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Friday we went to lunch at the Spaghetti Works. I wanted my usual grilled Amberjack fish, but, alas, they were out. You catch Amberjack about 50 miles out in the gulf and it was rough seas most of the week. Lucky me, the special was chicken fried steak. And it was the best I have ever had. Real steak, homemade gravy, and their always luscious red skin garlic mashed potatoes. And the southern staples, canned green beans with a soft white roll. Paul had fried shrimp, made with the cornbread type coating. The soup was a tomato with vegetables. So good. The vegetables were just the right softness, the broth was creamy.
It occured to me in the middle of the night that you Yankees might not know what is in a shrimp boil. Usual ingredients are redskin potatoes, garlic, sausage, sweet corn, and lots of fresh gulf shrimp. Oh, don't forget the fire spices. First of all it is cooked in huge pots on big outdoor gas burners. Sometimes the whole thing is cooked at once and dumped on the newspaper covered table, sometimes you just dip it out of the broth. James separated all the ingredients and they were on platters like a buffet. I really like it that way. The sweet corn was excellent and there are no blisters on my lips this morning. The photo is James cooking. FYI - we went to Mexico with James and Roma, remember the purse photo?
The shrimp boats have been out almost every day this week, so lots of fresh shrimp. We watch them head in and then head for the harbor.
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4 comments:
O.K. Margie..I finally have to write and not just anonymously read your blog! I do enjoy it so much! I have made shrimp boil many times but not sure i have mastered it (being a yankee)..most true southerners have their own way of dumping it all together and can't quite remember the actual recipe...and forget cookbooks and the web..they are not the best recipes either. So...please find out the actual spices used and proportions to the amount of water...when they put in everything...how long do the shrimp boil..do they have the heads on...I need specifics, Margie!!!
When you come back to Michigan, you can't pretend to be Texan anymore. As Charlie would say, "It's just not white (right)" You've got 30 more years of Yankee than I do.
Well James said that we now qualify as Yanks, up a step from yankees. We are making progress.
Re the shrimp boil recipe, they are all different. I do know that GoJuice is a concentrated juice that comes in a very small bottle and that makes it good. I thought it was hot but it isn't. Often they use Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning. It isn't too hot. I will email Roma and see what James uses.
Also,I do know that the shrimp cook very quickly. When they rise to the top and form a C they are cooked, if they form an O it means overdone. Mark just put the shrimp in the pot and turned off the heat. I think one of the reasons they pull them out of the pot is to keep them from over cooking.
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