I was raised in Florida and Dad always had a boat, at first a small runabout that we used for fishing on the inland waterways, and after many years, a 32′ cabin cruiser that we could take into the ocean. We loved fishing and spent many quality hours together bringing home dinner. I live inland now, but if I still lived on the coast I would be Fishhead. I love fish and I consider it meat since it is the protein based muscle of an animal.
My allergy to the bugs
When I was in high school in Florida I spent hours catching crabs with fish heads on the Intracoastal Waterway and India River off Merritt Island. At parties I popped shrimp like M&Ms. I spent a summer in Maine feasting on lobster. And then one day, after a fabulous restaurant meal of soft shell crabs, my favorite food on the planet, my throat started to constrict. A few weeks later I had more softshells and it happened again, accompanied by hives this time. I was allergic to crustaceans, the ocean bugs. Fortunately, I could still eat fin fish, clams, mussels, scallops, and squid.
Shrimp, crab, crawfish, and lobster have exoskeletons, which is to say their shells behave like bones for structural support. According to the Mayo Clinic, the symptoms include itching, hives, tingling in the mouth, and even difficulty breathing called anaphylaxis. In some cases, it can be fatal. The reaction seems to be occur when Immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies in the blood come into contact with certain proteins in the crustaceans, probably tropomysin. I can’t even breath the vapors when I cook shrimp. It was thought for years that there was a relationship between iodine in the shellfish and antibodies, but this has been disproven. Like me, many people don’t develop the allergy until later in life. When I learned I couldn’t eat softshells anymore, I contemplated suicide, but I have just learned to live on fin fish and bivalves. Sigh.
Savory New Orleans BBQ shrimp and spicy Andouille sausage are the stars of the show in this recipe for a grilled po boy. Served on crusty French style bread and packed full of meat and/or seafood, the po' boy sandwich is a New Orleans staple and our Barbecue Shrimp & Andouille Po-Boy twist is surely an instant classic.
Romance is in full bloom with this mouthwatering take on traditional surf-and-turf. Delectable lobster tails are poached in butter then sliced and served atop a smoky and perfectly seared beef filet in this recipe for lightly smoked filet mignon and butter poached lobster! Your loved one will surely thank us after!
If you've only ever eaten oysters raw, this recipe will be a revelation. And if you've never warmed up to oysters, give this recipe a try. Oysters Grilled with Roasted Garlic Butter and Romano are easy to make, drenched with rich flavors, and utterly delicious.
This classic mussels (Moules Mariniere) recipe from France is so easy. And it's finger food. After simmering in a flavor rich white wine, cream, and tomato sauce, the mussels are served, shells and all, into big shallow bowls with plenty of the liquor laden broth and serve with crusty bread or grilled bread.
Jumbo lump crab meat shines brightly in this recipe for griddle grilled crab cakes with rosemary aioli. Exceptional crab cakes begin with high quality crab, gently blended with a minimum amount of other ingredients so that the crab remains the star of the show, then finished on the grill.
A base of sliced citrus is the key to perfectly grilled fish in this recipe for grilled blackened catfish with charred lemon cream sauce. Grilling the catfish fillets on top of orange slices ensures the fish won't stick to the grill grate and adds a touch of citrus flavor.
Slashing a whole sea bass helps it grill more evenly and gets the seasoning closer to the meat. Here, those slashes deliver the bracing Japanese flavors of wasabi, lemon zest, garlic, and ginger.
Take ordinary salads over the top with this tested recipe for crispy crusty salmon. Fresh salmon is cooked on the grill with a griddle until it's interior is perfectly cooked and buttery while the skin is crackling crisp. The fish is then served on dressed romaine lettuce along with grated parmesan and garlic croutons.
Planking is a popular method for cooking fish like salmon on a grill. Fans claim that soaking the wood in water gently steams the fish, which gets nice and smoky from the smoldering wood. Planking makes a nice presentation and helps keep fish from sticking to the grill, but the rest is mostly bunk. Here's the science.
No fish is more receptive to smoke than salmon. This recipe creates an elegant, delicate, moist piece of salmon with a hint of sweet, salt, and garlic. Unlike the stuff we put on bagels, it is "hot smoked" at about 225°F. This smoked salmon is perfect served on its own, in potatoes, in scrambled eggs or risotto, or in a sandwich.
In this tested recipe you'll learn how to make your own flavor packed homemade salmon sausage. Perfectly seasoned, the salmon sausage can either be made into stuffed links, tubeless links, patties, or meatballs. at your next cookout, try serving it on a crusty bun with flavored mayo, lettuce, and tomato.
Create a grilled bacon wrapped stuffed shrimp appetizer with only five ingredients thanks to this award winning recipe courtesy of pitmaster Melissa Cookston. Cookston won the 2012 Kingsford Invitational by taking first place in five categories including this delicious bacon wrapped stuffed shrimp recipe.
Enjoy a taste of the south with this tested recipe for a grilled twist on the classic pairing of shrimp and grits. Whether it’s for brunch, lunch, or dinner, this delicious combination of rich and creamy stone ground grits and perfectly grilled shrimp is sure to please any crowd.
