ready to die. Those
we could purchase for $1 a pound and were just as delicious as the
spunky ones.

I searched for some instructions on how to peel and de-vein shrimp but I
didn't find anyone that uses the technique I use. No body showed me how
to do this it just seemed natural so not sure if anyone does it this
way. I am preparing some tonight. I will get my girlfriend to take some
pictures and I'll put up a page on my site.