shrimp victoria
Posted: August 20, 2018 Filed under: appetizers, seafood | Tags: butter, flour, lemon juice, mushrooms, onion, parsley, pepper, rice, seasoned salt, shrimp, sour cream, toast, worcestershire sauce 3 Comments
Tales From The Sea
I found this recipe folded in my Mom “Betty’s” index card holder. I recognized her handwriting immediately.
There’s no doubting Mom’s love for seafood as this recipe is one of several shrimp recipes I’ve discovered in her cookbook (surf the shrimp recipe archive).
While I tell a few funny stories on this food blog about my dislike for most types of seafood, this recipe is delicious, proving once again that my distaste for seafood is waning. Mom would be proud.
The Write Stuff
I look closer at the paper containing the recipe and notice the phone number “CA6-4141”. I was time-warped back to an era when phone numbers began with exchange names. Exchanges were phased out in the 1960s and 70s, so this would date the origin of this recipe back about 50 years ago. The number CA6-4141? “CA” stood for “Capitol” which translated to “22” so the full phone number would have been 226-4141. Confusing short-code, huh? Today San Antonio has 10-digit dialing like most large cities. The city’s newest area code 726 went into effect in 2017 and made me smile because 726 is my birthdate, July 26th.
Also on the paper recipe (below) I see The Clegg Company. A quick Google and this San Antonio Business Journal article popped-up in sight. I was surprised to learn that the then 104-year-old retailer was purchased by Herman Miller – the maker of the iconic Herman Miller Aeron chair. This very chair was one I sat on during my days working for a large internet consultancy that went belly up after the dot-com bust. That’s another long twisty, turbulent story for another day!
While stories like these likely don’t mean much to folks outside my family I include them here as an example of the amazing ways we are connected to the past if we’re open to it. All this from a Shrimp Victoria recipe scribbled on a notepad… and tucked away for more than 50 years!
Foodie Tips
❤ The rice was good but believe it or not I’m trying buttered toast on the next go (we were out of bread)!
❤ Not sure how to clean and devein your shrimp? I’ve included a couple of YouTube videos below that will show you how easy it is!
❤ I thought I was being fancy by letting my shrimp marinate overnight in the fridge. Turns out that it’s not really necessary! My online sleuthing showed that a 30-minute marinade should be fine but with an acid-based marinade (this recipe has lemon juice) the shrimp can turn “mushy” as the acid can start to break down the shrimp. I didn’t experience this with my dish, however!
❤ While stores may not be consistent in how they classify shrimp, when you’re at the seafood counter there’s a method to the madness for how many shrimp typically come per pound (this is indicative of their size). Resources that will be helpful include the Certi-Fresh Shrimp Sizing Guide you can print, and keep with your cookbooks (score!)… and the Farm to Table guide that provides some detail on larger-sized shrimp. Now you’ll be able to decipher shrimp-like code like PUD, P&D, U/15, and 61/70!
i. Time
Total prep: About 30 minutes.
ii. Ingredients
½ cup | unsalted butter (my grandmother “Nanny” insisted on Falfurrias)
1 ½ pounds | cleaned, raw shrimp
½ cup | onion, chopped
1 cup | fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons | lemon juice
1 tablespoon | worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons | flour
1 ½ teaspoons | seasoned salt
dash | fresh cracked black pepper
1 ½ cups | sour cream
1 tablespoon | fresh parsley, chopped
to serve | rice or buttered toast (optional)
iii. What to do
1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat melt the butter. Cook shrimp and onion, stirring until the shrimp is almost tender, about 5 minutes.
A Mound Of Sour Cream? Texans “Yee Haw” About This!
2. Add the mushrooms, lemon juice and the Worcestershire sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Stir in the flour, seasoned salt and black pepper. Then the sour cream. Return the skillet to the heat and cook over low heat stirring until hot, but not boiling.
4. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve at once over rice or buttered toast.
