One Shrimp Cocktail, Make it Dirty

Switching up the steakhouse classic

The days are getting warmer, and as they do, we’re getting closer to grilling season; in due time, shrimp will most definitely be on the barbie. But grilling shrimp, while delicious, is not the only way to cook a crustacean. Poaching them in a flavorful broth and eating them chilled deserves some credit, too. Normally this would constitute your classic shrimp cocktail — jumbo shrimp, cocktail sauce, maybe a lemon wedge and some oyster crackers — and there would be no complaints from me if you opted for such a perfect creation as that. But there are many different cocktails, and accordingly, there are different ways to eat poached and chilled shrimp.

Enter the “dirty martini” shrimp cocktail: like its namesake, it comes paired with green olives and a splash of brine. It gets a rash of chopped parsley and pistachios (shrimp and nuts: they work), as well as a squeeze of lemon. This gives it a breezy, Italianate flavor, more Amalfi Coast than wood-paneled chophouse, and it’s a simple but showy dish for the summer weather.

As is often the case, there is one crucial element for proper execution: lots of salt. Jumbo shrimp, while a reliable umami delivery method, are actually quite bland; this partially explains why you’ve likely had more than a few mediocre shrimp cocktails. The first trick is making the poaching liquid as salty as seawater — like, really salty — which will adequately season the shrimp as it cooks inside its protective shell. (Adding a few lemon peels, celery stalks, peppercorns and parsley stems to the broth will also work wonders for flavor.) The second is simply finishing the dish with lots of flaky salt, and don’t hold back; the inner bellies of the butterflied shrimp, having cooked in that super-salty broth for only three minutes or so, will need it.