Pickled Shrimp

As an American chef, I could naturally have been expected to have learned how to pickle shrimp in my self-studies of regional American cuisines, including South Carolina Lowcountry cuisine in which this dish is an heirloom. But I came to it from another route, from studying Spanish cuisine, in which pickled shrimp is called escabeche de camarón. The Jamaican equivalent goes by the name of escovitch. I'm not really sure how pickled shrimp found their way to South Carolina and while I know these dishes are all related, I don't know the family history. I wish I did.

Pickled Shrimp on Greens

By whatever name, the dish starts with shrimp, raw or cooked, "pickled" in an acidic sauce, usually oil and vinegar. Many domestic versions include typical pickling spices: allspice, coriander, mustard seed, cloves, and black peppercorns. Hispanic versions tend to cumin and oregano. I've had Jamaican versions that are fiery with Scotch bonnet peppers. I like mine fairly plain, aiming for a nuanced herbal flavor from lovage, parsley, and bay leaves. Everyone's version is different and they are all delicious.

Pickled Shrimp Mise en Place

Before getting started with any dish, I gather everything that I will need to make the dish. This is what chefs call mise en place, French for putting everything in its place. It's a really good habit to get into, no matter what you are cooking. Once you start the actual cooking, your food will have your undivided attention because you won't be searching for things.

Before every dinner shift at the restaurant, I would go though my station and the evening's menu, cooking each dish in my head, making sure that I knew where every ingredient and every piece of equipment was. Then when it was show time, no matter how busy we got, I had only to worry about cooking the food and getting it to the dining room. I spent routinely 20 to 35 minutes a night getting set, down to making sure that my mixing bowls, tongs, and tasting spoons were in the exact same location from shift to shift so that I could grab them without looking. It takes a lot to be a professional cook and it all starts with organization.

Court Bouillon

I start my version of pickled shrimp by poaching the shrimp in a court bouillon, a flavored broth which will give its flavor to the shrimp. This court bouillon I made with water, a splash of rice vinegar, a teaspoon of salt, lemon slices, parsley stems, a bay leaf, and pinch of red pepper flakes. I brought the court bouillon up to a boil for three minutes or thereabouts, then turned off the flame and added the shrimp, letting them poach slowly in the hot court bouillon.

Sweating Carrots and Onions

I always pickle carrots and onions along with the shrimp. Besides being a traditional component of the dish, they are a wonderful bonus. I love the pickled vegetables almost as much as the shrimp. The carrots, I slice on the bias into oval-shaped coins. The onions, I cut in half, and then into slices yielding half rings. I slice them this way for presentation: I think the shapes are all complementary. I sweat them a bit over medium heat just until the carrots soften and the onions turn translucent.

Shrimp Ready for the Refrigerator

I mix the shrimp, the solid ingredients from the court bouillon, and the onions and carrots in a bowl. Then I add some lovage leaves, fresh lemon slices, more bay leaves, salt, and a fair amount of ground black pepper. For longer storage, I would pack this mix into a sterilized jar or other container, then top it with a vinaigrette of red wine vinegar (1/3) and olive oil (2/3) to isolate the shrimp from the air and bacteria. Pickled shrimp will keep up to a week in the refrigerator, though I think they're at their best between 24 and 72 hours.

For this dish, I made the shrimp first thing in the morning with the intent to eat it at dinner that evening, so there was no need to submerge it in dressing. I mixed a half a cup or so of vinaigrette and tossed it with the shrimp before refrigerating it.

At dinner time, I picked out and discarded the lovage leaves, bay leaves, and lemon slices. Then, after draining the shrimp, I used the drained oil and vinegar to dress a big bowl of salad greens. As you see in the top photo, I mounded the shrimp, carrots, and onions on top of the greens.

Ann had never had pickled shrimp before and she loved it. I know that she's looking forward to the next time.