WE GOT SHRIMP!

[trof]

10 pounds of 20-25 count whites.
That's mostly LARGE.
Grilling size.
$3.50/lb.

A guy who lives near us has an unofficial deal with folks in our neighborhood.
He calls in when he's coming back from a trip and we each sign on for so-many pounds.
We usually buy his entire catch.

He makes more than wholesaling to the seafood market, we pay less than we would retail.
Win-Win.

There are some good things about living in coastal Alabama.

[trof]

1. Guess I sould have mentioned they were 'heads on'.

So you lose a bit there.
We boil up the heads and make shrimp stock.
Use it in gumbo.

The boiled heads are strained out and then dumped in the bay.
Crabs and fish love 'em.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

2. the circle of life ... so glad to hear about the gulf shrimp

my Grandpa always said the Gulf Shrimp were the best

[KamaAina]

3. Sounds like the seafood version of CSA

Community Supported Agriculture.

A friend of mine has a CSA farm in a different part of the South.

http://www.tubbycreekfarm.com

[trof]

4. Yes, it is.

Many restaurants here are proponents of that.

[KamaAina]

5. Ha! The Bay Area thinks it invented locavore.

Okay, we did. But it's nice to see it getting out there.

[Chan790]

11. Southern New England was doing locavore before it had a name.

"If you can't find it growing or made within twenty miles of here, you don't need to be eating it." -Chan's Grandfather, circa 1983

[KamaAina]

6. I suppose the concept might extend to things like farmed catfish

elsewhere in the South, or tilapia elsewhere.

There are similar arrangements in which ranchers contract out sides of beef or whatever.

[aikoaiko]

7. The only thing better than Alabama Gulf shrimp is...

....Georgia shrimp -- white or brown.

Better yet is the shrimp you have (like yours) over the shrimp I don't have.

[Denninmi]

8. What about the BP spill?

Isn't all of that gunk still in the Gulf? Are they safe?

[trof]

9. No one knows.

But tests show shrimp OK so far.

[Denninmi]

10. Well, look at it this way.

If you want to fry them, you don't need to use any additional oil. Fry 'em in what is in 'em.

Shrimp are problematic. They raise the farmed ones from foreign countries in questionable conditions. Foreign sourced shrimp may have all kinds of nasties because of where they come from, places like China or Vietnam. Gulf shrimp have the question of BP. Carolina shrimp may be the best bet, but good luck getting them anywhere but locally, and even then, there is a lot of industrial and agricultural contamination in those waters.

[trof]

12. Thanks for the info, but this ain't my first time at the rodeo.

Everything you say about foreign shrimp is true. Especially 'pond raised'.
Pollutants and antibiotics.
That's why the big bags of frozen shrimp at Sam's are so cheap.

These shrimp come from the intracoastal waterway, just a few miles down the bay from where I live. No oil or dispersants ever got there.
Of that I am sure.

Thanks for the warning though.

[Denninmi]

13. That's good.

If you can get local, fantastic.

[Jenoch]

17. Deep fried shrimp heads are really good, try it sometime with your bounty.

[NightWatcher]

14. I worked on a dredge in Mobile Bay and we bought some directly off a shrimp boat

The boat was headed in to Bayou La Batre, I think, and he tossed up a nice sized sack.

I saw some beautiful sunsets and sunrises out in the Gulf.

[trof]

15. Yep, the gulf is a beautiful place to be.

It's why I live here, in spite of the politics.

[nolabear]

16. Hey! You in Mobile? Bayou la Batre?

I grew up not far from you. Pascagoula/Biloxi. Miss dem swimps.