Sonoran Dude wrote:
> 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.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
OK we just got back and finished our shrimp. My girlfriend left her USB
cable in Phoenix so unfortunately we won't be able to give you the
pictures till Wednesday.

I prepared the butterflied shrimp two different ways skewered on
parallel bamboo skewers.

1st was to skewer 4 tails each and marinated in El Pato sauce and some
fresh chopped cilantro, my favorite. (El Pato is excellent for grilling
any seafood. It has just enough sugar in it from the tomato to give a
nice appearance and enough chili to give underlying heat that surprises
the eater.) Probably would have been nice to add some split jalapenos,
onion and some small grape tomatoes in between the shrimps.

The other was just an impromptu sauce I reduced from a cup of orange
juice, 6 fresh squeezed tangerines from the backyard, 1/4 cup of Key
Lime juice, half cup of Mexican sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of fresh ground
chili tepin from the back yard and a pinch of two of fresh cilantro. I
skewered the shrimp between chunks of fresh pineapple and mango. Soaked
the shrimp in this sauce for about 20 min and basted remainder in the
pan over the grilling shrimp. Used the leftover sauce on our ice
cream... it was delicious with a wonderful spicy burn from the tepin!