Shrimp Salad
Cold poached shrimp in a lemony, celery-and-dill dressing — the beach-house classic, the lobster roll's weekday cousin, and the best argument in this corpus for buying shrimp shell-on. The craft is a gentle poach to just-opaque and a dressing that stays pourable: shrimp salad is not mayo salad with shrimp in it, and the ratio below keeps that line honest.
| Active time | 20 minutes |
| Hands-off time | 20 minutes (chill) |
| Difficulty | Easy |
| Key techniques | the 60–63 °C poach, ice-stop, the 2:1 dressing ratio |
| Make-ahead | 1 day refrigerated; improves overnight |
Shrimp Salad
Prep: 20 minutes · Cook: 10 minutes · Total: 30 minutes · 4 as a main
Ingredients
The shrimp
- 700 g (1.5 lb) shell-on large shrimp, 16–20 count — shell-on poaches sweeter; see the note
- 2 liters water, 1 tbsp (12 g) salt, 1 lemon half, 1 bay leaf — the poaching court
The dressing
- 120 g (1/2 cup) mayonnaise
- 60 g (1/4 cup) sour cream or Greek yogurt — the 2:1 mayo-to-tang ratio is the file's core
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon (about 45 ml juice)
- 1 tsp (5 g) Dijon mustard
- 1 celery stalk (about 40 g), diced small, leaves reserved
- 2 scallions (about 40 g), sliced thin — or 3 tbsp (12 g) chives
- 10 g (1/3 cup) fresh dill, chopped — dill is this salad's signature herb; chervil or tarragon run a quiet second
- 1 tsp (5 g) capers, chopped, optional
- 1/2 tsp (2 g) salt, plus more to taste
- Black pepper, several grinds
- Pinch of cayenne — the hidden gear
The bowl, to serve
- 300 g (6 cups) tender greens — butterhead, torn; or a split avocado per plate
- Lemon wedges, extra dill sprigs, hot sauce for the table
Instructions
- Poach at a whisper, 2–3 minutes. Bring the salted, lemoned, bay-leafed water to a bare simmer — bubbles just breaking at 85 °C at the surface — and slide in the shrimp. Hold the water there, never boiling, for 2–3 minutes: large shrimp are done the moment they curl into a loose C, turn fully opaque, and feel firm with a slight bounce. Checkpoint — cut one shrimp through the center: opaque white with no translucent gray at the core, the shape a loose C. A tight O is overcooked and rubber-bound; pull the batch the moment the C closes.
- Ice-stop immediately. Scoop the shrimp straight into the ice bath and chill 3–4 minutes. The ice stops the carryover cooking that would otherwise push the tender C into the rubber O while you were finding the bowl. Checkpoint — the shrimp are cold to the touch and firm; pat them dry — wet shrimp water down the dressing at the fold. Halve any that run large; the fork-size discipline serves the salad.
- Build the dressing, thin it right. Whisk the mayo, sour cream, lemon zest and juice, Dijon, salt, cayenne, and pepper until smooth, then fold in the celery, scallions, dill, and capers. The consistency should be a soft dollop that slowly slumps — thicker than a pourable dressing, thinner than tuna salad's binder, because shrimp carry no starch to thicken it further. Checkpoint — taste: distinctly lemony with dill perfume and a whisper of cayenne heat at the swallow. Flat? Lemon first, salt second — the dressing must lead because cold shrimp mute everything they touch.
- Fold and chill 20 minutes. Fold the shrimp through the dressing gently — the goal is coating, not breaking — and refrigerate 20 minutes to let the flavors marry and the shrimp cool fully to 4 °C. Serve over greens with lemon and dill. Checkpoint — eating test: sweet, tender shrimp with a snap's resistance, creamy-lemony dressing, celery's crunch and dill's garden brightness, cayenne arriving at the swallow's end. It should taste lighter than any deli version — that lightness is the sour cream and the restrained hand with mayo.
- Peel the shrimp, then poach the shells in the water for 5 minutes and strain — a 5-minute shell stock makes the poaching court sweet and the shrimp's flavor deeper. The shortcut (plain salted water) costs flavor the file can taste.
- Set the ice bath beside the stove before the water heats: shrimp do not wait for ice to be found.
Doneness & Quality Checkpoints
- Bare simmer throughout — never a rolling boil on shrimp
- Loose-C doneness, opaque core, ice-stopped
- 2:1 mayo to sour cream — the lightness ratio
- Dressing tastes too lemony on a spoon; correct on a shrimp
- Chilled 20 minutes before service at true cold
Finish & Plate
Cold plates, a bed of butterhead or a split avocado (the file's favorite: spoon the salad into the pit's seat), dill sprigs and lemon over. It splits a warm baguette for the roll format, fills #66's bread logic for the sandwich seat, and takes a bloody mary beside it at brunch without complaint.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Shrimp rubbery | Boiled or no ice-stop | The whisper simmer; the ice bath stands ready |
| Dressing heavy, coating the tongue | All mayo | The sour cream third is not optional — it is the recipe |
| Salad bland on the greens | Cold-muting and timid acid | More lemon at serving; the cayenne pinch |
Storage, Make-Ahead & Variations
- Keeps 1 day refrigerated (4 °C) at peak, 2 days with the fresh-celery fix at serving. Never freeze a dressed shrimp salad — mayonnaise breaks and shrimp toughen. - Variations: the roll format on a buttered, toasted split-top bun with the #74 lobster roll's logic; Old Bay in the poach for the Chesapeake register; avocado chunks folded at serving; the citrus swap — segmented orange and a drop of #3's citrus-honey for the winter version.