Boiling shrimp

[Monica Bhide]

A question for you all. i am reviewing some work for an editor. One of the recipes (apparently tested) calls for "adding shrimp, some specific spices and water to a stockpot" and boiling it until the water dries up. The shrimp is then stir fried in some spices...

Okay now before I jump all over this, correct me please -- wont boiling the shrimp (for what appears to be 1/2 hour) totally destroy them and make them rubbery??

[Carolyn Tillie]

Yes!

[FistFullaRoux]

30 minutes of wet heat followed by a stir-fry?

Is this maybe some kind of curing/preservation thing or jerky? In Louisiana (and other places) they have the little dried shrimp packages that they sell at convenience stores and everywhere else. The shrimp are dessicated and seasoned. You can add them to soups and such, or you can eat them right out of the bag. And it's a good way to get rid of the extra 61/70's. I'm wondering if this isn't along the same lines...

[Monica Bhide]

I had the same reaction -- not it is not a preservation thing. i think I need to try this out to see what is going on in this recipe

[Mottmott]

Sounds whacky to me, and under ordinary circumstances I'd pass on that recipe. You, however, are doing a review so you might at least test cooking 1-2 sacrifice shrimp to see what does happen.

[Monica Bhide]

Yes - we are testing tonite to see what it is that I am not getting about this.

[Monica Bhide]

Okay so I was right -- this was a complete disaster -- wonder who tested the damn recipe for them. I boiled the shrimp and by the time the liquid was gone -- they were rubbery as hell and had a very strange appearance -- I guess I have never seen what happens to shrimp when you massacre them like that

thanks all for your help.

[Dave the Cook]

Thanks, Monica, for reporting back. I was hoping you would.

Although I was pretty sure how this would turn out, I was holding out a small hope that we might learn something new.

I was also hoping you could shed some light on how dreck like this ends up in cookbooks. You did: not every cookbook has the advantage of a conscientious reviewer like you.

[Monica Bhide]

I was actually doing an editor friend a favor -- Quality Assurance of sorts. I tired to keep my gaurd up, inspite of being told "many many times" that they were "tested recipes"

I think this one was the most misleading -- perhaps they just need to change the cooking method a bit. I tried to marinade the shrimp with the spices (in a wet marinade as opposed to boiling them with the spices) and then seared them at a high temp -- not bad!

With my new book - we had a lead tester and then two other testers for almost each recipe -- except the salads -- I was trying to ensure that we dont assume anything. I hope we succeeded.

It is nice to have eG here to get such instant feedback and support.