Shellfish cooking?

October 22, 2005 2:07 PM

Any cooks out there help me with shellfish cooking?

I love shellfish, it's one of my favorite foods, but either I have a too sensistive palate or I'm not finding fresh fish, if I order shrimp, prawns, scallops, etc in a restaurant more times than not I regret it because the fish tastes "fishy", even in higher end restaurants and when I buy shellfish for home cooking I almost never end up eating the dish myself as it smells and tastes "fishy" while my guests say it's fine. I grew up in a fish free household 1500 miles from an ocean but now live on the Pacific coast so that could also be part of it. Does anyone have any tips to either find fresher fish or cook/prepare them in such a way as to keep their fresh taste?

posted by Cosine to food & drink (9 comments total)

So if you're going to boil or steam shrimp/prawns, a cup of apple cider vinegar in the water will make them much less fishy. I've never really worked that closely with scallops, so I can't predict what to do in that situation.
posted by allen.spaulding at 2:21 PM on October 22, 2005

As for shrimp, make sure they are very fresh when you buy them. They should not smell fishy at all, and should not have yellow spots or look slimy.

Then, before you cook them, it helps a lot to brine them, which means to soak them in a solution of water, salt and sugar. This makes an unbelievable difference in the taste and texture.

Here's a recipe for brining:

Shrimp (peeled) - 20 to 30 minutes
Shrimp (unpeeled) - 40 to 60 minutes

Brine for shrimp:
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup boiling water
2 cups ice

Stir salt and sugar into boiling water until dissolved; pour into large bowl filled with ice; add up to 2 pounds shrimp. Let sit in the brine, refrigerated for 20 to 60 minutes (see chart above). Remove shrimp from brine and drain thoroughly. Rinse the shrimp thoroughly under cold water and dry on paper towels. Refrigerate shrimp until ready to use in your recipe.
posted by exceptinsects at 2:57 PM on October 22, 2005

Brining is definitely good, as is adding any acid (such as vinegar, lemon juice, wine, or any tomato product). Also, don't overcook. It seems counter-intuitive but nothing tastes fishier to me than overcooked salmon and tuna (should be medium at best), shrimp, etc. Small shellfish like shrimp, crawfish tails, and scallops only need a couple of minutes to be cooked through.

The kind of heat you use will make a difference as well. I think most seafood is best cooked with flame, either on a grill or under a gas broiler, in order to caramelize the natural sugars. I find sauteed shrimp and scallops to be especially fishy unless an acid is used.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:08 PM on October 22, 2005

Frozen shellfish is ironically often the "freshest". Depending on where you live, the shrimp purchased from your shrimpmonger is often caught, frozen, shipped to the store, thawed and then sold. Since you are sensitive to "fishy"-ness, maybe you should try purchasing still frozen shrimp and not defrosting until cooking time.

My suggestion for preparation:

Bring a cup of white vinegar and a cup of beer to boil with a few tablespoons of Old Bay. Toss in the shrimp and as soon as they're all pink, drain them and eat them. the vinegar/beer combo eliminates most fishy tastes in my experience.
posted by peppermint22 at 4:18 PM on October 22, 2005

Find yourself a good fishmonger. Ask foodie friends where they get their fish, and try their guys. Keeps shopping around until you find someone whose entire life is devoted to providing their clientele with the best, freshest fish. Ask them what's fresh and local, and take them up on their reccomendation.
posted by Lycaste at 4:57 PM on October 22, 2005

rub rock salt on them, no longer than 30 seconds though.
posted by grafholic at 7:43 PM on October 22, 2005

Take your shrimp and toss them into some of Zatarain's Crab and Shrimp Boil and chase it down with a nice cold Turbodog beer from Abita Brewing Company. Ahh, good times...I miss them.
posted by govtdrone at 10:09 PM on October 22, 2005

Like you, I have an unusually strong aversion to "fishy" things, and although I love sushi I generally lean away from cooked seafood because it can be "fishy." Here's a few observations:

1. Unless you're buying at a fishmonger you trust, and you can really believe that the stuff was just caught this morning, always use frozen. It's quick-frozen essentially right after it's caught, and it will be the freshest. If you have a Trader Joe's, they have good prices on good head-on/cleaned shrimp and such.

2. Thaw frozen seafood in a pan of cool water for about half an hour.

3. My favorite simple shellfish recipe: take thawed scallops, pat dry on towels, salt well. Heat a pan until it's screamingly hot, add a bit of high-smoke-point oil (like grapeseed, though if you don't mind generating smoke, olive oil is fine), and drop in the scallops. I like about 30 seconds on each side for a large scallop. Just long enough to get some nice dark color on the outside. The inside will still be raw.

Put on a plate, add some fresh ground pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. At this point, I like adding some grapefruit (juice and bits of fruit). You could also go with a truffle oil if you like that stuff.
posted by rxrfrx at 6:51 AM on October 23, 2005

Mind that you get a good, hot head of steam going before trying to steam shellfish such as lobsters.

Otherwise, you might suffer from low shellfish-steam.

sorry.
posted by ikkyu2 at 8:30 AM on October 24, 2005