Kurt's Thoughts

The more I experiment with this supposed recipe that’s been floating around the Internet at AllRecipes.com and other locations, the more I’m convinced that it’s WAY the hell off base.  People seem to think that the Internet is the source of all truth without realizing that it only contains the information that other people WANT you to know.  It just goes to prove how, much like Wikipedia, the Internet is full of truthiness (information that ‘feels’ true but has no fact to back up it’s claim) but often very little actual truth. 

In any case, nothing much to report because I got really sick due to some packaged goods that gave me food poisoning that had nothing to do with Killer Shrimp.  (Damn you Munchos!  Damn you to hell!)  But a couple things arose in my quest for “Killer Shrimp” I thought was notable:

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KILLER SHRIMP… IN CHICAGO?!?
This is no joke.  Apparently, the owner of the original Killer Shrimp chain moved to Chicago.  Bastard.  And he’s opening up a store there this summer.  No one seems to have details however other than, it’s in Chicago, and it’s happening this summer.

Yes, this is the original Killer Shrimp.  Along with the original Killer Shrimp logo.  Here’s the front end web site that they’ve set up for the new restaurant:

• Killer Shrimp Chicago
  http://www.killershrimp.com

Great.  So he closes up shop in Studio City & Marina Del Rey to open up in Chi-town?  Sorry.  I can’t get behind that at all.  Oh who am I kidding.  I’ll probably fly in just to get a sample of the broth to retest against my current formula/recipe.  Thank God for United Frequent Flyer miles.

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JACK SHRIMP… BROTHER OF THE KILLER SHRIMP GUY
The other thing is that there’s a place in Newport Beach called “Jack Shrimp” which has a broth reportedly identical to that of Killer Shrimp.  The reason is, “Jack Shrimp” is run by Jack Jasper, the brother of the guy who ran “Killer Shrimp”.

The story, according to my friend Stephanie and this LA Times news article, is that Jack’s sister & a partner took their grandmother’s recipe and opened up the Killer Shrimp chain – strictly selling shrimp broth and only shrimp broth.  Meanwhile, Jack set up his own restaurant in Newport Beach diversifying the menu.  If it’s true, and the same recipe is used at both locations, this could be a boon to figuring out what the recipe is.

Hey – it beats flying to Chicago.

• Jack Shrimp of Newport Beach
  http://www.jackshrimp.com

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SHRIMP/FISH STOCK?
My friend, Steph the wonder cook, brought this up a few months ago and I only remembered it today when I was parsing through some old Chowhound threads.  I found a mention of the inclusion of “shrimp or fish stock” in a Chowhound post the other day which might provide that all important “savory” taste that I think is still missing.  Only one question remains:  WTF is Shrimp/Fish stock?

• Shrimp/fish stock?
  http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/540371

I’ll give this a try once I figure out what it really is and how much to start with.

And for what it’s worth – the creation of this broth is such a laborious task that I actually don’t think that researching and publishing the recipe is that much of a concern to the restaurants that use it.  The dish isn’t that expensive but the cost of preparing it in time and labor is huge.  While the overall cost of goods isn’t high, you really have to make it in bulk for it to be worth one’s time which is why doing it as a restaurant dish as opposed to a home-cooked dish really makes a lot of sense.

Well, that didn’t work,

Let it be known that parmesan cheese sours a broth.  Literally.  The sour taste of the cheese permeated the broth like I’d added too much tomato paste and that was disappointing.  The rosemary seemed to be a tasty addition however so that was a plus.

However I’m at the point where the acidity of the broth is much too high.  I may need to start the broth completely over from scratch using no starter broth from previous batches.

“WE USE A TON OF BUTTER…”
One thing stuck out in my mind and that was the look of the broth close up.  If you take a look at the edges of the broth in the white bowl in the photo, you can see some froth that is missing in the current experimental recipe. (And every other recipe out there as well)  It also appears to lack the oily look of the current broth which is interesting to me.

I consulted my friend Steph about this aberration and she suddenly began thinking about all sorts of reasons the broth looked so different in the picture compared to the current recipe.  She determined that the froth is the result of the butter.  Milk solids appear like that when you add butter to soups and if you add it early enough, you don’t get that layer of oil at the top of the broth – something the current experimental recipe suffers from.