Shrimp and corn are a match made in heaven. Instead of the usual shrimp and grits, enjoy the combination in this recipe for Griddle Grilled Shrimp with Cheesy Polenta Cakes. A white wine griddle sauce takes this recipe up a notch.
This mouthwatering grilled shrimp boil recipe is an effortless family style feast for your backyard cookout. There’s something truly engaging about diving into a steaming hot peel-and-eat shrimp boil, fingers dripping with spicy juices as you devour the tender shrimp, potatoes, sausage, and corn, all done on the grill.
Cooked to perfection with sous vide then lightly charred on the grill, this sous-vide-que lobster tail recipe is the best grilled lobster you'll ever taste. Poached in butter during a temperature controlled sous vide water bath, the lobster is rendered moist and tender before adding a touch of BBQ smoke, char, and crowned with a chimichurri sauce.
Boiled lobster is good, but grilled lobster is better and here is the only recipe you need to make it happen! Undiluted by boiling water, the lobster flavor truly shines through when cooked quickly over live fire, not to mention the added smoky depth. Lobster is split in half, grilled, and basted with butter.
If we want to get some smoke on quick cooking fish we need to place the fish in close proximity to smoldering wood. Here is a technique that gives fish just the right kiss of smoke without overwhelming its natural beauty.
Tempura batter is light, lacy, and ultra crispy. It is ideal for deep frying vegetables and seafood. In this recipe, the bubbles from beer or club soda help achieve the right texture.
Tartar sauce is the popular condiment for grilled or smoked fish. While many store bought tartar sauces can be bland and boring, this home made version is sure to become your go-to side sauce for your favorite fish dishes.
As I explain in my article on the science and myths of marinades, they don't penetrate most foods very far. The exceptions are seafood and vegetables. This one is based on a wonderful, herby salad dressing that my wife created.
Pepe's on Wooster St. in New Haven CT is one of the most famous pizza places in the world, and their most famous pie is the White Clam Pizza. Duplicating Pepe's pies is impossible, but you can come close at home with the right ingredients, and a little love. Here's the recipe for creating a delicious white clam pizza in your kitchen.
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Finally, A Great Portable Pellet Smoker
Green Mountain’s portable Davy Crockett Pellet Smoker is one mean tailgating and picnic machine. But it’s also gaining popularity with people who want to add a small, set it and forget it pellet smoker to their backyard arsenal. And with their WiFi capabilities you can control and monitor Davy Crocket from your smart phone or laptop.
Surely you know somebody who loves outdoor cooking who deserves a gift for the holidays, birthday, anniversary, or just for being wonderful. There he is, right in the mirror! Here are our selections of best ideas, all Platinum or Gold Medalists, listed by price.
Blackstone Rangetop Combo: Griddle And Deep Fryer In One
The flat top does the burgers and the fryer does the fries. Use the griddle for bacon, eggs, grilled cheese, and so much more. And why deep fry indoors when you can avoid the smell and mess by doing it outside!
The PK-360, with 360 square inches of cooking space, this rust free, cast aluminum charcoal grill is durable and easy to use. Four-way venting means it’s easy to set up for two zone cooking with more control than single vent Kamado grills. It is beautifully designed, completely portable, and much easier to set up for 2-zone cooking than any round kamado.
The FireBoard Spark is a hybrid combining instant-read capability, a cabled temperature probe, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. We gave Spark a Platinum Medal for pushing the envelope of product capability while maintaining high standards of design and workmanship.
Comprehensive Temperature Magnet With 80+ Important Temps
Winner of the National BBQ Association’s product of the year award. This 8.5″ x 11″ magnet contains more that 80 benchmark temperatures for meats (both USDA recommended temps as well as the temps chefs recommend), fats and oils, sugars, sous vide, eggs, collagens, wood combustion, breads, and more. Although it is not certified as all-weather, we have tested it outdoors in Chicago weather and it has not delaminated in three years, but there is minor fading.
High quality websites are expensive to run. If you help us, we’ll pay you back bigtime with an ad-free experience and a lot of freebies!
Millions come to AmazingRibs.com every month for high quality tested recipes, tips on technique, science, mythbusting, product reviews, and inspiration. But it is expensive to run a website with more than 2,000 pages and we don’t have a big corporate partner to subsidize us.
Our most important source of sustenance is people who join our Pitmaster Club. But please don’t think of it as a donation. Members get MANY great benefits. We block all third-party ads, we give members free ebooks, magazines, interviews, webinars, more recipes, a monthly sweepstakes with prizes worth up to $2,000, discounts on products, and best of all a community of like-minded cooks free of flame wars. Click below to see all the benefits, take a free 30 day trial, and help keep this site alive.
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3) Tell us everything we need to know to help such as the type of cooker and thermometer. Dial thermometers are often off by as much as 50°F so if you are not using a good digital thermometer we probably can’t help you with time and temp questions. Please read this article about thermometers.
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