Yields 6 servings
Betty’s Son
Founder and “Nostalgic Food Blogger” of Betty’s Cook Nook
A Scan Of Mom’s Shrimp Victoria Recipe ~ Note The Suggested Pairings
For The Perfect Meal (see bottom of recipe)
crunchy tuna salad
Posted: July 23, 2017 Filed under: appetizers, salads, seafood, sides | Tags: celery, chow mein, dry onions, french dressing, lettuce, mayonnaise, parsley, white tuna Leave a comment 
It’s Time for a Chow Mein Chow Down
One of the interesting things about being a self-proclaimed nostalgic food blogger is when I run across food items that are no longer available. Looking for something that isn’t there can turn me into an angry shopper at times but I often find a workaround, like when I made my own madrilène for what I thought was going to be a simple bowl of cold avocado soup.
In just a single lifetime serving sizes have become larger and in tandem food is sold in larger sized containers. Supersize Me. As is the case with this recipe, “Tasteez Fried Chow Mein” is no more. I can’t even find a trace of it performing one of my usually successful Google image searches! So that means it was likely gone way pre-pre-Internet.
Like many of my other posts, I will give you a taste of what it was like back in the good ol’ days with some vintage chow mein commercials, albeit from other brands like La Choy, which seems to have survived the taste test of time. After you’re done with the recipe, scroll down below where I’ve curated some of my favorite videos from YouTube. 享受! (that’s “enjoy” in Chinese).
foodie tips
❤ I wasn’t very familiar with what “dry onions” were. Maybe something was lost in translation so I used Spice Islands Dry Minced Onions, which was all I could find at my neighborhood store. I think I got this correct!
❤ A word about parsley: While my Mom “Betty” would likely have used curly-leaf parsley, I’ve learned through the years that it’s a little too tickly for my tongue. I’m usually hugging tight to the Italian flat-leaf parsley because I don’t find it wrestling my tastebuds on the way down.
i. ingredients
1 cup | tuna
½ cup | celery, chopped
¼ cup | dry onions, chopped
handful | lettuce, chopped
¼ cup | mayonnaise
2 tablespoons | french dressing
1 cup | la choy fried chow mein noodles, lightly crushed
to present/serve | lettuce leaf (optional)
to garnish | parsley, chopped
ii. what to do
1. Mix tuna, celery, dry onions, and lettuce.
2. Stir in the mayo and the French dressing.
3. The recipe doesn’t call for it, but here is where you could chill your tuna salad (totally optional). When ready to serve add the chow mein to the salad mixture and stir to coat.
4. Arrange the tuna salad on your lettuce leaf and garnish with parsley.
Yields 4-6 appetizer-sized servings.
Betty’s Son
Founder and “Nostalgic Food Blogger” of Betty’s Cook Nook
A scan of Mom’s Crunchy Tuna Salad recipe.
This recipe is on a waxy kinda paper – likely a cutting from the Tasteez chow mein package itself!
Now on to the vintage videos!
YUM YUM YUM – Crunchy Tuna Salad’s In Da House
shrimp remoulade
Posted: June 5, 2017 Filed under: appetizers, meats poultry and fish, seafood | Tags: celery, egg, green pepper, mustard, onion, paprika, parsley, salad oil, salt, shrimp, tabasco sauce, vinegar 2 Comments
let’s applaud this remoulade
Prior to making this recipe, I didn’t know much about shrimp remoulade.
- I couldn’t spell “remoulade” correctly.
- Roots to France? No wonder I couldn’t spell it!
- As a younger Patrick if a shrimp-like object was placed before me I would have run for the hills, arms in air. So making this recipe *and eating* the end result involved a bending of my typical seafood predispositions; I have found certain select seafood fare that I enjoy, although don’t tell that to my Tex-Mex and Italian foodie favorites.
foodie tips
❤ Shrimp tip! While stores may not be consistent in how they classify shrimp, when you’re at the seafood counter, there’s a method to the madness for how many shrimp typically come per pound (this is indicative of their size). Resources that will be helpful include the Certi-Fresh website, which gives great detail plus the Certi-Fresh Shrimp Sizing Guide you can print, and keep with your cookbooks (score!)… and the Farm to Table guide that provides some detail on larger-sized shrimp. Now you’ll be able to decipher shrimp-like code like PUD, P&D, U/15, and 61/70!