This makes sense, especially considering you never saw a layer of oil on the original broth.  You might have seen some swirling in the bowl but never a LAYER.  Additionally, it’s well quoted that the Killer Shrimp folk commented several times in quotes that “we use a ton of butter” as part of the cooking process.

So the primary addition of butter is now being added at the VERY END of the cooking process, with some butter used for the mirepoix melting process.  The result is a tastier broth with a froth at the top that tastes good!

GARLIC CHUNKS… NOT MUSH
Another change is the nature of the how the garlic is mixed into the broth.  Previously, I’ve made sure the garlic melted pretty well, but now I’m not so sure.  When looking at the broth sediment of the original Killer Shrimp, you could notice that there were remnants of garlic at the bottom, meaning that it hadn’t completely dissolved into the soup.

So I’m now chopping the garlic but not crushing it like the rest of the spices.  And I’m making sure not to melt it down as part of the mirepoix but rather just let it soften.

So here’s what we’ve got now in this batch:

Killer Shrimp
(version .04)

INGREDIENTS:

• ½ small onion, diced
• 1 celery rib, diced
• 1 moderate sized carrot, diced
• 5 cloves Garlic, chopped/diced small
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 quarts low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoon FRESH – not dried – Rosemary
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper (3/4 teaspoon if PREVIOUS batch of Killer Shrimp is available)
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (3/4 teaspoon if PREVIOUS batch of Killer Shrimp is available)
• 8oz clam juice (was 1 cup clam juice supposed to change to 2 cups but switched back to 8 oz)
• 3 tablespoons (3 oz) of tomato paste (was 1/2 (6 ounce) can tomato paste)
• 1 cup beer (ale)
• 1 ½ pounds shrimp, with tails
• 1 (1 pound) loaf French bread
• 2 cups of PREVIOUS batch of Killer Shrimp

DIRECTIONS:

1. Fry onion, celery, carrots, garlic in a small pad of the butter until fragrant and soft in a large pot.  Do not use more than a pad here.
2. Take all the spices (rosemary, thyme, pepper, celery seed, fennel seed, pepper flakes) and cut/crush them enough that they remain whole but are broken to more easily release flavor.
3. Pour in broth, and mix in rosemary, thyme, pepper, celery seed, fennel seed, clam juice, pepper flakes, & tomato paste. Place cover on pot to maintain consistency.
4. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
5. Stir beer into the broth mixture as well as PREVIOUS batch of Killer Shrimp and continue to simmer and occasionally stir 2 hours.
6. Just before serving, stir in shrimp. Continue cooking 3 minutes, or until shrimp are opaque. Remove and place in serving bowl.
7. Add remaining butter in pads.  Stir until all pads are melted.  Once melted, quickly turn off heat and serve broth with previously separated shrimp in bowls.
8. Serve with bread.

Well, the addition of a carrot to the broth was a success from the last batch. 

FRESHEN UP THE ROSEMARY!
Today, we are adding fresh Rosemary at the recommendation of my friend Stephanie Lemus.  She says that the 2 tablespoons of FRESH Rosemary instead of dried makes a huge difference.  I’m curious as to what sort of difference it makes but nonetheless trust her judgment when it comes to food considering I’m an engineering hack and she’s an award-winning cook that’s actually competed for money.  I, on the other hand, am still trying to find people to eat my experiments other than my wife.

THE GREAT PARMESAN EXPERIMENT
I also added a single tablespoon of parmesan cheese believing that this might be the savory taste that is missing.  It clearly needs something to create a more complete flavor and I’m hoping this is it.  I am continuing to use a bottle of Stella Artois as the beer of choice for this broth however the only reason I haven’t shifted to a deeper beer like Guinness is because I don’t have any and keep forgetting to buy some at the local grocery.  Maybe next batch.

With about 2 cups of the original batch just mixed, we now have the complete broth simmering for the next hour or so.  I’m eagerly anticipating the outcome of the great “Parmesan” experiment as it could be a big departure from what I’m used to. 

