I made this batter and it was absolutely delicious! The only thing is is is way too much of the liquid batter for 1 pound of shrimp. If you scale it down to a 3/4 of a serving it will not leave you with a lot of excess cornstarch batter.
For an even crispier shrimp, dip the second time in Panko breadcrumbs. Panko crumbs are found in the Japanese section of the grocery store. They are very light and fry up beautifully golden and they are crispier than any breadcrumb I have ever tried.
My husband says this is the best shrimp he ever ate. ( including restraunts) I also cooked some scallops like this,and they were also wonderful. I did change a couple of things. 1/2 the water and corn starch, 2 eggs and salt for the wash. I also added about 1/4 cup of fine corn meal to the bread crumbs. I will make this often!!
I used 3/4 c. cornstarch, and water, 1 egg and about 1/2c flour, panko bread crumbs. OMG..........better than restaurant quality. I'd give them 6 * if I could
WOW...I wish I could give this recipe more than 5 stars because it totally deserves it. I'm usually a failure at breading and frying food but even I couldn't mess up this recipe!! The shrimp looked and tasted like restaurant-style fried shrimp and my entire family was impressed. The only thing I did differently was to mix the cornstarch with the bread crumbs (instead of with the egg and water) and to add a few spices to the bread crumbs (salt pepper paprika and garlic powder). Also cut down the water to about 1 cup because 4 cups is way to much. TRY THIS RECIPE!!!!!!!!! UPDATE: this breading is also great for mozzarella cheese sticks and chicken
I have made this recipe many times and absolutely LOVE it. Reminds me of the great fried shrimp places in Chicago. I never bother butterflying the shrimp. Like many I reduce the water and cornstarch in half. I add a little Louisiana Hot Sauce to the wash as well. For the crumbs I've used saltine crumbs bread crumbs (I add a little corn meal for extra crunch) and Panko alternately. They are all good! I always add a little extra spice to the crumbs - usually some garlic powder and paprika. Although I love Panko crumbs they tend to not stick very well and often wash off on the 2nd breading. Let the shrimp dry a bit after the first dip and the breading will stick better. Make sure your oil is the correct temperature and let them get a nice golden brown which seems to take about 3 minutes. I drain them on a rack over a brown paper bag for a couple of minutes then put them on paper towels in the oven at 150 degrees while I prepare the rest. Serve with some home-made cocktail sauce (ketchup & horseradish)and some Sweet Restaurant Slaw from this site and it's just like Hanson's Fish Market on Harlem Ave! (of course you have to serve it in a brown paper bag!;-)
Substitute beer for water for a great beer batter recipe.
I usually pay attention to the reviews and adjust the recipe accordingly but somehow I missed the water suggestions. Way too much water, definetely reduce it. If you follow the recipe as stated, you can't double dip. Upon dipping your shrimp the second time around, the liquid mixture just removes the first coat you put on. Just don't coat a second time, it turns out fine. I didn't have any fresh breadcrumbs so I very lightly toasted 6 slices of bread in the oven, then ran them throuh the food processor. I also added salt, pepper and dried parsley to the breadcrumbs. It was excellent.
This recipe turned out great! I followed others' advice and reduced the water and cornstarch and added some onion salt cornmeal paprika pepper and garlic powder to the breadcrumbs. The shrimp were nice and crunchy with a nice flavor not "floury" like other recipes for fried shrimp that I've tried! Thanks for the great recipe!
Too much liquid couldn't get the breadcrumbs to adhere to the shrimp even with all of the dipping. No salt or seasoning in the recipe. One of the strangest recipes I have ever tried. Was something left out? One quart of water yikes...
