Thursday, August 24, 2017

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."

13 comments:

Methadras said...

Yeah, that basically looks like vomit.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

You get the whole shrimps, take off their heads, and simmer the heads for a couple of hours in wine to a stock. Then follow all the steps you recommended, including the roux, fresh garlic, not over cooking the tails, etc.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

I also concur on the butter, which I would brown. I would finish it with some good extra virgin olive oil at the end. So you get that olive oil fragrance just before you serve it.

Trooper York said...

You can learn a lot from cooking shows. But what I always do is use my own style. Like Chip I use fresh garlic instead of powder. Also I a love butter but it doesn't love me so I almost always substitute olive oil. It usually does the trick.

Trooper York said...

I once cooked 100 shrimp in a oregano butter sauce.

I cleaned them. Dipped them in egg and then bread crumbs. Then put a big pat of butter on each one to melt as it cooked. Liberally dusted with oregano.

My mother in law ate about 75 of them. She went crazy.

Chip Ahoy said...

You know, Troop, you don't have to give those up because of the butter.

You can spray your own olive oil on them.

I learned something very discouraging. All the large company commercial olive oils are adulterated with cheaper vegetable oil and with no clue on their labels. So what's a cook to do?

I thought best chance is smaller American company. I decided to try something from California. At the regular grocery store I scanned for something like that. No more fer'ner oil for me. No more in large quantity. I ended up with tall thin bottle. It is expensive. At least 3x more possibly 4x more. And the difference is amazing.

I thought. Oh, so this is what olive oil was trying to be.

It's fantastic on bread. On vegetables. Mixed 50/50 with rice vinegar is is a perfect and simple dressing.

The first bottle went very fast. The brand I tried has a black label with hip simple bright color graphic. Nothing pretentious at all, but man oh man what a difference it makes.

Anyway, I've seen spray bottles specifically for this. I think it's a great solution. I'm certain it will work with your breaded shrimp. Check 'em out, Checkitouter.

When I first saw them I thought, "That's just silly. But now I don't. It's not just for minimizing amount. It's for even and controlled distribution.

You should use your credit card and buy one. <--- That's my faux salesman line spoken in higher pitched cheerful carefree immature lilt and tilted head to sound amusingly absurd.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Chip/Troop: Trader Joe brands get high marks for being legit x virgin. They also have a California estate. I found really awesome oils at Eataly, but the are awesomely pricey too. I found a Chiaean olive oil at a discount store that is affordable that is really peppery and robust. It gets clowdy in the fridge which is usually a good sign it's real. I like how it tastes.

Trooper York said...

I have been using an organic olive oil called Spectrum which is pretty good.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Where do they sell Spectrum?

Trooper York said...

I get it in my Health food store.

Here is the website.

It is from upstate New York. I don't know if they ship everywhere.

The price is comparable to imported Italian oils but it is all natural and organic.

AllenS said...

Anyone caught adulterating olive oils with cheaper vegetable oils needs to be sent to prison for a year, and then executed.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Thanks Troop, now that I see the label, I recognize seeing it in some stores. I will give it a shot.

Grocery Outlet had the Chilean olive oil. They have a lot of discounted crap, but sometimes they have some really decent stuff at great prices.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

AllenS, agree with you on that.