I've made shrimp stock many times but never with all shrimp heads. What a difference the heads make! The heads are definitely where most of the flavor is. Whenever I visit Karen in Corpus we try to make a point to call the Shrimp Pimp. He delivers the best Gulf Shrimp right to your front door. Once he has weighed the shrimp and pulled the heads off I usually have him toss the heads. The last time I bought from him I decided to keep the heads and schlepp them back to Fort Worth to make some stock.
Some Notes to Self and Observations:
- Using a stock pot with a pasta insert makes it easier to strain the massive amount of solids.
- Always start with COLD water. The stock will be more clear than cloudy this way.
- When using the heads of the shrimp, versus the shells, to make stock the stock will have a much darker color. This may make a difference in the recipe I will use it in.
- The most laborious task while making is the skimming of the foam. I will never perfectly remove all the foam so I don't worry about it. I get what I can.
- Always salt at the end. I found with the heads, I did not have to use salt at all. The heads provided a perfect kiss of salt from the ocean.
- Uses: soup bases, grits for shrimp and grits, cook pasta or rice in the stock for extra flavor
- This recipe halves well. This can be made with 1 to 2 pound of heads. Adjust other ingredients accordingly.
This is the basic.
Rinse the heads and throw in a large pot. I used my 16 quart stock pot with a pasta insert
Prepare all the vegetables and seasonings and throw on top of heads.
Fill pot with enough COLD water to cover ingredients by two inches.
Bring to a boil. When the stock is boiling, skim off any foam that forms at the surface. Lower your heat and let the stock gently simmer for about an hour, hour and a half. Skim foam off as needed.
Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer. When using this large amount of shrimp heads, cooking them in the pasta insert basket made it easy for the first straining. For the second straining I lined a fine mesh strainer with a towel to catch the fine particles and sediment.
Let the broth cool then divide into Ball jars or freezer baggies to freeze.
Shrimp Head Broth
Makes approximately 6 quarts broth
Ingredients:
4 pounds Shrimp heads, rinsed
2 medium yellow onions, coarsely chopped
4 large celery stalks with leaves, washed and coarsely chopped
4 medium carrots, washed and coarsely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
4 bay leaves
2 tsps black peppercorns
Method:
In a large stock pot, place all ingredients and cover with enough COLD water to cover by 2 inches.
Bring to a boil. Skim off any foam that forms on the surface. Lower heat to allow the stock to simmer very gently for about and hour to an hour and a half. As any foam forms, skim it off.
Allow the stock to cool for awhile before straining.
Since I used my stock pot with the pasta insert it allowed the first straining to be really easy; just like straining the spaghetti when you lift the basket out. For the second straining, strain through a fine mesh strainer that has been lined with a piece of muslim, several layers of cheese cloth, or a fine kitchen towel. This will catch any tiny bits and sediment.
Good stocks are always welcome items in my freezer. They couldn't be easier to make. They may take time, but there is always a good day to mark on your calendar to spend comfort time in the kitchen. Turkey stock is the champion during the holiday season. It can be used for gravies and soup bases.
Stock can be made way ahead of the holiday. In the Fall, as soon as I see packages of turkey necks, wings, legs, gizzards, etc. show up in the meat department of my favorite grocery store, I get to work.
This year I used turkey necks, wings and legs. Everything gets rubbed in oil, salted and peppered.
These get roasted in a 400° oven for about 45 minutes.
While the turkey parts are roasting, prepare the vegetables. I used carrots, onion, garlic, celery, and fresh sage leaves.
Once the meats are roasted, remove them, temporarily, and place the vegetables in the bottom of the roasting pan. Give the vegetables a toss to coat with the drippings in the pan.
Return the meats to the pan placing them on top of the vegetables, turning the meats over with the roasted side down.
This gets returned to the oven to roast for 35 minutes longer.
Once the turkey parts and vegetables are removed from the oven they are placed in a large stock pot, covered with water and simmered for 2 hours.
Everything is strained and the stock is cooled in the refrigerator so any fat can be skimmed off.
The stock is now ready for freezing. Pour into four 1-quart Mason jars or four 1-quart plastic freezer bags. If you freeze in Mason jars, be sure to leave space at the top for the stock to expand and put the lid on loosely until the stock is frozen solid. If you elect to freeze in freezer baggies lay them flat on a sided baking sheet until the stock is frozen solid. Also, I would highly suggest NOT using the bags with the slider zippers. They can leak while the baggy is lying flat on a baking sheet. Once frozen solid, the baggies will stack well in the freezer.
Turkey Stock
Adapted from a recipe of Guy Fieri's
Yields 4 quarts of stock
Ingredients:
2 turkey legs
2 turkey wings
2 turkey necks
2 Tbsp. canola oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 large garlic cloves
2 large yellow onions, quartered
2 large carrots scrubbed
3 stalks of celery, chopped in half
6 fresh sage leaves
6 quarts water
Method:
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Evenly rub turkey parts with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place turkey parts in a large roasting pan, skin side down, in oven and roast for 45 minutes.
Prepare and combine vegetables and sage leaves. Reduce heat of oven to 350°F., briefly remove turkey from roasting pan. Add vegetables to roasting pan, tossing to coat in pan juices. Return turkey parts placing skin side up on top of vegetables and continue to roast for another 35 minutes.
Remove pan from oven and transfer turkey parts and vegetables to a 10 quart or larger stock pot. Place the roasting pan over burners of range top (do this only if your roasting pan is a heavy-duty pan), add 2 cups of water to the pan and boil, scraping up any stuck bits. Pour this into the stock pot.
Add 6 quarts of water to the stock pot. Bring to a boil then lower heat and keep to a medium to low simmer for 2 hours, uncovered until stock is deep in color and flavor. Strain turkey and vegetables from stock, pushing any vegetable matter through strainer. Let stock sit, overnight in refrigerator if time allows, then skim off any fat from top.
Divide stock into 4 Mason jars or plastic freezer bags and place in freezer.
