Shrimp Remoulade is a quintessential New Orleans appetizer, appearing on the menus of New Orleans and South Louisiana restaurants of every ilk. One of my earliest restaurant memories as a child is being dragged by the Mother Unit to Arnaud’s, the classic French Quarter Creole restaurant, and having Shrimp Arnaud to start the meal. That piquant and tangy Creole version of remoulade sauce mixed into cocktail shrimp and served over iceberg lettuce was a life changer. I knew right away that I could get used to this! Starting with Shrimp Arnaud in the early 1800s, Shrimp Remoulade and Remoulade Sauce started to appear in other restaurants and is forever on menus in New Orleans and South Louisiana. Here is Sweet Daddy D’s version of Shrimp Remoulade, a Creole Remoulade Sauce mixed with chilled shrimp and served over crisp iceberg lettuce...no better way to start a meal!
Sweet Daddy D's Shrimp Remoulade
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One common characteristic of most “quintessential” New Orleans and South Louisiana dishes is that there is rarely one agreed-upon recipe. So, while it’s not unusual to see remoulade sauce used in various ways in Creole and Cajun restaurants, the recipes vary greatly. In my recipe development, I have been forever in pursuit of the perfect remoulade sauce and I think I have developed a pretty good one here. Check out the Hints and Tips to learn more about Remoulade Sauce.
Here’s What You Need
- Boiled or steamed shrimp, peeled. (medium to large depending on your preference)
Peeled, chilled shrimp!
- Shredded iceberg lettuce (you can substitute other types of lettuce, but crisp, cold iceberg lettuce is far superior with this dish, in my experience)
- Fresh Parsley (for garnish)
For the Creole Remoulade Sauce:
- Base
- Creole mustard
- Prepared horseradish
- Olive oil
- Red wine vinegar
- Lemon juice
- Vegetables
- Celery hearts (that’s the innermost and tenderest stalks of the celery)
- Green onions (use the green section and a little of the white)
- Fresh Parsley
- Fresh Garlic
- Spices
- Sweet Paprika
- Refined sugar
- Kosher Salt
- Black pepper
- Tabasco
- Cayenne Pepper (optional)
Here's What You Need
- Mixing bowl. A 4-cup glass measuring cup works perfectly for this.
Here’s What You Do
First...you have a beer. This is a simple recipe, but it does have a handful of ingredients, and if you make any of the thousands of variations, there could be even more. So it needs a little mise en place which starts by sipping a beer and reading through the recipe. Gather the ingredients and make sure you know what you’re going to do with them. Shortly before you are ready to serve, peel the shrimp and set them in the fridge to chill until needed. The steps are simple, but the outcome is world-class.
Prep the ingredients
Chop the celery hearts and green onions very fine. The parsley should be chopped fine as well, but take care not to smash the parsley because it has the tendency to get bitter. That’s not the case with the garlic. The garlic should be pureed or run through a garlic press to get it very fine and liquidy. You can put it through the paces with a mortar and pestle or give it a very fine chop. The idea is to spread the garlic flavor throughout the sauce. Now that the hard part is done, all you have to do is measure out all the other ingredients.
Use a large measuring cup to combine the ingredients
Mix the Sauce Ingredients
So simple. Place all the ingredients in a large glass measuring cup (4 cup size works great) and mix until all the ingredients are completely combined into a homogenous sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, but overnight is even better. It wouldn’t hurt to stir the sauce occasionally while it’s in the fridge, but its not the end of the world if you don’t.
Mix everything together and refrigerate
Put the Shrimp Remoulade Together
Slice or shred the iceberg lettuce and place on small plates.
Mix the shrimp and sauce together in a bowl. Depending on how many servings you are preparing and the size of the shrimp, place between 8 and 12 shrimp per serving into a bowl. Of course, the shrimp should be divided equally based on the number of servings you plan. In other words, don't stress about the actual number of shrimp, just make the servings equal. Starting with about 2 tablespoons per serving, add the remoulade sauce to the shrimp in the bowl and mix thoroughly. Adjust the amount of sauce to your personal taste.
Mix the sauce into the shrimp
All mixed and ready for serving
For a traditional serving style, place an equal amount of sauced shrimp onto the lettuce on each plate and garnish with a couple of sprigs of parsley. Serve as an appetizer with some saltine crackers and a wedge of lemon. Delicious!
Sweet Daddy D's Shrimp Remoulade
That’s it, all there is to it.
Here are a few items that will help you make this recipe:
Hints and tips
- This recipe makes about 1 ½ cups of remoulade sauce. Depending upon the size of the shrimp (I recommend medium to large), you should use between 6 and 12 shrimp per appetizer serving.
