Bon Appétit Series Background Recap: I was tired of reading the magazine each month, saying, “Oh that looks great, I’ll make that”, then the magazine ends up in the cupboard or trash, never to been seen again. Never more! Now I’m holding myself publicly accountable; each month I will cook at least one recipe from Bon Appétit and post it on here.
This month I cooked the Pickled Shrimp out of December’s Bon Appetit. I’m two issues behind, but I have done a BA post once a month since November of 2008. That’s dedication, homes.
I had pickled GA white shrimp at Abattoir, and it was rockin’, so when I saw this recipe, and my roommate brought back some shrimp from Savannah, I was on my way. It’s a relatively easy process, but it was slightly time consuming. Peeling shrimp sucks.
After peeling the freezing cold shrimp, they were cooked in the boiling mixture. I didn’t have celery seed or whole mustard seed so I cut that out. Personally I think having 6+ spices in a boiling mixture is a farce. There’s no way that after cooking the shrimp, then pickling them, that you’re gonna say “oh, is that a hint of cardamom?”.
The recipe says to boil for 2 minutes, but I think the shrimp were ready after just one minute. Like a goon I let them go another minute though. Why am a slave to instructions???
While the shrimp were chilling out (get it?) I put together the pickling liquid.
…and added the shrimp.
I refrigerated for about 4 hours, which is longer than the 3 specified, but shorter than the 6 hour max window. I’m guessing they get a bit stringy or mushy from the vinegar after 6 hours.
They were tasty, nice flavor, and I enjoyed it with the paired prosecco, but they were missing some of the “snap” of the pickled shrimp I had at Abattoir. I think less cook time and possibly less pickle time could help with that. As these shrimp were previously frozen, that could have something to do with it too. Also, this recipe took a bunch of time, so not sure I’m eager to do it again. I think pickling is more gratifying when the labor is rewarded by the fact that you have tons of picked stuff you can use for a long time, but in this case, you have a 3-6 hour window.
BONUS POST!!!
I made French Onion soup because I was reading about it and craved it afterwards. My soup was loosely based on the Thomas Keller recipe. Here we have a bunch of onions cooking for forty minutes.
Then deglazed with white wine.
Then I used the rest of my Ad Hoc beef stock and added the garni.
Then broiled it with cheese and crouton. Good snack.