❤ While shrimp remoulade is technically an appetizer, you can enjoy it with a variety of sidekicks. I can squarely picture my Mom “Betty” eating these marinated shrimp straight off a Nabisco saltine cracker. Other accents can include a bed of tender greens, jasmine rice, toasted crostini or simply by fork (I’m guilty of by fork – it was that good).
i. ingredients
½ cup + 2 tablespoons | salad oil
¼ cup | mustard
3 tablespoons | vinegar
1 teaspoon | salt
¼ teaspoon | tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons | paprika
1 | egg, hard cooked, separated into yolk and white and chopped
½ cup | celery, minced
2 tablespoons | onion, grated
2 tablespoons | fresh parsley, snipped
2 tablespoons | green pepper, minced
1 pound | shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cooked (P&D&C)
ii. what to do
1. Beat the oil, mustard, vinegar, salt, Tabasco, paprika, and egg yolk with a rotary beater until thick.
2. Fold in the celery, onion, parsley, green pepper, and chopped egg white.
3. Stir in the cleaned and cooked shrimp.
4. Cover and chill in the fridge, stirring occasionally. I let my shrimp and remoulade mingle for about an hour.
Shrimply delicious!
Yields up to 4 servings, depending on the size of the shrimp and how you’re serving it (appetizer or main course).
Betty’s Son
Founder and “Nostalgic Food Blogger” of Betty’s Cook Nook
A scan of Mom’s original Shrimp Remoulade recipe!
Let’s enjoy some vintage cracker commercials!
Who knows how many sleeves of crackers I’ve polished off in my lifetime. Now we can enjoy a nod to crackers throughout the years!
barbequed shrimp
Posted: April 30, 2016 Filed under: appetizers, seafood | Tags: basil, catsup, garlic, parsley, pepper, salad oil, shrimp, wine vinegar Leave a comment
Checking The Box
As I sit to write this post I think to myself “How well do I really know things about shrimp?”
Turns out not very well!
Why? Well, as a child of 8 who had an unforgettable unpleasant experience with oysters, I’ve since found seafood literally quite fishy, meaning I typically run from it. Batter it up, fry it, and top it with some fresh squeezed lemon or tartar sauce and I’ll come running back. While crab, grilled salmon, Luby’s fried fish, lobster mac and cheese, even some ceviche are right at home in my belly, my list of “no thank yous” include shrimp cocktail, seafood salad, and the likes of anything resembling octopus and squid. Don’t even get me started about a fish served with a head and a glaring, glazed eye. N.O.
So in the end my knowledge of seafood is what I’d call a short story. Two ships that passed in the night. An un-love affair.
A Fish By Any Other Name
When I established this cooking blog I wanted to organize it identically to how Mom organized the sections in her cookbook. Despite my goal there have been recipes that break convention and this recipe is one of them; the only possible two categories this recipe would likely fit under is “appetizers” or “meats poultry and fish.” So I thought: “Check meats poultry and fish!”
Not. So. Fast.
I turned to Google and started researching to find out what, really, is a shrimp?! I came across posts that:
- Criticized shrimp as being “bottom feeders” that are high in cholesterol
- Praised shrimp for being a healthy alternative to meat and poultry
- Described shrimp as being more closely related to spiders, grasshoppers and crabs than to fish
- And one post that skewered shrimp for exacerbating climate change. Wow, really?
In the end a shrimp is factually a 10-legged crustacean. And since saying “I’m eating crustacean tonight!” sounds plain ol’ #awkward, most people just settle on referring to shrimp as seafood. So there we go … *POOF* … I just created a seafood category box at right!
Shrimping On The Barbie
Before we dive into Mom and Dad’s shrimp recipe below, let’s watch a memorable throwback with this 1980s commercial featuring Paul Hogan who is better remembered as Crocodile Dundee. The phrase “slip another shrimp on the barbie?” It came from this: * Caution: the “shrimp” on the barbie at the end of this commercial is monstrously ginormous. But maybe it’s a prawn? And is a prawn a shrimp? Oh, that’s a foodie research story best served for another day. :)
foodie tips ~
❤ Don’t watch the above video with closed captioning tuned on … unless you want a good laugh.
