Shrimp Étouffée
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
Étouffée
- 600 g large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined rounded
- 70 g unsalted butter, for roux rounded
- 70 g all-purpose flour rounded
- 200 g onion, finely diced rounded
- 120 g green bell pepper, finely diced rounded
- 80 g celery, finely diced rounded
- 15 g garlic, minced rounded
- 800 ml unsalted seafood stock, kept warm rounded
- 12 g homemade Creole seasoning rounded
- 1 bay leaf rounded
- 10 ml Louisiana-style hot sauce rounded
- 15 ml lemon juice rounded
- 20 g unsalted butter, to finish rounded
- 40 g scallions, sliced rounded
- 20 g parsley, chopped rounded
Rice
- 300 g long-grain white rice rounded
- 540 ml water rounded
Method
Method
- Keep raw shrimp and its equipment separate. Cook rice separately in the measured water.
- Melt 70 g butter in the deep skillet. Add flour and stir continuously, scraping corners, for 4 to 7 minutes until tan or light peanut-butter coloured with no black specks. If it smells acrid, discard and restart.
- Add onion, pepper, and celery immediately and cook 6 minutes. Add garlic for 30 seconds, then gradually whisk in warm stock without splashing.
- Add seasoning, bay, and hot sauce. Simmer 15 to 20 minutes until the gravy coats a spoon.
- Add shrimp only for the last 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat as soon as they are pearly and opaque. Add lemon, finish butter, scallions, and parsley. Rest 5 minutes and serve over rice. This tomato-free butter-roux route is one Louisiana approach, not the only Cajun or Creole method.
Ingredient substitutions
- The source tradition often uses Louisiana crawfish tails. In Germany or Canada, frozen crawfish tails from a specialist may replace shrimp by weight. Shrimp are sweeter and firmer and lack crawfish fat, so they are not identical and must be added only at the end.
- Homemade Creole seasoning controls salt. Commercial Germany or Canada blends vary; reduce separate salt and avoid garlic salt or onion salt.
Notes
- Cool sauce and rice separately in shallow containers within 2 hours. Refrigerate no more than 2 days. Reheat gently to 74°C without prolonged boiling.
- For best freezing, make and freeze sauce before adding shrimp for up to 2 months, then add fresh shrimp after thawing. Cooked shrimp become firmer if frozen in sauce.