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Texas experts weigh in on
shrimp's popularity
AUSTIN,
Texas — Like Forrest Gump's
friend Bubba, Americans love shrimp. They
love it fried, grilled, boiled. Hot or
cold. In swank restaurants and po-boy shacks.
They consume 850 million pounds a year,
making shrimp No. 1 on the Top Ten Seafoods
list
from the National Fisheries Institute for
the past three years surveyed.
That's more shrimp than canned tuna or salmon
or catfish.
What might come as a surprise is that today
the majority of shrimp eaten in the U.S.
is farm-raised.
"Only eight to 12 percent of the shrimp on the
(American) market is wild," says Gary
Graham, professor and marine fisheries
specialist for the Texas A&M Marine
Program at West Columbia. "This really
has changed in the last five years. There
has been
a tremendous,
tremendous infusion of pond-raised shrimp
from around the world."
People are just now realizing that a lot
of the shrimp they bring home from stores
or get served in restaurants is imported,
says D'Anne Stites, coordinator of the
Texas Shrimp Marketing Program for the
Texas Department
of Agriculture. "Just because they
are eating shrimp in Houston doesn't mean
it's
from the Gulf."
Texas is a source of both wild and farm-raised
shrimp. The farm-raised projection for
2005 is 6 million pounds, says Granvil
Treece,
aquaculture specialist for the Texas A&M
Sea Grant College Program. The farm-raised
variety that has grown best in ponds in
Texas is the Pacific white shrimp. Texas'
most prolific shrimp is the Gulf brown
shrimp, caught in offshore waters.
The offshore
Texas projection for July 2005-June 2006
is 23.3 million pounds. The season opened
the end of July for brown shrimp and will
continue through fall. Some
white shrimp will be harvested this month,
but most comes in around October. The two
species can look alike, but some Texans
say the white is sweeter.
"I have handled millions of pounds of shrimp
and color will sometimes confuse you," says
Graham. His trick to telling the difference:
Look for the ridge on the last full meat
segment of the tail. White shrimp will
not have a groove by the ridge. Brown or
pink
will.
In years past, Texas shrimp boats fished
around the calendar for different species,
and some still do. But it takes so much
fuel to catch shrimp — about 350 gallons
of diesel a night (when most shrimping is
done) — that with current fuel prices,
the majority tie up their boats during
winter and early spring months.
However, that does not mean anyone quits
eating shrimp.
Frozen shrimp is the market these days — even
Gulf shrimp, says Treece. Shrimp meat freezes
and refreezes well, he and other experts
say. Boats often go out for weeks at a
time. They freeze the catch at sea, bringing
it
down to 0 to 10 degrees quickly to preserve
quality and flavor.
The most popular form of shrimp sold is frozen
uncooked shrimp tails (headless). The head
makes up 38 percent to 40 percent of a shrimp's
weight, and while some chefs like the head
for flavoring stocks, it is very perishable
and most consumers do not want the work of
removal or the smelly garbage. The tails,
on the other hand, are pretty, versatile
and easy to handle, with fork or fingers.
Fresh shrimp is kept on ice after it is caught.
But it might have been dipped in sodium bisulfate
to retard bacteria growth and keep it fresh
longer. Some people are allergic to that.
The flavor varies with the species, salinity
of waters and what the crustacean ate. Shrimps
are omnivorous scavengers, consuming what
is on the bottom of the ocean, says Scott
Lamanc, seafood manager for Central Market
in Austin.
Gulf brown shrimp has a stronger flavor than
white shrimp. Perry Bullman, the owner of
Capt. Billy's Wife's Place in Rockport, Texas,
prefers the white shrimp for frying because
it's sweeter. For boiling, she favors the
Gulf brown. Involved in the shrimp business
for 50 years, she says pink shrimp does not
go over well in her business on the Texas
coast and that farm-raised shrimp has no
flavor.
But not everyone shares her opinion. Graham,
the marine fisheries specialist, thinks
pink shrimp has better flavor than
the white or brown. But not much of it
is found in Texas. It is more common in
Florida
and points south.
Randy Evans, award-winning executive chef
for Brennan's restaurant in Houston, uses
whites from the Gulf for all his shrimp
dishes. "They
are slightly sweeter. For our clientele,
that is what they are looking for." And
when he can't get whites, he switches to
pinks.