- What is Remoulade Sauce? Well, there are two types of Remoulade Sauce. The original classic French version is sometimes referred to as White Remoulade Sauce. It's a cold sauce made by adding mustard and aromatics to mayonnaise. It gained popularity around the world between the 17th and 19th Centuries as a condiment and sauce for fish and many other dishes. The Creole version, sometimes referred to as Red Remoulade Sauce, is similar but made without the mayonnaise. Creole Remoulade Sauce was created in the early 1800s, by famed New Orleans restauranteur Count Arnaud Cazenave at his Bienville Street restaurant, Arnaud’s. He mixed it with chilled shrimp and served it as a cold appetizer. It would not take long before Remoulade Sauce would start appearing on menus all over New Orleans in either the classic French version or the Creole version. Either version can be used not only in Shrimp Remoulade but also as a salad dressing, a cold sauce for fish and seafood and a dipping sauce. The flavor of both versions is just too bold to limit.
- This remoulade sauce recipe benefits from sitting in the refrigerator for a while allowing all the flavors to meld. Make it at least two hours in advance and if you have the opportunity, let it sit in the fridge overnight. The sauce, if covered in an airtight container, will stay good in the fridge for up to two weeks without losing flavor.
- This recipe should be served cold. Chill the shrimp and the lettuce. You can use boiled or steamed shrimp or pre-cooked cocktail shrimp (fresh or frozen) from the seafood market.
- Mix just enough sauce and shrimp together at one time for the number of servings you plan. Store the sauce in the fridge separately from the shrimp. The cooked shrimp can be stored in the fridge for 3 to 4 days or frozen for about 10 months. The key to storage is making it airtight.
- I do not recommend freezing leftover sauce as it will have the tendency to separate. However, if you do freeze the sauce, mix it very well and maybe drizzle in a small amount of olive oil or even water to bring the sauce back together.
- Remoulade Sauce is different than tartar sauce and cocktail sauce, although all are great with seafood. Tartar Sauce is a mayonnaise-based sauce usually made with some sort of sweet pickle relish and is used as a condiment. It would compare more closely to the classic French Remoulade Sauce but tartar is sweeter while the French Remoulade is more savory and spicy. Cocktail Sauce can be used in a similar way as Creole Remoulade Sauce but is basically ketchup mixed with prepared horseradish and other ingredients. It is also commonly used as a condiment for fried seafood and my favorite, raw oysters.
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Yeah You Right!
Shrimp Remoulade
Here's What You Need
- 2 pounds medium shrimp boiled or steamed, peeled
- ¾ cup creole mustard
- 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
- 1 tablespoon celery hearts finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons green onions finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon parsley finely chopped
- 1 ½ teaspoons garlic pureed or very finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon Black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon tabasco
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper optional
Here's What You Do
- Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk thoroughly until a homogenous sauce is created; about 5 minutes.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours.
- Add 8 to 12 chilled cooked shrimp per serving to a small bowl. Starting with about 2 tablespoons per serving, add the remoulade sauce to the shrimp and mix well until all the shrimp are completely coated.
- Place sauced shrimp over a bed of prepared lettuce or other preparation of your choice and serve.
Recipe Notes
- This recipe makes about 1 ½ cups of remoulade sauce.
- There are two types of Remoulade Sauce. The original classic French version, a cold sauce made by adding mustard and aromatics to mayonnaise, gained popularity around the world between the 17th and 19th Centuries as a condiment and sauce for fish and many other dishes. This is a Creole version, similar but without the mayonnaise, was created in the early 1800s, by famed New Orleans restauranteur Count Arnaud Cazenave at his Bienville Street restaurant, Arnaud’s.
- This remoulade sauce recipe benefits from sitting in the refrigerator for a while allowing all the flavors to meld. Make it at least two hours in advance and if you have the opportunity, let it sit in the fridge overnight. The sauce, if covered in an airtight container, will stay good in the fridge for up to two weeks without losing flavor.
- This recipe should be served cold. Chill the shrimp and the lettuce. You can use boiled or steamed shrimp and pre-cooked cocktail shrimp from the seafood market.
- Mix just enough sauce and shrimp together at one time for the number of servings you plan. Store the sauce in the fridge separately from the shrimp. The cooked shrimp can be stored in the fridge for 3 to 4 days or frozen for about 10 months. The key to storage is making it airtight.
- I do not recommend freezing leftover sauce as it will have the tendency to separate. However, if you do freeze the sauce, mix it very well and maybe drizzle in a small amount of olive oil or even water to bring the sauce back together.
- Remoulade Sauce is different than tartar sauce and cocktail sauce, although all are great with seafood. Tartar Sauce is a Mayonaise based sauce usually made with some sort of pickled relish and is used as a condiment. Cocktail Sauce can be used in a similar way as Remoulade Sauce but is basically ketchup mixed with prepared horseradish and other ingredients. It is also commonly used as a condiment for fried seafood and my favorite, raw oysters.
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