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Cocktails with Shrimps
1. Shrimps may be put in glasses of cracked ice and each one dipped in mayonnaise. They may be served on glass plates. 2. Shrimps may be mashed in mayonnaise, put in green-pepper shells, garnished with red pepper and served with brown bread and butter.
Two presentation ideas rather than a cooked dish; the work is all in the shrimp and the mayonnaise. Both assume shrimp already cooked and thoroughly chilled.
- The shrimpThis most likely meant canned shrimp, small and soft, or shrimp boiled at home in salted water. Use cooked, peeled, deveined shrimp of a modest size — 41/50 or 31/40 count works better on ice than jumbo, and mashes evenly for the second version.
- "Cocktail" hereThe word means a small chilled appetizer served in a glass, not the ketchup-and-horseradish sauce most people expect. This book dresses the shrimp with mayonnaise; tomato-based cocktail dressings were also in circulation by this period.
- MayonnaiseMayonnaise of this period was often made fresh at home, thick and sharpened with lemon or vinegar, though commercial jarred mayonnaise was also on sale. Modern jarred mayonnaise is sweeter and looser; sharpen it with lemon juice and a little cayenne or it may taste flat against cold shrimp.
- Cracked iceCrack ice by wrapping cubes in a towel and hitting them with a rolling pin, or pulse in a food processor. Pack the glass full and set the shrimp on top so they stay dry — melting ice thins the mayonnaise fast.
- Green-pepper shellsCut bell peppers across into rings about 2 inches deep, or halve them lengthwise, and trim the base so they sit flat. Blanching for 30 seconds and shocking in ice water softens the raw edge and brightens the color.
- "Red pepper" as garnishThis most likely means cayenne or paprika dusted over the top rather than diced sweet pepper, though the text does not specify.
- TemperatureBoth versions are held cold and never cooked further. Keep the shrimp and the dressed mixture refrigerated until the moment they go to the table, and do not let them stand out through a long cocktail hour.
- YieldFigure 4 to 6 shrimp per glass for the first version, and about 1/4 cup of the mashed mixture per pepper shell for the second. A pound of cooked shrimp serves six as a first course.