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Advice on First Attempt at Shrimp Boil

Nolester87

Freshman
Feb 7, 2007
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I am going to try and do a Shrimp Boil at our house in a few weeks. Do you guys have any recommendations as far as equipment to get or anything you have learned in the past? Thanks.
 
I am going to do the whole boil with corn on the cob, potatoes and sausage. I figure there will be 10-15 people. I can't find how large of a pot I should get.
 
Where do you live? If you live in any proximity to Tampa, I'd go to the shrimp docks and buy head on Key West Pinks, or Royal Reds, at any rate, get head on shrimp. How many people are you cooking for, my instructions will vary sharply for 4 people or 10 people or 50 people.
 
Yep. And here is a link for timing when you put what ingredients in when.

Low Country Boil link

Useful link. There's a couple of things I would do differently though. 1) You don't need 4 minutes to boil the Shrimp that's too much and will rubber them out. At the two minute mark fish one of the shrimp out and slice it at its thickest part. If it's entirely cooked through meaning no gummy uncooked parts but white all the way through it's done. You want the shrimp sweet and crisp not rubbery or powdery from overcooking. 2) Buy head on shrimp and a sparging bag (like what is used in microbrewing beer). Clean the shrimp by removing the head, legs and shells and devein them reserving the meat to the side. The only thing you throw away is the "poop vein", the legs, heads and shells should all go in the sparging bag along with some cloves of garlic and maybe a small wedge of a sweet onion. Close the sparging bag and boil for at least two hours in plenty of water more than sufficient to cover the bag. Most of the shrimp's flavor is in the head and legs and you lose that by not making this shrimp stock first. Once your shrimp stock is done, substitute this for the water in the previous persons attached recipe adding any additional water you need to make up the difference. Then follow the recipe with maybe my next later additions in 3 for the timing but don't add the shrimp meat itself until about two minutes to go. 3) For more flavor add in teaspoon of sriracha and a quarter cup of a high grade fish sauce (not a cheap one that's just Caramel colored saltwater or is fishy but one with a lot of umami preferably with a little blue cheese note).
 
Useful link. There's a couple of things I would do differently though. 1) You don't need 4 minutes to boil the Shrimp that's too much and will rubber them out. At the two minute mark fish one of the shrimp out and slice it at its thickest part. If it's entirely cooked through meaning no gummy uncooked parts but white all the way through it's done. You want the shrimp sweet and crisp not rubbery or powdery from overcooking. 2) Buy head on shrimp and a sparging bag (like what is used in microbrewing beer). Clean the shrimp by removing the head, legs and shells and devein them reserving the meat to the side. The only thing you throw away is the "poop vein", the legs, heads and shells should all go in the sparging bag along with some cloves of garlic and maybe a small wedge of a sweet onion. Close the sparging bag and boil for at least two hours in plenty of water more than sufficient to cover the bag. Most of the shrimp's flavor is in the head and legs and you lose that by not making this shrimp stock first. Once your shrimp stock is done, substitute this for the water in the previous persons attached recipe adding any additional water you need to make up the difference. Then follow the recipe with maybe my next later additions in 3 for the timing but don't add the shrimp meat itself until about two minutes to go. 3) For more flavor add in teaspoon of sriracha and a quarter cup of a high grade fish sauce (not a cheap one that's just Caramel colored saltwater or is fishy but one with a lot of umami preferably with a little blue cheese note).
Too much work. Just through dem babies in whole. If you can't stand the vein remove it when eating them. Shrimp caught in open water often don't have anything significant in the vein anyway.
 
Yea, I thought 3-4 minutes was kinda long too. I boil mine for 2 minutes, but that's the Costco 21-25 count peeled shrimp.
 
Too much work. Just through dem babies in whole. If you can't stand the vein remove it when eating them. Shrimp caught in open water often don't have anything significant in the vein anyway.

If you don't separate and clean them then you're missing out on most of the shrimp flavor OR severely overcooking and ruining the meat. You need to boil the shells and heads at least an hour to draw all of the shrimpy flavor out of them and that would destroy the meat.
 
I am going to do the whole boil with corn on the cob, potatoes and sausage. I figure there will be 10-15 people. I can't find how large of a pot I should get.
Went to my first boil on Memorial Day, that is by far my favorite meal now! Got it three times in Hilton Head last week.
 
How big of a turkey fryer pot should I look to get for 10 to 15 people? Will 30qt do it?
 
