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Authors: Pat Conroy
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Shrimp Shack since it opened. But I was flabbergasted to see the recipe for the shrimp burger that I had vainly tried to coax from Hilda for more than ten years, written down for all to see.
When my plane landed in Savannah, I headed straight for the Shrimp Shack in what once was called a beeline. I stuck my head through the small window where Hilda takes your order and your money. I held up the magazine to Neecie and said, “Hilda, I apologize; I always thought you were a white woman all these many years until I read
Saveur
magazine today on the plane.”
The real Hilda said, “I knew you’d see that dadgum magazine. Only you. No one else has mentioned it.”
“It was nice of you to part with your ‘secret recipe’ to
Saveur
magazine,” I said, exaggerating the French ending.
“I didn’t give them that recipe,” Hilda said. “They made the thing up.”
“If you don’t give me that recipe before my cookbook is published, I’m going to claim I saw you out collecting roadkill to put into your secret recipe.”
“A secret is a secret,” she said maddeningly.
Early on a Sunday morning of this year, I was driving out on Seaside Road and was shocked to find Hilda Gay Upton shoveling long-dead possums, skunks, and raccoons into the bed of her pickup truck to form the basis of her famous secret recipe for shrimp burgers … she carefully brushed off the flies and maggots.
No, that’s a joke. Her shrimp burgers are wonderful, and if you everget on Highway 21, head for the beach to meet Hilda and her family and her workers. It’s one of the nicest places on earth to be.
• MAKES ABOUT 1½ CUPS
1 cup Homemade Mayonnaise (see below)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 shallot, finely minced
1 tablespoon capers, drained and finely chopped
2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
2 teaspoons dry mustard
Juice of 1 lemon, strained
Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir to mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight. Taste for seasoning before serving.
Homemade Mayonnaise Let us now praise homemade mayonnaise. In her cooking class, Nathalie Dupree once made all her students make it by hand, ensuring that all of us would honor the labors of French housewives for the rest of our days. But the invention of the blender and the food processor has turned the making of mayonnaise into a matter of seconds. Here is how to do it: Drop an egg into your machine. Turn it on. Beat that sucker for five seconds. Have some vegetable or canola oil ready. Pour it in a slow stream through the feed tube. Soon, chemistry happens and magic occurs before your eyes as the egg and oil unite into something glorious. When the mixture is thick, cut the machine off. Add the juice of half a lemon or two shots of red wine vinegar. That’s mayonnaise. Add a clove of garlic to it. Turn on the machine until the garlic is blended. That’s aioli. Try adding some fresh herbs, and you’ve got herb mayonnaise. Add one-fourth cup Parmesan cheese and a couple of pinches of cayenne, and you have the fanciest, best-tasting salad dressing you’ve ever had. • MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
¾ cup vegetable oil
¼ teaspoon sea salt
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine egg yolk, mustard, and lemon juice until smooth. Slowly drizzle in olive oil, processing until thoroughly incorporated. Add vegetable oil slowly, processing until the mixture is smooth and thick and completely emulsified. Add the salt, transfer to a storage container, and refrigerate until ready to use.
CORN PUDDING This is comfort food, pure and simple. I think of this as a great recipe because it is easy to make and can be thrown together in a hurry when uninvited or surprise guests show up at the front door. My stepson Jason Ray, who is a chef, once
When my plane landed in Savannah, I headed straight for the Shrimp Shack in what once was called a beeline. I stuck my head through the small window where Hilda takes your order and your money. I held up the magazine to Neecie and said, “Hilda, I apologize; I always thought you were a white woman all these many years until I read
Saveur
magazine today on the plane.”
The real Hilda said, “I knew you’d see that dadgum magazine. Only you. No one else has mentioned it.”
“It was nice of you to part with your ‘secret recipe’ to
Saveur
magazine,” I said, exaggerating the French ending.
“I didn’t give them that recipe,” Hilda said. “They made the thing up.”
“If you don’t give me that recipe before my cookbook is published, I’m going to claim I saw you out collecting roadkill to put into your secret recipe.”
“A secret is a secret,” she said maddeningly.
Early on a Sunday morning of this year, I was driving out on Seaside Road and was shocked to find Hilda Gay Upton shoveling long-dead possums, skunks, and raccoons into the bed of her pickup truck to form the basis of her famous secret recipe for shrimp burgers … she carefully brushed off the flies and maggots.
No, that’s a joke. Her shrimp burgers are wonderful, and if you everget on Highway 21, head for the beach to meet Hilda and her family and her workers. It’s one of the nicest places on earth to be.
• MAKES ABOUT 1½ CUPS
1 cup Homemade Mayonnaise (see below)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 shallot, finely minced
1 tablespoon capers, drained and finely chopped
2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
2 teaspoons dry mustard
Juice of 1 lemon, strained
Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir to mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight. Taste for seasoning before serving.
Homemade Mayonnaise Let us now praise homemade mayonnaise. In her cooking class, Nathalie Dupree once made all her students make it by hand, ensuring that all of us would honor the labors of French housewives for the rest of our days. But the invention of the blender and the food processor has turned the making of mayonnaise into a matter of seconds. Here is how to do it: Drop an egg into your machine. Turn it on. Beat that sucker for five seconds. Have some vegetable or canola oil ready. Pour it in a slow stream through the feed tube. Soon, chemistry happens and magic occurs before your eyes as the egg and oil unite into something glorious. When the mixture is thick, cut the machine off. Add the juice of half a lemon or two shots of red wine vinegar. That’s mayonnaise. Add a clove of garlic to it. Turn on the machine until the garlic is blended. That’s aioli. Try adding some fresh herbs, and you’ve got herb mayonnaise. Add one-fourth cup Parmesan cheese and a couple of pinches of cayenne, and you have the fanciest, best-tasting salad dressing you’ve ever had. • MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
¾ cup vegetable oil
¼ teaspoon sea salt
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine egg yolk, mustard, and lemon juice until smooth. Slowly drizzle in olive oil, processing until thoroughly incorporated. Add vegetable oil slowly, processing until the mixture is smooth and thick and completely emulsified. Add the salt, transfer to a storage container, and refrigerate until ready to use.
CORN PUDDING This is comfort food, pure and simple. I think of this as a great recipe because it is easy to make and can be thrown together in a hurry when uninvited or surprise guests show up at the front door. My stepson Jason Ray, who is a chef, once
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