The Best Fried Shrimp Ever

Ok, I'm going to put it to you straight... coconut shrimp is NOT the best. It's everywhere, it's becoming cliche, and it's a cop-out (IMHO). Give me flavorful, slightly spicy, crunchy fried shrimp any day over coconut shrimp!

Here's how I make mine, every time! Keep in mind that I almost never measure anything... well, ok, that's not true. I NEVER measure.

First, peel and de-vein (if you care to) your shimp. Keep the raw shrimp chilled. Pre-heat your oil to about 380 degrees. If you have a deep fryer, its easy to set the temperature of the oil. On the stove, it's a little harder. 380 degrees is hot, don't be a dork and burn yourself or the spectators in the room!

In a large bowl, crack an egg (two if you're making more than 50 tails) and pour in some whole milk... just a little, maybe a little more. Stir it up with a fork like you would if you were making scrambled eggs.

On a large plate dump out a mound all purpose flour. YES FLOUR! NOT CORN MEAL DANG IT!

Add a few shakes (3, 4 maybe) of garlic powder. Garlic powder is white, and so is flour, so pay attention... you want to flavor it well, without going over-board. Now shake 10 or so shakes of season-all and 5 or more shakes of Tony Chachere (how DO you spell it?) Cajun seasoning.

Now shake the plate around to disperse the ingredients around some. Grab a hand-full of shrimp tails and drop them in the bowl of egg and milk, making sure the shrimp tails are all covered in egg/milk. Pull a few out and drop them into the flour and flip them a few times so they are well coated. No shrimp flesh should be visible! Move the already coated shrimp to the outer edge of the plate and grab more from the egg/milk bowl. do this until you can't fit any more shrimp around the edge of your plate.

Is the oil hot yet? Test it by dropping in some flour from the plate. It will sizzle nicely if the oil is up to temperature.

Be careful now, grab a few tails and carefully put them into the oil. There should be some serious activity from the heated oil meeting the chilled milk/egg/shrimp/flour! Wait a few seconds and stir those tails around! (you don't want them to stick together). Soon, they will be golden brown and begin to float a bit. Take them out and place the tails on a seperate plate. Its a good idea to fold up a few paper towles and put them on the plate to soak up any excess oil... there will be quite a bit.

I like MY fried shrimp to cook just a little longer, golden brown is ok, but I admit I like them darker than most people.

People will be very pleased with this shrimp! Now you're a hero!