"Sonoran Dude" > wrote in message
news
> 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.
>


This was exceptionally good reading