So at 10 pm night before last, I finally got around to reading my Garden & Gun Magazine. Do not read the article at a time of day that you do not have immediate access to oysters. Which, unless you read it while sitting on the causeway, who does have access at 10 pm on a Monday night. Rick Bragg's article on oysters put me into an oyster craving tailspin that lasted a week, and the eating of fried oysters on 4 different occasions in one week. Ray made the onesin the picture above using one of the recipes in this issue. They were so good. I am going to have to fast for two weeks to get over this craving.
So the pyster obession lead to me searching for a prized secret recipe in Mom's old cookbook. Thes shrimp above were made using a recipe that I found in Mom's cookbook:
Mom's handwriting in pencil for this recipe written on the back of a piece a box of baby wipes circa 1979. As I recall Mom went to the back door of the kitchen and handed a cook some money for this recipe. Hazel's in Orange Beach (now Doc's Seafood) had the best fried shrimp you've ever tasted. It was a treat to get to-go food from there. Problem was we were usually feeding an army of people with enormous appetite's. So more often Mom & Dad would pull a shrimp net in Cottage Bayou or Terry's Cove well into the wee hours of the night. We'd then all go out and sort shrimp, de-head, and de-vein, and eww and ahh at the unusual fish they caught that made it back to the wharf. The next morning, Jed, Jud, and I would have to go out to the 13' Boston Whaler and clean it, the coolers, and the shrimp net that had sat outside all night a few hours that morning in 90 degree temps. One day Mom & Dad looked out the window and we all had clothes pins on our noses to try and keep the smell out (we had plenty of clothes pins because we did not have a dryer at the time, we had to hang out all clothes on a line). The next night they would take one of those big propane burners and a huge pot (one that invisible balls were caught in) and you'd eat two dozen fried shrimp straight from a cookie dish lined with paper towels before we ever sat down to actually eat dinner at a table. It really spoiled us because if we did go out to eat and order a child's plate of fried shrimp, it would arrive with 6 shrimp on it. We'd probably stuffed 6 shrimp in our mouth at one time on a dare back at the Bayou House. I think Jed liked eating the fired tails if I recall correctly.
Everything about these shrimp remind me of "Noel & Smokey", not "Mom & Dad". They had so much fun shrimping late at night, like they were boyfriend and girlfriend, instead of married. They had alot of fun together making these amazing memories.
