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Shrimp or Prawn Salad
Freshly cooked and shelled prawns are offered for sale in the best fish markets; but if they cannot be obtained in this way, drop them alive into boiling water, let them cook for six or seven minutes, and when they are cold, remove the heads and then the shells. Turn them whole over a layer of crisp lettuce, shredded celery or finely shaved cabbage, and cover well with a mayonnaise or other dressing. Canned shrimps are excellent for salads.
A composed salad rather than a tossed one: the shellfish sits whole on the greens and the dressing goes over the top. Almost everything worth adjusting is in the cooking of the shrimp.
- The timing is the hingeSix or seven minutes suits large shell-on prawns; anything smaller is overcooked and rubbery well before that. Medium shrimp in the shell need about two to three minutes, until they curl loosely and the flesh turns opaque. Pull them the moment they lose translucency and chill them at once in ice water so carryover heat does not finish the job.
- Shrimp or prawnIn 1911 American usage the two words were largely interchangeable, with "prawn" implying the larger specimen. Nothing in the recipe depends on the distinction; buy whatever is largest and freshest at the counter.
- Cook the water, not just the shrimpThe original says only "boiling water." Salt it heavily, around a tablespoon per quart, and a bay leaf, a few peppercorns and a squeeze of lemon do no harm. Unsalted water leaves boiled shrimp flat under mayonnaise.
- DeveiningThe book says to remove heads and shells and stops there. Modern practice is to slit the back and lift out the dark intestinal tract, particularly on large prawns where it is gritty.
- Canned shrimpStill perfectly usable, but the packing brine tastes of the tin. Drain, rinse under cold water and let the shrimp sit ten minutes in ice water with a spoonful of lemon juice before draining and drying them.
- "Finely shaved cabbage"The phrase points to cabbage cut into very fine, hair-thin shreds, much like the cut used for slaw. A mandoline or the slicing disc of a food processor gives that texture.
- DressingA period mayonnaise here means one built from raw yolks. If the salad is going to sit out, or is for anyone who should avoid raw egg, use a commercial mayonnaise or one made with pasteurized yolks; the flavour of the dish comes from the shellfish, not the emulsion.
- YieldNo quantity is given. Reckon on about 1 lb of raw shell-on shrimp, or roughly 8 to 10 oz cooked and peeled, to serve four as a first course.
The Butterick Cook Book (1911) was issued by the pattern company alongside its dressmaking publications, and much of its advice is pitched at a middle-class housekeeper expected to entertain -- which may be why the entry pauses to note that shelled prawns can simply be bought. Cold shellfish under mayonnaise on a bed of lettuce was a popular party dish of the period, cheap enough for a home table yet close in form to the composed salads then coming out of hotel and restaurant kitchens. The endorsement of canned shrimp is the more telling detail: Gulf Coast canneries had been putting up tinned shrimp since the later nineteenth century, and their product put a seafood salad within reach of households far from any fish market. Dropping the creatures alive into boiling water was the usual way of cooking shellfish at the time.