Treece, the aquaculture expert, disagrees
with the assertion that farm-raised shrimp
has no taste. "Taste is definitely related
to salinity. Even with caught shrimp, you
can taste a difference. The higher the salinity,
the more taste." Some farm-raised
shrimp has more flavor than some ocean
shrimp, he
adds.
Gulf brown shrimp tends to have an iodine
flavor, sometimes more pronounced than others,
says Stites.
This is actually bromine, not iodine, and
it is more of an odor than a taste, says
Russell Miget, associate professor of seafood
technology for Texas A&M University.
Aromas are a large component of taste.
However, most people don't know what bromine
smells
like, so the accepted description is iodine-like
when it occurs in shrimp. Not all shrimp
in the same catch will have a bromine smell.
It depends on what the shrimp
has eaten, Miget says.
Because so much shrimp is eaten sauced or
seasoned with spices, some diners never notice
this taste. Others prefer it.
Last year Miget conducted half a dozen
blind taste tests on wild Gulf brown versus
farm-raised
shrimp with consumer panels of random students,
faculty and staff — 30 to 40 per
test. He boiled the shrimp with no spices
other
than a little salt in the water.
He peeled and iced the shrimp, which was
tasted with no sauce. Each tray had three
shrimp on it and the panelists had to pick
out the odd shrimp, wild or pond. He asked
if they could tell a difference. Eighty
percent to 90 percent could. Then
he asked their preference.
On another plate of five shrimp, he did
a sensory profile, asking them to rate
the
shrimp on intensity of taste: shrimpy,
salty, metallic, mushy, etc. Over half the
respondents who could tell
a difference preferred the wild shrimp.
When he looked at their sensory profiles,
they
consistently rated the Gulf brown shrimp
high in taste.
Miget said the majority of the tasters had
grown up in the area. Had he done the test
in Amarillo or in Florida, he said, the results
might have been different.
The iodine flavor has no relationship to
the dark digestive vein on the back of
shrimp, the experts say. That vein does
not affect
flavor, and removal is optional. Many people
in the shrimping business eat it. Others
suggest removal for aesthetics, particularly
in large shrimp.
" I remove the vein
for other people," Graham says. "For
me, it does not make any difference."
Most Texas shrimp does not have a sandy grit
in the vein, he adds. Rock shrimp, another
variety with a shell harder to remove, does.
It is best to remove the vein in rock shrimp,
so the meat does not taste gritty. A paring
knife or shrimp deveiner will do the job.
Shrimp is sorted and priced by size — tails
per pound. There are no specific counts
for small, medium and jumbo. But, in general,
the 10-15 count (per pound) is good for
cocktails
and grilling; the 26-30, for pastas; the
51-60, for frying or gumbo.
For his recipe of Texas Gulf shrimp with "biscuits
and gravy," chef Evans of Brennan's
used 6-8 count earlier this month. He was
showing off — representing Texas
in the Great American Seafood Cookoff at
the
Louisiana Restaurant Foodservice Expo in
New Orleans. And it paid off. He won. Or
the shrimp did. Or both.
THE COLD FACTS ABOUT SHRIMP
Wild Brown Shrimp
— Being harvested now
— Most prolific Gulf shrimp
— Strong flavored, sometimes iodine (actually
bromine) taste
Wild White Shrimp
— More harvested in fall
— Common in Gulf of Mexico
— Considered a little sweeter than brown
Wild Pink Shrimp
— Not as common in Texas
— Big in Florida
— Considered sweeter than white or brown
Shrimp tips
— Frozen shrimp can be kept up to three months
in a sealed freezer bag or airtight container.
Thawed or fresh shrimp can be kept on ice
in the coldest part of the refrigerator
for two to three days.
— Shrimp is bad when it has a nasty ammonia
smell. 'It should have no smell other than
sea or salt,' says D'Anne Stites, coordinator
of the Texas Shrimp Marketing Program.
The meat should be firm, not mushy, and there
should be no excessive spots.
— The biggest mistake most people make in preparing
shrimp is overcooking, which results in
tough, rubbery meat. Make it the last thing you
cook on a menu. Time will vary with the
size, but start with 3 minutes. Seldom does it
take more than 5 minutes. Shrimp is done
when the flesh turns opaque and changes
color from grayish to pink or orange.
— A 3-ounce serving of shrimp has 80 calories,
18 grams protein, 1 gram fat, 166 milligrams
cholesterol, 190 milligrams sodium, 0 carbs.
Source:
Kitty Crider
Austin American-Statesman.
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