Gullah shrimp and grits, Bill Green

I like this guy a lot. 

Lordy, you won me when you told us flouring the shrimp keeps them moist. I never thought of that.

And you're such a likable person. 

Then you said, "Now for the garlic" and sprinkled powder all over it woooooooooo, you lost me right there.

But I recovered and stuck with you even though you started with oil and not butter and I like your cast iron pan and even as I observed you overcooking the shrimp to death past their cremation the whole time hoping the flour is protecting them.

Wooooooooooo I've never seen shrimp cooked that long.

But then, and this kills me, you added water and not vegetable broth or chicken broth, not wine or beer, not milk, nothing with any flavor or body. Just water. I still can't get over that.

And these departures from culinary canon can only be disappointing. 

Pros:

* cast iron pan

* protected shrimp with flour

Cons: 

* garlic powder instead of fresh garlic. These are two separate entities entirely

* plain tasteless oil instead of butter

* overcooked shrimp from beginning to end. The shrimp cooked throughout the whole process. Chefs cook shrimp until they are done and no longer than that. They take extra care to avoid overcooking it.

* plain flavorless water for sauce liquid instead of any other liquid more substantial and flavorful. 

I can taste it from here. The taste is hospital food weak. It's shrimp in thick water sauce flavored with onion and faint shrimp. You may as well eat shrimp simmered in water with onion and garlic powder, and that's fine. And if you simmered with their shells still on they'd be a lot more flavorful. Most of shrimp flavor is locked up in their carapace. 

How would a chef do this?

They'd make a sauce beginning with roux. It would already have wine in it as first step liquid. They'd use real garlic with their onions. They'd add the shrimp last. 

They'd do anything to change the color to something more pleasing than gray. Cayenne would turn it red while contributing capsaicin heat. Tarragon would contribute significant and delightful somewhat liquorish flavor. His only flavors added are alliums, and one of those dehydrated. 

We don't see this, but additionally real trained restaurant chef would not use hominy grits from a box. They would mill their own treated kernels. They would expand the flavor profile all over the place while highlighting the shrimp flavor. They wouldn't even consider garlic powder. That is a chef's cop out. They would use the shrimp shells to advantage. They would control color so that it's not gray. They would have a proper sauce not one made with oil, flour, and water. Oooooooowe, I can taste it right now. 

This actually put me off the idea of buying a Gullah cookbook. As much as I enjoyed watching, I no longer have any interest. The whole time I'd be thinking, so this is what's left of how the slaves did things back then. Interesting. But the whole thing's been improved very well. The processes have been perfected by experts. There is no point to living like this. Unless you're in need for hospital food.

Edit: I should add all the comments to this video are very complimentary except for one. A guy says in French very rudely, "This is not good, we do not know how to lick our nuts, we're racist."