If you don't separate and clean them then you're missing out on most of the shrimp flavor OR severely overcooking and ruining the meat. You need to boil the shells and heads at least an hour to draw all of the shrimpy flavor out of them and that would destroy the meat.
I think the difference would be subtle and partly made up by the shells and head being cooked in contact with the shrimp. I get what your doing, but don't think it makes enough difference to do it. Now if you were making a stew or a soup then that's the way to go. For a boil I don't think its worth it. The shrimp don't get much flavor from the broth anyway unless they soak in it. That's why boils tend to be super spiced.
 
Cook the potatoes separate and then mix them in. They create a slime if boiled w/ the shrimp and keilbasa and corn. Trust me
 
I think the difference would be subtle and partly made up by the shells and head being cooked in contact with the shrimp. I get what your doing, but don't think it makes enough difference to do it. Now if you were making a stew or a soup then that's the way to go. For a boil I don't think its worth it. The shrimp don't get much flavor from the broth anyway unless they soak in it. That's why boils tend to be super spiced.

There's a HUGE difference between shrimp handled properly versus just thrown in. It's far more noticeable when you are doing just shrimp cocktail versus a full boil with sausage. My wife who is a huge shrimp cocktail fan never orders it anymore and seldom gets it at buffets because most places just cheap out and boil already shelled shrimp in water with a spice mix. And I agree, it's three or four times as flavorful done properly.

You should try it my way once and then see the big difference. Just buy a couple of pounds of shrimp for a dinner at home and boil the heads, legs and shells at least an hour preferably two and then remove the inedibles and toss in your seasoning and the shrimp for two minutes. When you've tested them and they're done immediately rack them on a plate and toss them in the freezer for thirty minutes or so to get them chilled and use the time to make your own cocktail sauce and a blend of Publix brown mustard and grapefruit (Orange if you can't make it or buy it yourself, I use our homemade Campari and red grapefruit marmalade) and pickled horseradish in about equal parts with some fresh ground Mixed pepper and some drops of srircha.
 
Plus, you're just gonna slather it in cocktail sauce anyway.

See that's how I know you're not following my method. A shrimp boil done right is so flavorful you don't need sauce. I do use two sauces for my shrimp cocktail but that's because I don't add a sausage, onions and garlic to it.
 
Yep. And here is a link for timing when you put what ingredients in when.

Low Country Boil link
You can also add a few cut lemons, garlic or onions if you want. I've also pulled everything out and cooked the shrimp by itself so that I can remove them from the boil after a few minutes and into a pan with some ice to stop the cooking process before adding them to the table with the rest of the ingredients.
 
You can also add a few cut lemons, garlic or onions if you want. I've also pulled everything out and cooked the shrimp by itself so that I can remove them from the boil after a few minutes and into a pan with some ice to stop the cooking process before adding them to the table with the rest of the ingredients.[/QUOTE

I wonder if they have some type of netting that would help you keep them separated and be able to pull them out.
 
See that's how I know you're not following my method. A shrimp boil done right is so flavorful you don't need sauce. I do use two sauces for my shrimp cocktail but that's because I don't add a sausage, onions and garlic to it.
No, I'm not following your method. I don't do a "shrimp boil", I just do some boiled shrimp to go with dinner.
 
No, I'm not following your method. I don't do a "shrimp boil", I just do some boiled shrimp to go with dinner.

Next time try it with whole shrimp using the method I described. I enslave my wife to help with the cleaning and it takes maybe ten minutes tops to clean the whole shrimp. Then while you're creating the stock it's not like you're paying attention to it, just boil away in the background while you watch tv or whatever and then remove the sparging bag with the shells heads and dump your shrimp in for two minutes. Tada!

Oh yeah and try my marmalade, brown mustard and pickled horseradish sauce I described. It works fantastic on cocktail and coconut shrimp.
 
There's a HUGE difference between shrimp handled properly versus just thrown in. It's far more noticeable when you are doing just shrimp cocktail versus a full boil with sausage. My wife who is a huge shrimp cocktail fan never orders it anymore and seldom gets it at buffets because most places just cheap out and boil already shelled shrimp in water with a spice mix. And I agree, it's three or four times as flavorful done properly.

You should try it my way once and then see the big difference. Just buy a couple of pounds of shrimp for a dinner at home and boil the heads, legs and shells at least an hour preferably two and then remove the inedibles and toss in your seasoning and the shrimp for two minutes. When you've tested them and they're done immediately rack them on a plate and toss them in the freezer for thirty minutes or so to get them chilled and use the time to make your own cocktail sauce and a blend of Publix brown mustard and grapefruit (Orange if you can't make it or buy it yourself, I use our homemade Campari and red grapefruit marmalade) and pickled horseradish in about equal parts with some fresh ground Mixed pepper and some drops of srircha.
I'm not arguing that it isn't better. I'm just saying it's too much work for the gain. I prefer to just let the kids eat, then others, and I get mine on the third batch or later. Most guests are going to sauce them up anyway.

