Much Anticipated and Long Awaited Live Shrimp in Chinatown

Live shrimp available today in Chinatown. The ones at Mayflower were of a larger size than Chinatown Market

Mayflower Foods
2140 S Archer
Chicago, IL
312-326-7450



Chinatown Market
2121 S Archer Ave
Chicago, IL 60616

Oh, joy!

I can finally make zui xia in the proper way.*

Thank you for the heads up, Jay K.

E.M.

* "Drunken prawns."

Erik,

Will your drunken prawns behave anything like the prawns in Tampopo?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Will your drunken prawns behave anything like the prawns in Tampopo?

I can only hope.

E.M.

Cool. Thanks so much.

Did anyone buy these? How much per pound? How did they taste? What? Who? When?

-ramon

HI,

I was at Chinatown Market today where the (barely) live shrimp were $3.50 per pound. In this admittedly poor photo, the most of the shrimps were on their backs with no movement. Here and there a few shrimps whose legs were fluttering.



I wasn't going home promptly so I had to postpone my purchase for another day.

The group from Mayflower above looks substantially more lively than what I saw at Chinatown Market. I will check them out next time.

Regards,

Hey Cathy2,

Stopped off briefly at Chinatown Market looking for some veges today (only bought some snow pea leaves - nothing else looked good) and saw that the shrimp tank was empty - looked like somebody cleaned 'em out for a nice dinner I guess. Usually they run $18.50+/lb I think. For $3.50/lb I would have considered buying them out too. Now how about this weird cooler of stuff - anyone have any idea what they are? Alien spawn?

Tully monsters?

HI,

Those 'things' I kept looking at and wondering myself. The unhinged mouths looked like from a rattlesnake. The body looks like it has been skinned, though that may be the normal way it looks.

The looks of these fish only their Mother could love. The stuff that feed our nightmares.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:In this admittedly poor photo, the most of the shrimps were on their backs with no movement. Here and there a few shrimps whose legs were fluttering.

This reminds me of my all-time favourite weblog entry.



E.M.

Bwahahaha, Erik, Best thing I've read on the internet in ages. Thanks for the link

Jay K wrote:Now how about this weird cooler of stuff - anyone have any idea what they are? Alien spawn?

Saw these too... Could they have been skinned (scaled?) whiting? they were the right size. It didn't occur to me until I was at Caputo's on Sunday and saw fresh whiting in the fish cooler.

Got 'em!

I'm going to a coworker's birthday party right after work, so I had to strike during lunch. I buzzed down to Chinatown, then ran the little fellows home. They're currently chilling in my fridge... click for larger images:





The still photo belies their liveliness. In the ten seconds between when I dumped them into the dish and when I returned with my camera, four had escaped.

I have a plan for them, but I definitely wouldn't mind some input if anybody has any experience with doing simple whole steamed shimp, Chinese style. I'm thinking I'll mix up some shaoshing and soy with some ginger, garlic and maybe a touch of sesame oil, then marinate them with this mixture for an hour or so. Then I'll steam them in a wok with the same mixture... think I should dilute it with a little water before steaming, or leave it as is? A light little dipping sauce, and that's all they need. Anybody have any experience with how long these fellows should need to steam? Not too long, I'm sure, but I'd hate to overdo 'em.

Also, anybody have any thoughts on what variety these fellows are?

Very excited!

HI,

From which vendor did you buy them from? How much did they charge?

I love the idea of the shrimp getting away!

Regards,

I got them at Mayflower. The fellow was actually unpacking another styrofoam crate of them when I arrived. They seemed either dead or on the verge therof as he was unpacking them, but after a little while in the tank, they sprang back to life. All the same, I asked him to pull from another tank where they seemed extremely lively.

I didn't check the actual weight. I asked for a pound, and it cost me $17.

Success!