❤ You probably know who had the bright idea to cloak his shrimp in bacon in the picture above. That’s right!
❤ Do not overcook this shrimp, per Mom’s note below!
i. ingredients
1 cup | salad oil
1 teaspoon | salt
3 tablespoons | parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon | dried basil leaves
2 cloves | garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon | catsup
1 teaspoon | pepper
1 tablespoon | wine vinegar
2 pounds | shrimp, shelled and deveined
ii. what to do
1. Combine the first eight ingredients above to make your marinade. Pour over the shrimp and cover. Refrigerate 2-3 hours.
2. Thread shrimp on skewers and place on the barbie. Grill 3 minutes over coals, basting with the marinade.
3. Turn and grill 5 minutes more, basting several times.
Mom said my Dad always got raves from guests for this dish. Enjoy!
~ Patrick
Betty’s Son
Founder and “Nostalgic Food Blogger” of Betty’s Cook Nook
Mom and Dad’s Original Barbequed Shrimp Recipe
king crab appetizer puffs
Posted: September 20, 2015 Filed under: appetizers, seafood | Tags: butter, crab, cream cheese, green onions, mayonnaise, monterey jack cheese, parsley, phyllo pastry sheets Leave a comment
Let’s Get Crabby
In my younger years I spent most summers visiting the Texas Coast at Port Aransas. My Dad loved to wade fish and my Mom loved to crab. Port A’s north and south jetties are where I learned to maneuver the giant granite blocks that extended into the sea. There were countless nooks and crannies where the sea met the granite boulders and this was the special place my Mom “Betty” loved to go crabbin’.
Mom would bait her crab net with a small piece of chicken and lower it into the water and wait a bit. Moving very slow and being extra quiet we’d quickly raise the nets to see if we had caught a crab – two if we were lucky! Females went back into the water and the males we’d take back to our short-term home at Executive Keys to boil and create some crab delicacies.
foodie tips ~
❤ This yields about 3 dozen appetizers. You can half the ingredient quantities if you’re just having a snack. They are best consumed fresh but don’t reheat them in the microwave – only the oven, so they will be crispy!
❤ I couldn’t find King Crab at my local HEB so I substituted it with plain ol’ crab.
i. ingredients
1 package (6-8 ounces) | frozen crab, thawed
2 tablespoons | butter (my grandmother insisted on Falfurrias brand butter)
¼ cup | green onions, sliced
1 cup | fresh mushrooms, chopped
1 cup | monterey jack cheese, shredded
3 ounce package | cream cheese, softened
⅓ cup | mayonnaise
2 tablespoons | parsley, minced
¼ pound | phyllo pastry sheets
¼ cup | more melted butter
ii. what to do
0. Preheat oven to 350°F.
1. Drain and slice the crab. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet. Add the onions and sauté them 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and sauté 1 minute longer. Combine the mushroom-onion mixture with the crab, cheeses, mayonnaise and parsley.
2. Spread phyllo sheets out in layers, two at a time (we did 3 layers because we love the crisp of phyllo). Cut each group of two into strips about 2 inches by 10 inches.
Look at the butter! Mmm – BUTTER!
3. Brush each phyllo strip with melted butter. Mmm … butter! Spoon a scant tablespoon of filling onto the end of the phyllo strip. Fold the pasty over the crab filling to form a triangle. Continue folding into triangles as you would a flag for the length of the strip. Seal the seam with a little more butter.
4. Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until crisp and golden.
Serve these hot!
~ Patrick
Betty’s Son
Founder and “Nostalgic Food Blogger” of Betty’s Cook Nook
A Scan Of Mom’s “Crabetizer” Recipe
They kinda look like crabs already. Next time I’ll fashion these just right!
crabbie canapés
Posted: February 25, 2015 Filed under: appetizers, meats poultry and fish, seafood | Tags: butter, cheese spread, crabmeat, english muffins, garlic salt, lawry's seasoned salt, mayonnaise, shrimp Leave a comment
Fresh From The Sea : Canned Crab
Per Wiki a canapé is a type of hors d’œuvre, a small, prepared and usually decorative food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite. The name comes from the French word for “couch”, drawing on the analogy that the garnish sits atop the bread as people do a couch.