So for those keeping score, this is batch #5:
(Recent changes have been highlighted in BOLD)

Killer Shrimp
(version .03)

INGREDIENTS:

• ½ small onion, diced
• 1 celery rib, diced
• 1 moderate sized carrot, diced
• 5 cloves Garlic, minced
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 quarts low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoon FRESH – not dried – Rosemary
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper (3/4 teaspoon if PREVIOUS batch of Killer Shrimp is available)
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (3/4 teaspoon if PREVIOUS batch of Killer Shrimp is available)
• 1 tablespoon of Parmesan Cheese
• 8oz clam juice (was 1 cup clam juice supposed to change to 2 cups but switched back to 8 oz)
• 3 tablespoons (3 oz) of tomato paste (was 1/2 (6 ounce) can tomato paste)
• 1 cup beer (ale)
• 1 ½ pounds shrimp, with tails
• 1 (1 pound) loaf French bread
• 2 cups of PREVIOUS batch of Killer Shrimp

DIRECTIONS:

1. Fry onion, celery, carrots, garlic in the butter until fragrant and soft in a large pot.
2. Take all the spices (rosemary, thyme, pepper, celery seed, fennel seed, pepper flakes) and cut/crush them enough that they remain whole but are broken to more easily release flavor.
3. Pour in broth, and mix in rosemary, thyme, pepper, celery seed, fennel seed, clam juice, pepper flakes, & tomato paste. Place cover on pot to maintain consistency.
4. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
5. Stir beer & cheese into the broth mixture as well as PREVIOUS batch of Killer Shrimp and continue to simmer and occasionally stir 2 hours.
6. Just before serving, stir in shrimp. Continue cooking 3 minutes, or until shrimp are opaque.
7. Serve with bread.

When last I wrote, I was still whipping up experimental batches of Killer Shrimp based on recipes gathered across the Internet.  This should serve as documentation of my 4th attempt which incorporated not only the changes from the various web sites that I’d examined but also the advice of my wife.

STILL… MISSING… UMAMI!
In the last batch, I was struggling with the fact that the tongue-wagging, center-of-one’s-palette, ‘savory’ taste of Killer Shrimp that compels one to eat & eat & eat mouthful after next of bread dipped in the red-orange broth was still sort of missing.  I concluded that it was possible that it was the process itself that created this flavor:  In other words only after creating a batch of the broth could one create a more perfect broth by using the initial batch as a base.

So indeed, I saved 2 cups of the original broth and added it during the beer phase of the cooking process with the intention of mellowing out the flavor and making it more well rounded.  I also cooked up the batch then let it set overnight to see if that helped, as this often makes many meals I have attain a better balanced, fulfilling taste.

THE ADDITION OF “MIREPOIX”
Additionally, my wife noticed that something needed to cut the flavor a little.  She thought of adding plain sugar at first but we decided to think about it. 

It then dawned on her that the addition of pre-softened onion & celery from Jaden Hair’s recipe sounded awfully close to just simply kickstarting the dish with something called “mirepoix”, a traditional flavor base for many French dishes.  Considering that Killer Shrimp’s origins were from New Orleans’ cajun/French quarter, it would make perfect sense that this recipe started with a complete “mirepoix” stock.

Being that the only thing missing was a carrot, I decided to simply just add it to the preparation.

THE BEER.  AND IT’S DEFINITELY BEER.
Just a note:  I’d written that I had some question as to whether or not the recipe required wine or beer, and in the end, I believe it really is beer.  My friend Steph concluded that the beer’s more robust flavor greatly contributed to Killer Shrimp’s unique gusto and I agree.

CONCLUSION
The end result was very good however I discovered something of a backlash from the pepper used.  Because I simmer the broth down so much, because I may have overchopped the spices, and because I added the previous batches broth to the mix, it came out overly hot and the pepper sadly detracted from the broth’s overall taste.

So if you make this, keep in mind that reducing the pepper may be necessary if you simmer down the recipe too far or use a starter broth.  Changes made to the recipe have been highlighted in bold font.

