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Shrimps, Potted
Shell a quart of freshly-boiled shrimps. Throw them into a mortar with a little bruised lobster spawn, two ounces of butter, a tea-spoonful of anchovy essence, a pinch of grated nutmeg or pounded mace, and a pinch of cayenne. Pound well, then put the mixture into a jar. Set this in a pan of boiling water, and stir the paste over the fire till quite hot. Rub it through a sieve, mix the tails of the shrimps with the pulp, and let all get hot together. Press the mixture into small pots, and let it get cold. Melt a little butter, and as soon as it begins to set pour it over the preparation to the thickness of a quarter of an inch, and keep the jars in a cool place till wanted. If more convenient, the lobster spawn may be omitted. Shrimps are generally potted in this way, but their delicate flavour is, perhaps, better preserved when they are potted whole. Time to heat the seasoning, about ten minutes. Probable cost, 2d. to 4d. per pint.
A Victorian version of English potted shrimps, with the shrimps pounded to a paste rather than left whole. Almost everything here works in a modern kitchen; the one thing that does not carry over is the storage.
- The butter seal is not a preservativeA quarter-inch of clarified butter over cooked shellfish excludes air but does nothing about bacteria, and a Victorian larder was far colder than a modern room. Refrigerate the pots as soon as they are cool and eat within two or three days.
- How much shrimp a quart isThe measure is most likely of boiled shrimps still in the shell — small brown shrimps rather than the large prawns sold today — though the recipe does not say so outright. A quart in the shell should yield somewhere in the region of half a pound of picked meat, which suits the 2 oz of butter given.
- Lobster spawnThe dark green roe of a hen lobster, which turns coral red on cooking and was used mainly for colour and a faint sweetness. The recipe already says it may be omitted, and it is easily left out.
- Anchovy essenceA thin bottled anchovy sauce, more fluid than modern anchovy paste. Use about half a teaspoon of paste, or a mashed salted anchovy fillet, and taste before adding more salt.
- Mortar, sieve, food processorA food processor does the pounding in seconds, but pulse rather than run it — over-worked shrimp goes gluey. The sieve is there to give a smooth pulp (and to catch any fragments of shell); note that the recipe then mixes the tails back into that pulp.
- Heating in the jarThe jar set in a pan of boiling water is a bain-marie, and ten minutes is to melt the butter and marry the seasoning, not to cook the shrimps further. Shrimps already boiled will toughen if held over direct heat.
- Butter for the sealMelt the butter and let the milky solids settle, then pour off the clear fat. Unclarified butter carries water and milk solids that spoil quickly and will cloud the top.
- Yield and servingEnough to fill two or three small ramekins, serving four as a first course. Take the pots out of the refrigerator half an hour before serving and eat with hot toast; cold butter has no flavour.
- The note at the end is worth takingThe recipe's own remark — that the flavour is better preserved when the shrimps are potted whole — is what modern practice follows. Whole shrimps folded into spiced butter give a cleaner taste than a pounded paste.
Potting is one of the oldest English methods of keeping cooked food: meat, fish or shellfish pounded with butter and spices, pressed into an earthenware pot, and sealed under a layer of fat that kept air out. It was in use well before the eighteenth century and survived into the Victorian kitchen as much for convenience as for preservation, since a pot of shrimps or a pot of tongue could be sent to table cold at a moment's notice. Shrimps were an obvious candidate — the small brown shrimps of the English coast were cheap, landed in quantity, and the fiddly business of picking them was best done once, in bulk. The Lancashire coast around Morecambe Bay is the region most associated with potted shrimps today, though the technique was never local to it. The nutmeg, mace and cayenne here are the standard potting spices of the period, and the price note of 2d. to 4d. a pint shows how thoroughly this was everyday food rather than a luxury.