Well, moderate success, anyway. Sadly, when I returned home at 8:30, my live shrimp had become... merely very fresh. So I marinated them in the more traditional sense, using the ingredients I mentioned above, plus a little sugar. The results weren't quite as transcendent as I'd hoped they would be, but I do think they went a long way towards supporting my suspicion that the only difference between the amazing shrimp we get in China and the shrimp we get in the States is the level of freshness. What struck me, as I was tearing through them, was that some were significantly tastier than others. I'm hypothesizing that the ones that had kicked off earlier in the day were the merely okay ones, while the hearty fellows who had hung in there a little longer were the tasty ones, and I already have a plan to test this hypothesis. Next time, I'm preparing my marinade and taking it to Chinatown in a big tupperware. I'll buy my shrimp, take them back to the car, and toss them in while they're still kicking. Then, as soon as I get home, into the wok they go!

Next time, I expect miracles. Many thanks, Jay, for an exciting food day.

Next time, I'm preparing my marinade and taking it to Chinatown in a big tupperware. I'll buy my shrimp, take them back to the car, and toss them in while they're still kicking. Then, as soon as I get home, into the wok they go

Your statement reminds me of people who love their corn really fresh and sweet. They would set the water to boil, then go out to the field to collect their corn and get it into the pot asap. While it seemed eccentric, older varieties of corn went from sugary to starch fairly quickly.

I will be interested in your shrimp experiences as they develop.

Regards,

Dmnkly wrote:Next time, I'm preparing my marinade and taking it to Chinatown in a big tupperware. I'll buy my shrimp, take them back to the car, and toss them in while they're still kicking. Then, as soon as I get home, into the wok they go!

That's a good idea, and it is somewhat similar to the "Drunken Prawn" technique.

Zui Xia ("Drunken Prawns")

1. Bring 3c. Chinese-style light chicken stock to a simmer in a large pot.

2. Rinse 1 lb. live prawns and place in a lidded casserole/tupperware/etc.

3. Add 1/4c. yellow rice wine.*

4. Seal the casserole etc., and gently shake it to coat the prawns with the wine.

5. When the prawns have stopped moving, transfer them to the simmering stock along with their wine marinade.

6. The prawns are finished when they have turned pink; remove them from the heat and serve immediately.


E.M.

* Preferably hua diao jiu, or "Carved Flower" rice wine from Shao Xing.

Incidentally, the new issue of the Rosengarten Report is all about shrimp, including pictures of different species or varieties or whatever they are.

Live shrimp - 4 tanks full at Mayflower available this evening 5-13-06.

Chinatown Mkt's got these interesting fish - looks like cabezon.

Large "Cabezon" (maybe)


Small "Cabezon" (maybe)


Poor sad little guys...

Jay K wrote:Now how about this weird cooler of stuff - anyone have any idea what they are? Alien spawn?

Thanks for the link to this thread, Jay K, I'd missed it origianlly. Glad to know that I answered your question here

Bombay duck is a delicacy (to some) in India. In Bengal (my picture in the link above was taken at a market in Kolkata, Dec. 2007 - I'll post detailed reports by and by), bombay duck or as it is known in Bengali, "Loitta" is probably eaten more in the salted dried form (shutki; pronounced shoot-key) prepared as a dry or wet 'curry'. I had no idea loitta was available in Chicagoland.

Here is another tasty fish (also photographed in Kolkata) - known as topshe (pronounsed tow-pshay) in Bengali. Anyone know what it's name in English (or biological) name is?

[url=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2363/2203368079_2b9e933d5d_b.jpg]Topshe
[/url]
(click for larger view)

Live Spot Prawns (Botan-ebi) at Chinatown Market for $22.99/lb.

Wasn't in the mood for sushi, so didn't buy any yesterday evening.

Following pics come from a prior purchase (but wanted to show you what was up for sale. Many jumbos in the tank.





Aside from the live blue crab, live dungeness and live lobsters, they had these live white crabs with red eyes. I didn't have my camera on me, but I'd never seen them before. They were in a tank (not stored above water like Southeast Asian crabs). Roughly same size as a dungeness (certainly not snow or king crab). Claw bands read PRODUCT OF USA. Any idea what they could be? I haven't been able to locate an approximate pic on Google.

They also had the regular live shrimp as pictured in previous posts.

Blurry cell-phone pix of live shrimp we saw the other day after our visit to Spring World; both Mayflower and China Market had them

Where are the best places to buy live shrimp and what are they running per pound?

Thanks in advance.