Bacon Wrapped Shrimp Tempura

Bacon (pork belly) wrapped shrimp tempura  breaks the required (self imposed) blog threshold for unusual-ness and has plenty of linkage to Japan.

"Shrimp Tempura" = Japan. When I see "bacon wrapped" I also think Japan. Just check out any one of the Yakitori posts: Maido, Outlaw, Hisago, Kushimichi, etc. And although there may be a slight difference between pork belly (which is widely used for these dishes) and bacon they are close enough.

Home makeover version - Pork wrapped shrimp tempura w/basil leaf

Now, if you are health food conscious, don't tune out just yet.  The version we're going to make does not use bacon, it uses pork belly, which is what all bacon starts out as before it becomes bacon. And this recipe turned out really, really, well, and I'll be making them again.

Many of you don't know that Japanese pork belly is healthy. Well let me bring you in on a little secret. You've all heard of Kobe beef, and how they massage the cows, give them beer, play Mozart and provide them a special diet, right? Well there is an even more secretive world - and likely a yakuza black program - where pigs are raised lean. Not many have seen these Japanese pigs. In fact, it's risky just talking about it. They're muscular and have only 6% body fat.  The Japanese pig farmers who raise these pigs live a life of secrecy - ever weary of their Yakuza "oversight."
They only feed their pigs lean food (that's as specific as I have been advised to get) and they train the pigs pretty hard to include major TRX training, HIIT, and Crossfit.  Instead of Mozart, they rock to Guns N' Roses - "Paradise City" being one of their favorites, followed by "Pigs in Zen." You should see these pigs grab a kettle bell with their hooves. Pretty inspiring. This ultra secretive world is "understood," but rarely discussed in Japanese society. It's what allows the Japanese to eat bacon wrapped everything and never get fat. Nobody would give up that secret. Yes, Japanese bacon is extremely healthy. 

So now that that's out of the way (and by the way, treat that information as privileged) , lets get right to the recipe and put the rest of the background/inspiration part later.


(OK, just a little bit of background) The Wisconsin state fair had a contest for creative food entries and this particular dish did not make the finals. Looking at the fair picture below, its not hard to wonder why. Although it sounds great it just doesn't cut it on culinary curb appeal does it? Taste was so-so as well.

State Fair version

Fortunately I think we can improve on both of these aspects. The state fair version appeared to have been dipped in corn dog batter, or a cousin of it, and bared no resemblance to the light panko crusted tempura of Japan. Folks, we can-do-better.

So lets apply these lessons and hope that Door County Fish Boil is listening, conducts training, and takes adequate corrective actions.


Recipe:
- Large tiger or other shrimp. Fresh is much preferred over frozen. De-vein them.
- thinly sliced pork belly (or real bacon if you must)
- cold water
- tempura batter mix

- panko crumbs
- basil leaves (optional)
- seasoning
- skewers

Note: A Michelin starred kushikatsu restaurant in Osaka says the break up the panko/bread crumbs really small, as this leads to less oil absorption. I recommend you do the same. The store bought ones are quite large.

Basic Ingredients

- Pre-heat vegetable or other oil of your choice to prepare for deep frying (final temp about 350-390F)
- Follow the directions to make the tempura batter mix.
- Feed one end of one slice of pork belly onto a skewer (just feed it on a little bit). Put one end of the shrimp on.
- place another part of the pork through the skewer after wrapping the shrimp with the pork
- skewer that same shrimp (the other end) one more time
- finish wrapping the pork around the shrimp and skewer the end of the pork slice.
(you should have skewered the pork 3 times and the shrimp two times)
- Slide that 1st shrimp and bacon down the skewer a bit to make room for the second
- Repeat the process one more time with another piece of pork and shrimp so that two shrimp and two pork slices are on each skewer
- Make as many skewers you like

On several of them I did add a basil leaf or two in between. This adds a nice dimension to the taste.

I learned its best to do the cooking in two steps. This allows complete cooking of the shrimp and pork while not overcooking (burning) the tempura coating. This process is called par-frying. It will result in crispier food as well.

The first round with the shrimp and pork will only take about 20 seconds or so. Keep an eye on it. I then removed it and allowed it to cool on a paper towel. There is no batter on it yet.

Once mostly cooled, dip the skewer into the tempura batter and then coat it with the panko crumbs.
Then back into the oil. Once the tempura coating turns golden remove the skewer. This step will not take long.

After the first round of frying in the oil

 

It's obvious that I did cherry tomatoes too.  Or puchi tomatoes as they call them in Japan.

The tomatoes should not be double fried and will only take about 10 seconds or so to cook. All you're trying to do it make the coating golden brown.

Final products

9 plus mom - these are Wisconsin pigs, not 
the highly secretive Japanese pigs

awww

So this begs the question of why the Japanese have not discovered bacon wrapped shrimp tempura yet? After all, bacon wrapped aspara, tomato, shiso, etc. are Yakitori restaurant strongholds. Did I have to travel to Wisconsin to find this great combination? Well as a matter of fact I did, and stumbled across it as the Wisconsin State Fair. You know - the land of brats and beer and cheese of course. And there was plenty of all of that at fair.

The place that served it was named "Door County Fish Boil."  Earlier in the trip I did get to partake in one of those too, but more on that later.

A photo of part of their menu sign is below. They somehow forgot the "a" in the word tempura, but give them a break, they're from Door County Wisconsin for cryin' out loud. They make large fires and boil pots of fish. They're not exactly students of the "language."  I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bit lazy and forget to check my use of their and there, and your and you're though.

I also don't have an answer for why they are serving chicken wings at a fish boil place, other than they just go good with beer (but that is a pretty lock-tight reason I guess). One other thing to notice on their menu is the "smelt boat." The ones they serve here are fresh water smelt. We've seen them before here in Japan at Watamin-chi and they are popular in all the grocery stores. In Japan they call them Shishamo which are salt water smelt.  The preparation at the fair though was similar to the deep fried aji. Their guts removed, then breaded and deep fried.

Door County Fish Boil sign

Door County Fish Boil - Door county is a great vacation spot in Wisconsin. It's the thumb sticking out into Lake Michigan with Lambeau Stadium, I mean the frozen tundra, at the base of the thumb.

The fish boil is pretty straightforward. You put in the potatoes, onions, salt first (some corn too perhaps) and let it boil to cook. Then the whitefish goes in for another 10 minutes or so.
At the end, they throw some fuel oil onto the fire which causes the thermal flux to skyrocket, causing a boil over (see photo below). When this happens the oil released by the fish also boils over and adds to the spectacle. This is the only feasible and fun way to rid the pot of this fish oil. No ladles. It must be boiled over and it must be done by throwing fuel oil onto the fire.

Boilover

Time to eat

From Wisconsin to Japan. Never thought I'd be inspired in Wisconsin for Japanese cooking. The pork wrapped shrimp tempura really did taste good. So give it a try at home.

Lake cabin campfire - good times