I have used your method, just not for a boil. To me it kinda defeats the purpose of doing a boil. I actually don't do shrimp boils anyway, just crab or crawfish, and I may add some shrimp to appease those who don't like the other stuff.
2 hours is a bit long for that though. Most chef schools and books prescribe a shorter time for a seafood broth, particularly a shrimp one. In two hours I can make a chicken broth. Also, when making a broth or stock, the water shouldn't actually boil, just simmer.
 
I don't have my measurements with me, but we do a boil every year for a couple hundred people.

Two secrets I've found is to grate up some onions and garlic and throw it in along with larger rough chopped onions and garlic along with lemons, seasoning, butter and salt. Bring it to a boil and then let it cool down a bit before bringing it back up to a boil prior to cooking. You can let it sit anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple hours.

Second tip is to use frozen corn. Most people throw their shrimp in as the last step, but we always put the frozen corn in immediately following the shrimp. This brings the water temp down to 150 or so and keeps the shrimp from overcooking.

Here's a few pictures from the last boil.
 


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I'm not arguing that it isn't better. I'm just saying it's too much work for the gain. I prefer to just let the kids eat, then others, and I get mine on the third batch or later. Most guests are going to sauce them up anyway.

I have used your method, just not for a boil. To me it kinda defeats the purpose of doing a boil. I actually don't do shrimp boils anyway, just crab or crawfish, and I may add some shrimp to appease those who don't like the other stuff.
2 hours is a bit long for that though. Most chef schools and books prescribe a shorter time for a seafood broth, particularly a shrimp one. In two hours I can make a chicken broth. Also, when making a broth or stock, the water shouldn't actually boil, just simmer.

IF you were making a clear stock for a seafood soup or stew I would agree with your described technique. Because that way preserves the more delicate flavor and leaves a mostly clear stock.

But what I'm describing is a technique used for making a gumbo component and the stock for a boil and cocktail shrimp. You need an aggressive boil for longer to not only break down the chitin in the shell to release the hidden flavonoids but breaking down and releasing all of the "head fat" of the shrimp (ie the tomalley and other fatty tissues) and sending it into the liquid in small bits. It should make the liquid "heavy" (ie oily from all of the released fatty organs that are in small particulate form) and is not clear, there will be little pepper sized bits of free floating fatty tissues. Those fatty organs that have been disintegrated by the long rolling boil is what makes it intensely flavored AND "sticky" as the fat will come to stick on the shrimp meat and other components when you add it.
 
Yes it's called a sparging bag.

Just to note on this, the boiled onions are one of the great (delicious) ingredients of this or a crawfish boil. Don't put them in the bag to toss aside. Take off the onion skin (outside layer) and throw the onions in the boil (whole, halved, quartered). Down right awesome. I know Tribe was just commenting on the answer to the question of the bag.
 
If you do this with shells on the shrimp, add some veggie oil to the water a few minutes before shrimp goes in. The shells will slide tide off when you are ready to eat the shrimp.
 
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So it sounds like boil shrimp for 30 minutes with shells on or 3-4 minutes if they are peeled. Does that sound right? It seems like a big time difference between the two.
 
So it sounds like boil shrimp for 30 minutes with shells on or 3-4 minutes if they are peeled. Does that sound right? It seems like a big time difference between the two.

Even 3-4 minutes is too long for shelled shrimp, it's closer to 2 minutes. You should start checking around a minute and fifty seconds as soon as they're white all the way through they are done. They'll be crisp and sweet rather than rubbery.

Shelled may add at most another 10 seconds if that, the shell on all but rock shrimp and a few prawns neither of which you'll be using in the South is basically paper thin. 30 minutes would basically annihilate the shrimp until there's nothing left.
 
3 - 4 minutes should be fine for most sized shrimp.....maybe too much for small ones.
 
The pics from smhnole look amazing, but I'd counsel you not to overthink it. Did a boil for 24 last week and it was pretty straight forward:
42 qt pot filled halfway
Add most of a small bottle of Zatarain's and a bunch of Old Bay and a couple of lemons cut in half (although the onions suggested above sound good)
Bring to boil
Add potatoes and sausage, cook 10 min (I use a mix of country smoked and andouille, the fat Johnsonville kielbasa or smoked sausage retains too much water)
Add corn (fresh, broken in half), cook 8-10 min
Add shrimp, shell on, cook 2 min.

Repeated for second batch and kept the first batch warm in a low oven in a couple large disposable roasting pans.

Biggest tip: Should there be any leftovers, they make a killer chowder the next day.
 
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