The best cinematic illustration of the culinary opportunities that lie in shrimp was in the movie “Forest Gump” starring the beloved Tom Hanks as the lead actor. The legion list of ways one could prepare shrimp occurs when the character ‘Bubba’ goes on and on and on about all the different ways to and why that’s the reason they (he and Forest) should go into the shrimp business once this mess of war is over.
Whenever I seek expert seafood information I turn to a book I first purchased in the late 1980’s titled, “The Encyclopedia of Fish Cookery”. It is by the late, great A.J. ‘Al’ McClane. The book remains as relevant today as ever. Some facts have changed but his overall knowledge of the piscine world is incomparable. And … he was a very nice friend to me.
He wrote that ‘shrimp are our most valuable seafood product’. Let that sink in. There are, after all … a lot of fish in the sea. He continues, “This ubiquitous crustacean is popular the world over as there are hundreds of species in both fresh and saltwater. They are as common to the sweltering mammy-markets of West Africa as to the chafing dishes of the Ritz in Montreal”. And folks, Al McClane had been to them both and much more so.
~~~
Now it’s time to hit the ‘Listen on WLRN’ button at the top to hear the remainder of my show. ‘A Word On Food’ airs on WLRN every Saturday around 8:30 a.m. at 91.3 and also 91.5 on the radio. I want to thank so many of you who tell me in person how much you are enjoying the show!