So let’s read between the lines – you eat these canapés with your fingers while sitting on the couch? Oui, oui, parfait – yes, yes, perfect! I’m in!
You can read more about my family’s love for the Texas Coast here … including some nuggets about why I’m not a huge fan of seafood. But I have to admit – these were quite good and while you eat hors d’oeuvres in one bite the two of us almost ate all 36 canapés in one sitting. That says a lot! #cryforhelp
Snap, snap – let’s get to this recipe (pun intended)!
foodie tips ~
❤ Canned crab? Yeah, all I can say is “it was the 1970s.” A time before everything farm-to-fork fresh was expected. The 70s were a time when speed to market (or in this case speed to belly) was key. There’s no doubt my parents loved fresh seafood because we spent many summers crabbin’ and fishin’ at the Texas Coast. See the crabby pic below!
❤ I had a difficult time finding the Old English Sharp Cheddar Cheese Spread (below). I discovered after some online research that it’s hard to find in stores but you can order it from the folks at Amazon.com. I found its kissin’ cousin – Kaukauna Spreadable Cheese from Wisconsin at my local HEB. Hint: After scouring the aisles for the creamy cheese stuff I finally found it in the refrigerated section by the deli.
❤ I like these canapés broiled until just a little toasted black develops here and there. The result was a crispy, bubbly texture that complimented the nook and crannies with the cheese and crab mixture.
❤ You don’t have to broil these all at once. In fact there wasn’t a way for my pan to hold 12 prepared english muffins halves *and* fit in my freezer. We prepared these in two batches and you’ll find these are best enjoyed warm, which works out perfectly for entertaining.
i. ingredients
1 stick | butter or oleo (my Grandmother Nanny insisted on Falfurrias brand butter)
1 jar (5 ounces) | Kraft brand Old English Sharp Cheddar Cheese Spread (see substitute above)
1 ½ teaspoon | mayonnaise
½ teaspoon | garlic salt
½ teaspoon | Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
1 can | crabmeat (or shrimp) – we used Chicken of the Sea
6 | Thomas’ english muffins, split
to garnish | green onions, sliced (optional)
ii. what to do
1. Let the butter (or oleo) and cheese spread soften to room temperature – about 30 minutes or more.
2. Mix the butter and cheese spread together with the mayonnaise, garlic salt and seasoned salt until creamy. Gently fold-in the crabmeat (or shrimp) and combine.
3. Spread the crab mixture on the split English muffins and place them on a cookie sheet that will fit into your freezer. Freeze for about 10 minutes so the crab mixture sets well.
Crabbie Canapés Going Into The Freezer
4. After chilling, cut the muffins into ⅙-ths. You can broil them now or freeze them for later use. If freezing, I inserted a piece of wax paper between laters to prevent the crab mixture from sticking together.
5. To Serve: broil the crabbie canapes until they are bubbly crisp. You can garnish with some sliced green onions, which I thought added a tasty texture.
Yield: 36 Crabbie Canapes
Crabbie Canapés ~ Fresh From The Oven
I hope you enjoy this recipe!
~ Patrick
Betty’s Son
Founder and “Nostalgic Food Blogger” of Betty’s Cook Nook
Here’s a scan of the original recipe from Mom’s cookbook – she received it from a family friend named Gere Cahill who lived down the street in the La Fiesta Apartments. I remember Gere always dropped off Christmas presents for us every Christmas Day and he had me over to swim a few times, which was tons of fun. His gifts live on thanks to this recipe.
My Dad hypnotizing a live crab at the Texas Coast, July 1975.
crab supper pie
Posted: April 12, 2012 Filed under: breakfast, casseroles and one-dish meals, meats poultry and fish, seafood | Tags: almonds, crab, cream, eggs, green onions, lemon, mace, mustard, swiss cheese Leave a comment
Got Crabs?
Each summer, the Kiker Family of 5 usually found our feet in the warm and sandy beach of the Texas Coast…
…Dad sporting his silver anti-reflective hat, Mom wearing her hand-painted denim shirt and a straw hat wrapped with a brown burlap ribbon. Me? I was reluctantly wearing zinc oxide on my nose and face… and a sunburn o
n the rest of me.
