5 Quarts of Shrimp Stock - How to Use?

[EarlyBird]

All,

After having made shrimp and grits a couple of months ago for guests, I still have about 5 quarts of very intense shrimp stock in my freezer.

I want to do something with it this weekend. I was thinking something like an Asian-style soup with greens, tofu and shrimp. Or, I could do something spicy and non-Asian, and final product does not necessarily need to include shrimp.

Any ideas? I'm pretty open, the only rule that I don't want any leftover stock at the end of cooking. I should also probably point out that I'm in Los Angeles, so don't necessarily have access to great shellfish.

Thanks for helping me brainstorm.

[itaunas]

In our house we do a slightly non-traditional version of "Bobô de Camarão" a Brazilian yuca and shrimp stew preparation that cooks the yuca in the shrimp stock, we season it with the ingredients including coconut milk and then add the shrimp. The more traditional manner is to make separately a yuca puree and what is essentially a shrimp moqueca (except many versions don't use bell pepper which is always part of a moqueca), then combine the two to serve. There are two styles of bobô - Capixaba (from Espirito Santo) and Baiano (from Bahia). The Capixaba version unlike their moqueca usually still includes coconut milk, but uses olive oil and annato. The Baiano uses palm oil (dendê) and can even include ginger in a few recipes. Both use green onion, cilantro (and often parsley too in Bahia), onion, and tomato. If you can get hungarian cheese peppers they are a nice substitute for the bell pepper and if you can't get Brazilian peppers, a rocoto pepper or even aji amarillo would provide a nice sensation. You can find some pictures online and given a preference between Capixaba/Baiana I can provide more detailed instructions..

[EarlyBird]

That sounds awesome.

[EarlyBird]

All, thanks for the great suggestions.

I am going to look into JungMann's recommendations, since I've been on a jag this past year to learn Asian flavor profiles. My wife and I moved next door to a Chinese-American who learned to cook from his Chinese mother, who comes to town regularly and has taught me a few simple things.

To answer Tom P's question, I'm in mid-town (Fairfax and Wilshire).

I like the gumbo and jambalaya and other Creole-Cajun inspired ideas, which is my first thought when I think of shrimp or shrimp stock. Once a year, typically around Superbowl Sunday, I will break out Big Blue, my 13 1/4 quart Le Crueset Dutch oven and make a massive amount of gumbo.

Oh, and I will throw this guantet down: I make a MEAN gumbo. I would even compete with it in LA if I could find a competition.

Thanks again. Please keep the suggestions coming.

[JungMann]

Pancit palabok is probably my favorite authentically Asian use for your stock, but it differs significantly from your typical Asian flavor profiles in that it incorporates Spanish techniques and elements due to the long colonial period in the Philippines.

[Tom P]

Would love to hear about how you make your Gumbo, yum! My fraternal grandmother would get up around 5 AM to start her roux. She spent 2-3 hours slowly stirring until it was literally black. Not brown, black. Commander's Palace in Vegas (no longer open) is the only gumbo I've ever had that had such a black roux. I haven't the patience!

The best seafood places I go to are in Glendale, which is not an easy trek for you. Are there places in the Farmer's Market where you could find good seafood?

[EarlyBird]

Sadly, Farmer's Market (at 3rd and Fairfax, a stone's throw from my place) is a seafood wasteland. Don't even get me started on Tusquella's Seafood, which has overpriced, under-fresh fish ("and so little of it") and cooked, headless, i.e., useless-for-cooking, shrimp and other shellfish.

A run-down on my gumbo: I get whole raw shrimp from Seafood City at Vermont and 3rd, Andouille sausage and a smoked ham hock from Huntington Meats at the FM, chicken thighs, bell pepper, onions, garlic, celery, etc. from Whole Foods. I make shrimp stock AND turkey stock out of two turkey backs. I poach the ham hock in the turkey stock, and break up the meat for use in the gumbo. That's the liquid, along with a few bottles of clam juice.

I use the Alton Brown method for roux, which is to actually bake it in cast iron skillet. I get mine VERY dark, but not black, and I will not have the temerity to even consider that my gumbo could come close your's or any dear grandma who would get up at 5:00 a.m. to make a roux, bless her. She could probably do the whole dish in her sleep.

By the way, I was at Commander's Palace at Vegas before it closed and probably had the best dining experience, if not exactly the best food, of my life.

[twodales]

Add some to a nice Thai soup.

[acgold7]

Or bouillabaisse or cioppino.

In LA you have great shellfish either at Santa Monica Seafood or in Chinatown or Monterey Park or.... all over the place.

[scottca075]

Lots of good ideas so far. I use my left over stock (chicken, beef, fish or shrimp) to make pho.

I use the fish or shrimp stock to make paella, rice (instead of water in the automatic cooker), Jambalaya, bisque and bouillabaisse.

[WCchopper]

I third the gumbo suggestion.

[Uncle Bob]

It's a No-brainer!!!.....You have the beginnings of a Seafood Gumbo..........

[jmcarthur8]

I usually use mine in a spicy tomato, fish and seafood soup, i.e. cod, shrimp and mussels. It gives the red soup a deeper flavor.

[Tom P]

I also was thinking Paella or risotto. Where are you in LA? I am in LA also and can find good shellfish pretty easily (I am an eastsider.) But if it is an intense stock, you could make a risotto without shrimp, etc and still have that wonderful flavor. And paella... yum. Make the paella with chicken thighs, lots of good sausages, all the traditional vegetables and seasonings and you'd have a wonderful dish.

Also: chicken and sausage gumbo, or some Jambalaya.

[ChezFran]

There is a recipe on the Saveur website for Shrimp Bisque using shells....http://m.saveur.com/article/Recipes/S...

[JungMann]

Shrimp and chicken gumbo
Noodles with ground pork and shrimp sauce (Pancit palabok)
Shrimp and ginger congee with fried tofu
Coconut shrimp broth with red curry

[wattacetti]

I was thinking paella, which doesn't necessarily need to have a lot of shellfish in it.

[thimes]

a shrimp risotto would use that up in no time flat and taste very yummy.

[ROCKLES]

That would work very well in Bisque..shrimp, salmon, lobster..and frozen shrimp, or lobster would work just as well.