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Killer Shrimp
(version .02)

INGREDIENTS:

• ½ small onion, diced
• 1 celery rib, diced
• 1 moderate sized carrot, diced
• 5 cloves Garlic, minced
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (was 1 cup butter)
• 2 quarts low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoon rosemary
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper (3/4 teaspoon if PREVIOUS batch of Killer Shrimp is available)
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (3/4 teaspoon if PREVIOUS batch of Killer Shrimp is available)
• 8oz clam juice (was 1 cup clam juice supposed to change to 2 cups but switched back to 8 oz)
• 3 tablespoons (3 oz) of tomato paste (was 1/2 (6 ounce) can tomato paste)
• 1 cup beer (ale)
• 1 ½ pounds shrimp, with tails
• 1 (1 pound) loaf French bread
• 2 cups of PREVIOUS batch of Killer Shrimp

DIRECTIONS:

1. Fry onion, celery, carrots, garlic in the butter until fragrant and soft in a large pot.
2. Take all the spices (rosemary, thyme, pepper, celery seed, fennel seed, pepper flakes) and cut/crush them enough that they remain whole but are broken to more easily release flavor.
3. Pour in broth, and mix in rosemary, thyme, pepper, celery seed, fennel seed, clam juice, pepper flakes, & tomato paste. Place cover on pot to maintain consistency.
4. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
5. Stir beer into the broth mixture as well as PREVIOUS batch of Killer Shrimp and continue to simmer and occasionally stir 2 hours.
6. Just before serving, stir in shrimp. Continue cooking 3 minutes, or until shrimp are opaque.
7. Serve with bread.

Like I said before, my wife and I have been modifying the ‘Internet classic Killer Shrimp’ recipe in an effort to get a taste that is closer to the real thing.  One of the variations we attempted while narrowing down the correct formula involved extending & reengineering the cooking process.

CREATING A BASE STOCK FOR KILLER SHRIMP
When cooking for a long period of time (6 hours), we noticed that the red pepper oils seems to completely get absorbed into the soup.  This does a couple things:  One, it makes the soup hotter than we’re used to, and two, the soups “upper layer” is in particular distinctively hotter relative to the rest of the soup.  This of course is what you generally end up eating more of initially.

And interesting thing happens however:  Once you’ve eaten off that higher layer of ‘spicier’ soup, the remaining soup is delicious.  It’s loaded with umami and has a savory, scrumptious flavor to it.   It’s a little thicker than I’m used to – almost like a gumbo or maybe a jambalaya sauce – but our next step is to use it as the base stock for the next batch of “Killer Shrimp”.

THE PROCESS… COULD IT BE THE MISSING INGREDIENT?
At the heart of all of this is something that I’m not sure has been taken into consideration by most “Killer Shrimp” cooks in pursuit of perfection and that is the process by which the people at Killer Shrimp used to make their broth.  This is what I think may be the missing ingredient that provides a savor that the basic ingredients don’t provide.

Remember that when Killer Shrimp’s employees would cook up a batch, it was highly unlikely they would ever “start a new pot”.  Instead, we believe they would:

1. Create & simmer down one pot for 4-6 hours.
2. Throw in a single serving of shrimp and cook it for a few minutes.
3. Gather all the shrimp and some of the broth, and serve it.
4. Continue this process to serve the majority of the pot.
5. Start another pot separately on another burner, possibly cooking & serving shrimp from it too.
6. Pour the second pot into the first pot to preserve the ‘shrimp stock’ and ‘residual ingredients’ from the original pot.
7. Continue to serve shrimp from pot.
8. Repeat cycle.

What I think this does is provide a richer, more sumptuous, “OMG-I-must-have-more” taste to the broth that would probably be difficult to produce through initial ingredients alone.

More on this later…

UPDATE (5/13/17):
Apparently, there’s a ton of people still hitting this post, despite it being written in 2010.

Folks, I am very aware that Killer Shrimp has reopened in the Marina.   Thank you but there’s no need to let me know…  I LIVE HERE.  🙂

For those not aware, Killer Shrimp closed back in the late 2000’s at it’s original location on Washington Blvd, was going to move to Chicago in the early 2010s, then opened a new location on the Marina several years later after what I was told was a change in the owner’s personal situation.

Y’all are reading the very first post of a very old set of seven posts about our quest to recreate the recipe.  Here’s the seventh & final post that was written back in June 2012:
https://kurtsthoughts.com/2012/06/30/in-search-of-the-recipe-for-marina-del-reys-killer-shrimp-part-7-our-recipe-finale-release-1-0/ 

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ORIGINAL POST (4/24/10):
A friend of mine from work, Stephanie Lemus, (who incidentally was one of the 100 people selected to compete in this year’s $1,000,000 Pillsbury Bake Off for her original recipe for Candied Bacon & Apple Canapes) forwarded me the recipe for what was supposed to be the broth from “Killer Shrimp”, a rather famous place to eat in Marina Del Rey that closed down a few years ago.

