Shrimp Etouffee

Vincent Chase

This New Englander tried his hand at shrimp etouffee using a recipe out of Virginia Willis's 'Bon Appetite Ya'll' cookbook. The exact recipe calls for crawfish, but I only have access to pre-cooked crawfish tailmeat here in MA so I swapped it with shrimp.

I hickory-smoked some unbleached AP flour a couple weeks ago for the heck of it and used it for the roux. Hard to say if imparted any flavor to the final product to be honest and I'm sure a lot of it cooked out during the process. The recipe calls for cooking the roux until deep brown, which took around an hour. I added small diced red bell pepper, celery, sweet onion, green onion, and garlic after the hour, added 6 cups of homemade lobster stock and let that simmer for another 25 minutes. The shrimp went on skewers with some EVOO and Shakin The Tree, then to the Egg for a few minutes. Finished everything off with some Louisiana hot sauce, which really tied everything together nicely.

Overall, very tasty meal. Not sure if the etouffee sauce should be thicker but it did have nice flavor.

Fidel

The darker you cook the roux the less its thickening power. I made etoufee for about 2000 people at the Eggtoberfest last year and made a few batches. I preferred the batch with the lighter roux, more of a peanut butter color.

Really a great dish. I usually by the little shrimps and toss them raw into the etoufee at the last minute and let the heat of the dish cook the shrimp. I never thought to cook the shrimp like you did. Probably get a better texture and flavor that way.

Vincent Chase

Ahhh, good to know Fidel. I'm sure it'll thicken up in the fridge overnight, but I'll have to no problems going with a shorter cook time in the future. Kind of sucked being glued to the stove like that for an hour!

As for the shrimp, it was supposed to be cooked with the roux but I went the grilling route for the reasons you mentioned. Thanks for your input!

Frank from Houma

Very nice - nice touch with the grilled shrimp. We normally go lighter on the roux for an etouffee - a blond roux.

Turn up the heat and it won't take near as long to make the roux - have to stir phast.

I think you will like the precooked crawfish in the etouffee provided it is a US product - the stuff from China is pretty nasty. We always use precooked crawfish in our etouffee.

chocdoc

Sacrilege I'm sure to some - but roux can be done and ignored in the oven. Link here to discussion and method.

Hoss

Veery Interesting! All it would take is a little oil and flour and time to try it out.Nothing ventured,nothing gained. Thanks for the link!

Vincent Chase

Hey Frank - I've actually used the pre-cooked stuff a few times. I really wish there was access to live crawfish up here in MA but I haven't been able to source a place that has them. My dad grew up in Connecticut and said he had crayfish in the stream behind his house so it's somewhat surprising that they're impossible to find. The pre-cooked crawfish are fine and I've enjoyed them when I've had it, I just like being able to add my own touch as they cook.

Chocdoc - Awesome link! Thanks for sharing that. Reading about making roux in a pressure cooker now.

LDD

looks great..

I like how you mixed up with the grilled shrimp!

Boilermaker Ben

I'm with Fidel...peanut butter colored roux for etouffee. Oh, and the precooked crawfish tail meat works pretty well for etouffee. We don't get much access to live bugs up here in Illinois, so I wind up using shrimp stock, but the frozen tailmeat is good. I just add it at the very end of the cook, and only long enough to warm it.

Hmmm, I wonder if I have any shrimp stock in the freezer...now I'm craving.