Here in Port Aransas, you’d find Dad, Tim and Roger fishing in the Gulf. And Mom? You’d find her (and alternating family members and friends) at the South Jetty with nets in hand.
We Were Crabbin’
There on the jetties, I spent many a day darting amongst the giant rocks looking for floating treasure… yet our favorite treasured time was checking the traps to see if we might have caught gold; crabs. Female crabs went back in the water, but males, we would keep. Mom would boil them rosy red later in the day back at our hotel (usually Executive Keys) and transform them into seafood spectacular.
You can learn more about our adventures at the South Texas Coast (and why I’m working on my sea foodie status) here and here.
In the meantime, grab a couple of fresh crabs (or canned ones if you’re celebrating the simplicity of the 70s) and give props to the kissin’ cousin of la quiche… Crab Supper Pie!
Even though I don’t love seafood without a disclaimer, there are a few dishes I love (fried shrimp, grilled salmon creamy nutty tuna)… and now creamy, crunchy crab supper pie.
Let’s Go Crabbin’
i. ingredients
1 cup | natural Swiss cheese, shredded
9-inch | pastry shell, unbaked
7½ ounce can | crab meat, drained and flaked
2 | green onions, sliced with tops
3 | eggs, beaten
1 cup | light cream*
½ teaspoon | salt
½ teaspoon | grated lemon peel
¼ teaspoon | dry mustard
dash | mace
¼ cup | sliced almonds
ii. what to do
0. Preheat oven
to 325°F.
1. Sprinkle cheese evenly over the bottom of the pastry shell.
2. Top with crab meat and sprinkle with green onion.
3. Combine eggs, cream, salt, lemon peel, dry mustard and mace. Pour over crab meat.
4. Top with sliced almonds.
5. Bake in a slow-oven (at 325°F), for about 45 minutes or until set.
6. Remove from oven and let stand about 10 minutes before serving.
Serves 6
Great For Breakfast Or Dinner
Foodie Tip ~
♥ Despite the fact I’m not a Sea Foodie at heart, I added more canned crab because it was sold in 6 ounce cans (not 7½ ounce cans). The result? Uber meaty crab pie!
♥ Mace? I had never heard of this as a seasoning but turns out that mace is not something you spray in someone’s eyes… it’s a warm spice that’s a milder cousin to nutmeg. Think pepper + cinnamon. It’s about $9.00/bottle, so get ready for this nutmeg substitute!
Family Fun Fact ~
♥ A “Port A” ritual was for mom to get her chicken gizzard fixin’ and for us… a bean burger on Mustang Isle.
While most folks cringe when hearing me speak of a “bean burger,” relax… it’s a beef burger topped with refried beans, cheddar cheese and fritos… something we enjoyed back home in S.A. at Sills Snack Snack on Austin Highway. Later on at college I found a replica at College Station’s Deluxe Burger bar (now closed).
Golden times.
creamy nutty tuna
Posted: August 28, 2011 Filed under: appetizers, meats poultry and fish, seafood | Tags: black olives, cream cheese, pecans, triscuits, white tuna Leave a comment
Nutty?
Get in line.
Mom loved tuna.
And me? I’m not a fan of seafood since an oyster-eating challenge at the age of 8 (a wretching story, indeed).
So when I break outside my comfort zones of pasta and chicken with reckless abandon for frutti di mare, I know when I’ve had an amazing dish when I want more.
Amazingly, I sat down with this delicious dish of nutty tuna… and turned it into a meal.
Between us, I was actually seen licking the spoon.
i. ingredients
small block | cream cheese (about 3-4 ounces)
1-5 oz. can | white tuna
1-2.25 oz. can | ripe (black) olives, chopped
1/2 cup | texas pecans, chopped
to serve | box o’ triscuits
ii. what to do
0. This one’s pretty easy. You mix everything in a bowl.
1. Place on serving dish and step back… hungry eaters will surround!
Foodie Tip ~
♥ You might try using whipped cream cheese for an extra creamy taste… and if you’re allergic to seafood, try using canned chicken. Mom would approve.
Betty's Cook Nook 
