We've lived in and around Athens, GA for something along the line of 20 years. During that time Hugh Acheson has been a constant culinary figure, even before we could afford to eat in his restaurants. A guy around town, a neighbor and always approachable. We have since moved 30 min. south and don't venture out to eat much but when we do his 5&10 is our go to.
Hankering for seafood we got a timely email from our local Asian grocery Fooks Foods. Karen brought in some beautiful North Carolina shrimp so we went looking for a new way to prepare them. We enjoy pickling just about anything but had never tried shrimp. We found this recipe in Hugh's latest cookbook The Broad Fork. We followed the recipe close, only adding Hojiso because it was taking over our garden and our Uncle Kimo's Chili Pepper water. You might want double the recipe as ours didn't last long with five of us.
Notice the Surikogi Pestle in the picture above? You can buy it here.
If you would like a pair of our Oleole Hashi chopsticks below, click here.
Pickled Shrimp Recipe by Hugh Acheson from his cookbook The Broad Fork. All photos in the book are by our friend Rinne Allen.
Makes about 1lb., plus pickling liquid
- 2T Old Bay seasoning
- 1lb. Shrimp (26-30 count) peeled and deveined
- 1/2t celery seed
- 1/4t allspice berries
- 1/2t crushed red pepper
- 1T sea salt
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 12 dry bay leaves, or 6 fresh bay leaves
- 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced
- 1/2 medium Spanish onion, thinly sliced
- Prepare an ice water bath and set it near the stove.
- Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the Old Bay and the shrimp, and immediately reduce the heat to low. Cook for about 2 minutes, or until the shrimp are pink and just cooked through. Drain, and plunge the shrimp into the ice water to cool. When the shrimp have cooled, drain them, and reserve in the fridge until you have your pickling stuff all prepped.
- Grind the celery seeds and allspice berries together in a spice grinder. Set aside.
- Combine the ground celery seeds and allspice, the red pepper flakes, sea salt, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, bay leaves, and parsley in a bowl and stir to combine.
- In a clean, nonreactive container, arrange the shrimp, onion and pickling mixture in layers. Repeat. Cover, and let sit in the fridge for 24 hours before serving. The shrimp will keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.