Plate Of Shrimp. No Explanation.

A plate of shrimp with a little explanation.

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I love this recipe from Cook's Illustrated for making shrimp. It looks good and turns out very tasty. You'll never want boiled shrimp again.

It does take some prep and you have to be very careful when using the broiler. We don't want to test the smoke alarm!

Before you do anything you have to make sure to get uncooked 16 to 20 per pound size shrimp with the shells on. Fresh is best frozen is ok. That's a pretty big size. Don't get anything smaller as the risk of overcooking goes way up.

Use some kitchen shears and cut up the back on the shell to the tail but not all the way. You want to leave it on for a heat shield and to add flavor.

Next you need to devein the shrimp and again be careful to make sure to leave the shell on.

Now give them a soak in some salty water for a quick brine for about 15 minutes.

While this is happening mix butter, garlic, pepper, parsley, and anise. I crush the anise then put it in a pan as I melt the butter and garlic. Then I strain out the anise and add the rest of the ingredients and set it aside.

Get the broiler ready and toss the prawns and garlic butter in a bowl.

Put the broiler pan about 4 inches from the broiler and set a 2 minute timer.

When the prawns get a nice color take them out, and flip them over, add more garlic butter if you have any left. If they need a little more time let them cook but be careful.

Broil for another 2 minutes or until they are done. The shells will have a beautiful roasted look and they will open up and split wide as the prawns cook.

Watch things carefully don't do anything else in the kitchen as they will overcook and/or burn fast!

You can turn the pan 180 degrees after a minute on each broiling session to even out the cooking and color but it isn't really necessary.

They will taste great!

here is the recipe

P.S. there is a lattice of coincidence that lays on top of everything

Almond Dust Pork Roast

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Here is my pre-Thanksgiving dinner.

A few days ago I bought a pork loin. They are cheap cuts of meat but can dry out quick and need a little help with flavor.

I had some jars and bags of flavored almonds around and thought that the salt and sugar and flavors in the bottom of the containers should be used for something.

Enter the pork loin! I butterflied it open (I am not very good at that but it is pretty easy) then I added a mix of the almond flavor "dust" and some Bad Byron's But Rub. It is great stuff I like to use on bbq.

After that I rolled it back up and used butchers twine to tie it up. I am also not too good at that but this video is how I learned to do it. Real chefs and butchers do it so fast it is hard to see how it is done but this explains it well.

Flavored and tied I put the pork loin in the fridge for a day. I simply roasted it fat side up in the oven at 350 for about an hour. When the internal temp got to 140 I took it out and let it rest for 10 minutes.

It smelled great. There was a roasted nutty almond/bbq/pork smell filling the kitchen.

It sliced well and I used a couple of interesting sauces on the side. The Fat Cat Papaya Pequin Passion was new to me. It has a really interesting mix of flavors but isn't HOT hot. The 1st 4 ingredients are papaya, onion, pineapple, apple cider. It has pequin pepper for a little heat. It has a very Caribbean kind of flavor. A great pairing with the almond-y pork.

The Soy Vay Toasted Sesame was exactly what you might think it would be. I really like it and again it worked well with the pork loin.

 I paired it with Steelhead Vineyards 2012 Red a North Coast California red wine blend.

The final result was really good! I eat a lot of almonds and I'll keep a container to save all the almond dust for projects like this.