Pepper shrimp

Ingredients

The shrimp

• 1 kgsmall shrimp
• whole, heads and shells on
• rinsed

The pot

• 4scotch bonnet peppers
• or to taste, split
• 8garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 tablespoonssalt
• 2spring onions, bruised
• a few sprigs of thyme
• 1 teaspoonblack pepper
• about 500 ml water

Sometimes added

• a little annatto or paprika
• for colour
• 1 tablespoonvinegar

To serve

• in a paper bag
• at room temperature
• with cold beer

Directions

1. Wash with soap and plenty of water. Turn on an extractor fan if you have one. Do not lean out over the open pot.
2. Salt must penetrate through it. They are not served hot at all. Rinse the shrimp thoroughly in water. Rinse them in several changes of water. Pick out any weed or shell fragments. These are too small to devein. Discard them if they smell that way.
3. Put on gloves before handling them. Split them for a properly hot result. Leave the seeds in for maximum heat. Four scotch bonnets makes it very hot. Use fewer of them if you are unsure. Put all the water in a wide pot. Add the salt and stir it right in.
4. Add the split peppers and garlic. Add the spring onions and thyme. Add the black pepper in to them. Crush them along their length. Bring it right up to a full boil.
5. Let it boil for about five minutes. The water should smell strongly of pepper. Add all of the shrimp at once. Let them cook for about three minutes. Three minutes is usually enough.
6. Take them off the heat at the C. Take the pot right off the heat. Let the shrimp sit in the brine. They keep absorbing salt and heat. Taste one after twenty minutes.
7. Adjust the soaking time from there. They should be very salty and very hot. Drain the shrimp from the brine. Do not rinse them off at all after. Let them cool to room temperature. They are eaten cool rather than hot. Put all of them into paper bags. Serve very cold beer alongside. Have something cold to drink ready.

Technique

• Capsaicin transfers readily from scotch bonnets to hands and then to eyes and skin, causing real and lasting burning. It is oil soluble rather than water soluble, so water alone does not remove it and rinsing eyes with water spreads it — wear gloves, wash with soap and plenty of water, and use milk or oil rather than water if it reaches skin or eyes. Boiling chilli also releases capsaicin into the steam, which irritates eyes and throat and makes people cough, so open a window, use an extractor if you have one and do not lean over the pot.
• Three tablespoons of salt is not a mistake: the shrimp are cooked in their shells, which block most seasoning, so it takes a very salty brine to get through. Most of it stays in the water. Then take the pot off the heat and let them sit in that brine about twenty minutes, which is how the salt and heat actually get in — taste one and adjust from there.
• Small shrimp cook in about three minutes and overcook into rubber. Watch for the shape: a loose C means cooked and a tight O means overcooked, which is a reliable visual check.

Substitutions

• A little annatto or paprika in the pot deepens the scarlet, which some vendors add.
• Bruise the spring onions along their length with a knife before they go in, since whole ones release very little flavour.

Variations

• Split the scotch bonnets rather than leaving them whole, which releases the heat into the water; leave the seeds in for maximum heat, and use fewer peppers the first time since you can always add more.
• Do not rinse the shrimp after draining, which washes off the seasoning; just lift them out.
• They are eaten whole with the fingers, shells and all, at room temperature from a paper bag — and the heat builds as you eat, so have something cold ready.

History

Sold by roadside vendors at Middle Quarters in St Elizabeth, using shrimp caught in the Black River morass with basket traps.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pepper shrimp?

Pepper shrimp is a snack from Jamaica: small river shrimp boiled scarlet with scotch bonnet, sold in bags. Sold by roadside vendors at Middle Quarters in St Elizabeth, using shrimp caught in the Black River morass with basket traps.

How long does Pepper shrimp take to make?

Pepper shrimp takes 20 minutes of preparation and 15 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Pepper shrimp?

Yes, within limits. A little annatto or paprika in the pot deepens the scarlet, which some vendors add. Bruise the spring onions along their length with a knife before they go in, since whole ones release very little flavour.

What is the most important thing to get right in Pepper shrimp?

Wash with soap and plenty of water. Turn on an extractor fan if you have one. Do not lean out over the open pot.