3

I dined at a sushi restaurant recently that had an appetizer called buffalo rock shrimp. Essentially its fried shrimp in a buffalo sauce.

To describe the dish more specifically. The shrimp itself is the most soft, the batter almost has the same consistency as the shrimp itself. The batter is really light and fluffy with a soft crunch on the outside.

I am determined to figuring out how to create such a dish. What is the secret to making batter fried shrimp turn out so soft? Also, what is the secret to making a light fluffy batter for shrimp that is slightly crispy on the outside and does not turn soggy when sauce is added?

I appreciate any advice on how to accomplish this.

AnchovyLegend
  • 228
  • 1
  • 5
  • Random thought... have you considered asking them? – Catija Jul 20 '15 at 22:01
  • The [best sushi](http://www.uchiaustin.com/) restaurant in Texas (and one of the top [in the country](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uchi#Awards)) has a [cookbook](http://uchicookbook.com/). Never assume that they won't tell you. – Catija Jul 20 '15 at 22:06
  • The only reason I say this is that, without knowing the name of the restaurant... and there's no reason you shouldn't post it, really... it would be quite difficult for us to tell you how to duplicate it... and even knowing the restaurant, it could be difficult as we would likely have to try it to be able to guess how to duplicate it. – Catija Jul 20 '15 at 22:13
  • Really, the only challenge I am having is understanding how to have fried shrimp turn out soft, thats all :) Doesn't have to be the exact same... – AnchovyLegend Jul 20 '15 at 22:14
  • I wouldn't say "soft" is a texture I'd appreciate in shrimp but if you're talking about avoiding gummy/rubbery textures the solution is to cook it less. – Preston Jul 21 '15 at 05:12
  • Are you describing the effect of using cornstarch instead of flower (i.e. tempura batter can be much softer than traditional batter - but still crispy on the outside) but I suspect you've had tempura at other restaurants before, but if you haven't my guess is that this is the difference you are noticing. – WetlabStudent Jul 21 '15 at 09:56
  • Have you actually just googled it? I just did and got pages upon pages of recipes. I would think that reading a couple of them should give you a pretty good idea of how this recipe is done in general. Of course that does not mean you will automatically get them to be as good as those cooked by experienced pro's. – Richard ten Brink Jul 21 '15 at 15:06
  • 1
    @RichardtenBrink If you don't know what makes it come out as desired, then googling and finding pages and pages of recipes doesn't help; you don't know which ones are likely to come out right. – Cascabel Jul 22 '15 at 01:49

1 Answers1

1

It will be hard to say for certain without the recipe, but my guess is that you are describing the effect of using Tempura batter instead of the flour based batters typically encountered in Western countries. Tempura batter is much lighter, and while crispy, it can be softer in the center. This is mainly because cornstarch is used in place of some (or all) of the flour in western batters (or potato starch or a tempura mix). These starches have less gluten than wheat flower, which yields a lighter batter (gluten in batter makes the batter sticky, doughy, and heavy). You can find many tempura batter recipes online.

WetlabStudent
  • 562
  • 1
  • 4
  • 14