This Is How We Do It: Shrimp
Nuttin' But Love
RIP Heavy D, who gave us two timeless hits (this one and this one), a lesser hit I like even more than the other two, and one great album title/nickname-of-a-nickname (“Waterbed Hev”). As far as I know, he coined the word “conversate.” He also left us with this, a line I’ve never forgotten.
I’d like to see a remake of “Return of the Jedi” where at the end, a redeemed Heavy D goes to Jedi heaven, where fellow portly-to-obese rappers Big Pun, Notorious B.I.G., and Buffy the Human Beat Box await. But until that day comes, I console myself with this great technique for shrimp with a shockingly low amount of muss and/or fuss.
Just buy them that way. I'm sure there's a very good argument somewhere out there for why one should buy tail-on shrimp and do all the dirty work at home, but I don't even want to hear about it right now.
Why? When you're baking, the heat is being created at the bottom of the oven. The closer something is to the heating element, the less evenly it cooks. This is a dish without much, as some people inexplicably say, "heighth," so you can put the rack all the way up near the top of the oven for results more even than the number six.
Nine minutes is the time it'll take for "26/30 count" shrimp (ie, 26-30 shrimp per pound) at refrigerator temperature to cook. Lower count = slightly more time, but unless your shrimp are freaky-big is shouldn't take more than 11.
A lot of cooking is about precise application of heat. Once the job is done, you want your food to get the hell out of there to make sure it doesn't pick up any more heat. It's been proven by science: 92% of all botching of dishes comes from overcooking. And by "science" I mean "facts I just made up."
I used: 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup almond butter, 2 oz. onions, a tablespoon of rice vinegar, and a half-teaspoon of red pepper pureed in a blender, with a couple of leaves of sauteed spinach.
Subscribe to this blog
I love this post for so many reasons. I love shrimp. But also, I never saw that Heavy D & The Boyz video “Now that we got love” even though I danced to it numerous times. I will forever after think of it as “The Raincoat Dance Song”. I’ll try your way of making shrimp soon. Sounds delicious.