Boiling Shrimp Nov. 2010
Crab boil......I only use Zatarain's liquid "Shrimp & Crab Boil". How much....depends on the amount of water and how much shrimp you are cooking. A general guide would be about 8 oz plus 8 oz more for every 5 lbs of shrimp. If you are cooking say 10+ lbs or more.....cut this down to say 5 oz per 5 lbs, so that would be ~ 28 oz of "crab" boil to cook 20 lbs of shrimp.
Seasoning.......Add liquid crab boil, 1 toe of garlic [cut up or crushed], a couple of teaspoons of Tabasco sauce, a couple of teaspoons of both red and black pepper, 2 or 3 onions cut in half and 2 or 3 whole onions. Salt and lemons are added after the fire is cut off.
After the seasoning boils for a few minutes, I take out a sample of the water and let it cool some before giving it a taste. After boiling seafood a few times, you get an idea to know if the seasoning is about right. I then put the shrimp in and stir the water a couple of times. If I am just cooking say 5 lbs, I will put the shrimp in the bag that onions are often sold in. This makes it easy to just take the sack out when the shrimp are ready. No scooping required.
After the water starts boiling.....I let it boil for 1 minute and turn the fire off. I then add 3/4 of a round can of plain salt. This is ~ 20 oz of salt. I also add 3 or 4 lemons [cut in half and squeezed]. Stir up the water to dissolve the salt. . I let the shrimp soak for ~ 10 minutes and taste a couple. I usually let the shrimp soak for 15 to 20 minutes. If you boil the shrimp more than 1 minute, they get harder to peel.
Potatoes & corn......are nice to eat also when cooked in seasoned water.
Potatoes take 15 to 20 minutes and corn ~ 10 minutes in boiling water. I prefer to cook these as a "second" batch because the corn [and maybe the potatoes] can get too much seasoning if you put them in first. When cooked as a second batch......add the rest of the salt [1/4 can] when boiling 4 or more potatoes.
If you are cooking more than one batch of shrimp.....cut back on the amount easoning you add to the water. Only use about 1/2 as much. Also, cooking the shrimp in water that has salt in it, will make the shrimp harder to peel. It is best to get a bigger pot and cook all the shrimp at once.]
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Don't try to cook more shrimp than what will easily fit in your pot because it will take much longer to bring it back up to a boil and the shrimp may not be easy to peel. Also, I find "fresh" shrimp much better than buying frozen shrimp.
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