Pre-Fried Shrimp

 Let's not think of this as a calendar malfunction, but rather as a public service. 

Followers of this blog (and we think there are some) will know that we are suckers for "National Day" entries as an excuse to try new things. We usually find these because Pamela remembers to check -- again, regular readers will know that this is often a "day of" realization, and that we sometimes impress ourselves with the alacrity of our mid-day pivots.

So today was not entirely unusual -- early in the day I heard that today was National Fried Shrimp Day. I mentioned this to Pam and we decided we should mark the day. We already had plans for black bean quesadillas (I'm realizing that this Hayes-Boh standard is not yet on this blog) and I also have never fried shrimp before. So when Pam sent me a couple of recipe links, I decided right away that I would try the simpler of the two, and that I would make a small amount as an appetizer. I was in Fairhaven for the day, so I would be able to pick up some shrimp at Kyler's (the only place we buy seafood) on the way back to Bridgewater. 

And then I remembered that this is Monday. Because it is so busy on weekends, Kyler's closes its retail store on Mondays -- this has caught me flat-footed (or flat-finned) a couple of times in the past. I had already committed, so I set my coastal snobbery aside and made the shrimp purchase at our local grocer. I also picked up some peanut oil and some cocktail sauce.

I followed the simply titled recipe Fried Shrimp by Jonathan Reynolds on New York Times Cooking. Although the title is simple and the directions are both brief and very clear, I have to admit I was a little nervous about this -- and not just because of that one time a friend started a small kitchen fire while trying to fry shrimp. I was more afraid of a breading failure than of a conflagration.

I did make two kinds of modifications to the the instructions Reynolds provides. The first kind was kitchen math. Because I was using a half pound of shrimp instead of two pounds, I used a saucepan instead of a Dutch oven. This allowed me to us a small bottle of peanut oil.  Similarly, I reduced the egg/milk mixture to a single egg and half the milk. The second kind of mod was for flavor. As I often do with any kind of breading, I added Tabasco to the wet ingredients and Old Bay to the dry. Plenty of each.

Only when the shrimps were sitting in a bowl coated with panko (in lieu of cracker crumbs) did I venture to begin heating the oil. I applied medium-high heat and checked the temperature frequently. When it was close to 365F, I added the shrimps one by one.

As they simmered, I could see the breading going from skimpy to skimpier, and I realized I had no easy way to test for doneness. After a couple minutes, though, I skimmed a couple of them and realized the color was not yet uniform, so I let them go about a half minute more. I quickly removed them all to a paper towel, using a bagel skimmer. 

We let them cool long enough to open a bottle of coastal-grown dry Riesling from Westport Rivers. During this time, I nearly convinced myself that this was to be a one-off project. The results were not photo-worthy and this was clearly a dish that would be cheaper to buy than to make. But the proof of te pudding (or shrimp) is in the tasting. These were quite delicious -- and also filling. We decided that what we prepared as an appetizer would serve as our entire meal.

And being somewhat agog at the unit cost of high-temperature peanut oil, I sieved and bottled it for my next frying project. 

That Calendar Malfunction 

And now for the calendar PSA. In the midst of my cooking, Pamela checked the National Day Calendar and reported that it did not list today as shrimp day. We joked about having an unofficial celebration, as if there were anything official about the many other National Day celebrations we have had. After the fact, though, I noticed that tomorrow is indeed National French Fried Shrimp Day. If you are reading this in time, you can honor the day as you honor the solstice -- on December 21.