Many folks – particularly single folk – would go there and eat the one thing they sold:  Shrimp in a spicy cajun style broth.  They served it with your choice of french bread, rice, or noodles but that was all they served.  One dish, 3 ways.  And it was good enough to run a business on for at least a decade or so.

Sadly, Killer Shrimp is no more.  Reportedly there’s a place called Jack Shrimp in Newport Beach that has an identical recipe (supposedly a brother of the Killer Shrimp owner) but beyond that, there’s no where in LA to get this stuff… unless you make it yourself.

I’ve looked at the recipe Steph gave me and compared it to the comments & advice about similar recipes from several locations (references below) and came up with the aggregate you see below.  Basically, I used the ‘wisdom of crowds’ to come up with what I think is the closest thing to the original Killer Shrimp recipe.  For instance, it seems universally recognized by those that have tried this recipe that the chicken broth should be ‘low sodium’… that ‘thyme’ needs to be added… that red pepper flakes need to be added… that beer gets used instead of white wine (although I disagree on this point – being that the origination of this substitution seems to be a single comment made on one web site without any sort of corroboration)… that the amount of tomato paste should be reduced to 3 oz… etc. etc.

One very important thing we’ve learned is that there is no getting around the cooking time.  You absolutely must cook this for 3 hours or more even if you cut the spices.

Anyway – here it is so far.  Consider this a beta.  It’s not perfect yet.  My wife and I are still testing some things, specifically the usage of lemon, the trade off between using white wine or beer, adding sea salt, etc.:

Killer Shrimp
(version .01b)

INGREDIENTS:

• • • ½ small onion, diced
    • 1 celery rib, diced
    • 5 cloves Garlic, minced
    • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (was 1 cup butter)
    • 2 quarts low-sodium chicken broth (can be overly salty if not low-sodium)
    • 1 ½ tablespoon rosemary (was 2 tablespoons rosemary)
    • 2 teaspoons dried thyme
    • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
    • 1 teaspoon celery seed
    • 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
    • 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
    • 8oz clam juice (was 1 cup clam juice supposed to change to 2 cups but switched back to 8 oz)
    • 3 tablespoons (3 oz) of tomato paste (was 1/2 (6 ounce) can tomato paste)
    • 1 cup white wine (or beer)
    • 1 ½ pounds shrimp, with tails
    • Optional: Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
    • 1 (1 pound) loaf French bread

DIRECTIONS:

1. Fry onion, celery, garlic in the butter until fragrant and soft in a large pot.
2. Take all the spices (rosemary, thyme, pepper, celery seed, fennel seed, pepper flakes) and cut/crush them enough that they remain whole but are broken to more easily release flavor.
3. Pour in broth, and mix in rosemary, thyme, pepper, celery seed, fennel seed, clam juice, pepper flakes, & tomato paste. Place cover on pot to maintain consistency.
4. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
5. Stir beer into the broth mixture and continue to simmer and occasionally stir 2 hours.
6. Just before serving, stir in shrimp. Continue cooking 3 minutes, or until shrimp are opaque.
7. Serve with bread.

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References:

1. http://quantumrelativity.calsci.com/Recipes/KillerShrimp.html
2. http://www.recipegoldmine.com/fishseaK/killer-shrimp.html
3. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/540371
4. http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/Killer-Shrimp-Soup/Detail.aspx
5. http://steamykitchen.com/80-killer-cajun-shrimp.html
6. Comments from one posting:
   1. Too much butter. It should be 1 stick (1/2 cup) at the most and some people may find they would rather use less.
   2. The shrimp MUST have the whole skin on. The flavor that the shrimp peels adds to the mix is essential, yet indefinable.
   3. Double the amount of clam juice to 16 oz
   4. Reduce the Rosemary by 1/3 and double the amount of fennel, add 1 tsp dried thyme
   5. Reduce the tomato paste to 3 TBSP
   6. Add salt, preferably sea salt
   7. Add 1 tsp of red pepper flakes (or to taste)
   8. Add hot sauce to taste. Finally, there is a secret ingredient involved, which I am not prepared to divulge. But the above will get you close.