FLAKY SHRIMP TEMPURA BATTER

In my quest to create some delicious, championship shrimp tempura, there is but one word that comes to mind. Failed! Yes my friends, I tried everything. Watched Youtube, watched people make it. But for some God only knows reason. I just can't seem to make it right. You know, like Shaq tossing bricks at the free-throw line. Or Charles Barkley trying to play golf. Ugly bro, outright horrendous!

Until I tried again. Sorry lost the pics. But I tried messing with this recipe and it came out alright. Now some people told me, "Ron just use panko flakes." Wrong! I ain't making panko shrimp, there is a difference dudes! It's all about the batter. Well it's part of it. The batter has to be just right, sometimes I make it, it's more like cake shrimp. Which is OK, everything or almost everything I cook, friends eat it. But I am looking for tempura excellence. 

OK, so the oil needs to be bloody hot! Get yourself a deep frying thermometer, and make sure the oil gets up to 375 deg. F. That's right buddies.

So here's the recipe.

Ingredients

1/2 c. rice wine

Dash of salt or two

1/2 pound of shrimp cleaned

6-8 cups of oil for frying, vegetable oil will do

1/4 c. of all-purpose flour

1/2 c. or so of very cold ice water

1/4 cup of cornstarch

1 large egg yolk

dash of salt or two

1/4 tsp. of sugar

1 tsp. cold butter softened

1/2 tsp. baking powder

Directions

In a mixing bowl, add in the rice wine, salt. Toss in the shrimp, and cover it. Let it marinate for about 30-45 minutes.

In a large pan with fairly deep sides, add in the oil, over high heat. Bring temperature up to 375 deg. F., set burner so the oil stays at that number. Careful when deep frying. KEEP YOUR HANDS COVERED WITH A HEAT PREVENTIVE GLOVE IF POSSIBLE. KEEP WATER FAR FROM HOT OIL. KEEP CHILDREN FAR FROM THE STOVE. DO NOT WEAR LOOSE CLOTHING OR JEWELRY THAT CAN CAUSE YOU TO HOOK THE PAN AND IT WILL FALL. KEEP A KITCHEN GRADE FIRE EXTINGUISHER NEARBY. NEVER LEAVE HOT OIL UNATTENDED.

In another bowl, mix the flour, ice water, cornstarch, large egg yolk, salt, butter, and the baking powder together.

Take the shrimp out of the marinade. Using a dry towel, pat it dry.

Carefully dip the shrimp one at a time into the batter, carefully set shrimp into hot oil. Deep fry until shrimp is golden brown. It should not take more that 2 minutes each. Do not crowd the hot oil with shrimp, this will make the tempurature of the oil lower than what you need. You want that oil hot hot. If it cools because of over crowding, the batter will be soggy.

Remove cooked shrimp with a slotted spoon on to a cookie rack to drain excess oil.

Sorry I somehow deleted the photo of my tempuras. But you get the idea.

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