Deep Down, My Favorite Shrimp

Frank Patti of Pensacola, Fla., one of the most colorful characters in an area long known for fostering eccentrics, was the first person to commercially catch ruby reds, as they're also known, in the Gulf in 1966. The son of Sicilian immigrants who opened Joe Patti's Seafood in 1931, Patti knows shrimp and the Gulf the way the Clintons know Capitol Hill. I asked him how his mother would have cooked these denizens of the deep, and he told me that they cook in one-third the time of other shrimp: "45 seconds in boiling water. You bring your water to a boil and throw the shrimp in. They'll be done before the water can come back to a boil. Really, they're done about as soon as you put them in."

My Gulf Coast friend Ann Bullock, who shops at Patti's twice a week, sent me her recipe for royal reds in an e-mail. She prepares them by peeling them, sprinkling them with lime juice and cooking them in hot butter for a minute. "I rinse the pan with tequila. It's a tasty and quick supper."

Though Patti, 75, no longer shrimps, he still holds court in his bustling waterfront store, which sees 75,000 visitors each month. Bullock told me: "The place is an institution. When you go in, you get a number. On busy days, and most are, a sheriff hands out the numbers!"

Perhaps only Edward Wood of Wood's Fisheries in Port St. Joe, Fla., knows more about wild shrimp. Wood's, founded in 1860, is a fifth-generation business at the forefront of the movement to promote the environmentally friendlier wild-caught shrimp from American waters. Instead of being scooped from ponds and shipped here from abroad in container ships, wild American shrimp are netted directly from their natural environment. From the docks, they come to your table only after meeting government environmental standards and becoming certified by Wild American Shrimp, a trade group. Though excessive bycatches have long been a problem, shrimpers say the bycatch with royal reds is insignificant, making them decidedly environmentally friendlier than imported, pond-raised shrimp.

After tasting seven varieties of previously frozen shrimp bought at Washington's waterfront wharf, as well as frozen royal reds from last year's Gulf catch, I can safely proclaim that wild-caught shrimp taste better, and that royal reds taste best of all. They're comparable in size and price to other shrimp, but they're often described as both sweeter and saltier, and they have a distinctive, more delicate texture. In spite of the difficulty in harvesting them, they remain a sort of Holy Grail among shrimp lovers.

Chef Tory McPhail of Commander's Palace in New Orleans is a fan. At the recent International Association of Culinary Professionals conference in his city, he sang the royal reds' praises at a panel on wild American shrimp. "If you can find them, buy as many as you can, take them home and freeze them," he told the audience. "Hands down, one of the best pieces of seafood I've ever eaten in my life."

Even more so than for other shrimp, it's important not to overcook royal reds; they will lose their unique texture and subtle flavor. Not surprisingly, the recipes I've developed are simple, reflecting both the Greek and Mexican influences in Gulf Coast cooking. You can use other shrimp in the recipes, but you'll need to cook them a minute or two longer. And remember: The results will certainly be tasty, but not as glorious as with royal reds.

John Martin Taylor, author of four cookbooks, blogs at http://www.HoppinJohns.net. He lives in Washington.