The Gulf Coast gets some NYC love with Louisiana Shrimp Week, which kicks off this Wednesday, June 27th. Chefs and restaurants all over Manhattan have created special menu items to showcase the mild, sweet flavor of Louisiana shrimp and you can sample their creations starting on Wednesday. Highlights include a poached shrimp, avocado, olive oil confit cherry tomato in a horseradish broth by Chef Michael Ferraro of Delicatessen and the intriguing "Louisiana Shrimp Boil in a Paint Can" available at David Burke Kitchen.
It's been a little over two years since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill devastated local fisheries and wildlife, and took a serious bite out of tourism in the region. In a Fox News interview on April 30th of this year, Louisiana Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne explained that "business is down 30% with folks not coming to Louisiana to enjoy the great abundance of fish and the great quality of seafood that Louisiana has to offer." Although there were concerns about contamination in the years following the spill, Lt. Governor Dardenne insists that "300,000 individual items [have been tested] since the spill and all have passed with flying colors." Shrimp accounts for the bulk of Louisiana's fishing industry and the state leads the country in shrimp production. Last year the state reeled in 90.5 million pounds of shrimp.
Shrimping season officially began in May and lots of little critters have already made their way up north, just in time for Shrimp Week! If you're looking for some creole-inspired crustacean, check out the list of participating restaurant and menus or you could pick up your own! Fresh Gulf shrimp is available at The Lobster Place, which procures its wild shrimp through suppliers like the New Fulton Fish Market, but most shrimp available in the metro area is frozen—and that's not a bad thing! Just make sure the bag states where the shrimp was fished and has the label "IQF," which means the shrimp were frozen individually and not in a great big block. To defrost the little buggers, stash them in the fridge for a day or run them under cool water in the sink.
We know from a certain Robert Zemeckis film from the '90s that there are many, many ways to prepare shrimp—watch this guy teach you how to make Shrimp Creole!
