Shrimp and Old Bay is a match made in heaven. Add butter and garlic for a very good time. This is the first time I cooked with Old Bay – here is how it went!

Time: 2/5
Done in a flash with minimal prep

Effort: 2/5
Not counting the fact that I took a plane trip to get some of the groceries

Simping for Shrimp

You know how even mundane things become interesting when you have to peep through a keyhole? Well, I didn’t grow up in the West but I watched a lot of English language TV as a kid. I’m old enough that some of that screen time was spent in front of a thick cathode-ray-tube museum piece. A lot of that programming was US-dominated, and as a result I developed a fascination with certain aspects of American food culture.

Among those things are Tex-mex cuisine, Southern-style barbecue, and Old Bay. I don’t know what’s so specific about Old Bay that made it stick to my prepubescent mind, but maybe I was going through some critical stage of development and a certain show happened to be on air. But the middle-school me didn’t have the knowledge or ability to act on the foreign yet primal urge of making it snow Old Bay on seafood, so the thought laid dormant in the back of my mind.

Until one day I went to the States, to visit an old friend (quite literally) who retired there to spend his days pollinating bitter melons by hand in his vegetable patch, among other things. That was a very fun week, where I finally got the chance to try an honest-to-god seafood boil.

This particular dish that really left an impression on me. It was a plate of shrimp, a potato and some broccoli florets that was swimming in an absolutely obscene amount of butter. My eyes must have widened noticeably, because our waitress read my mind and reassured me, “Butter is good!”

Don’t let the broccoli fool you into thinking they’re there for your health and wellbeing. One of our party picked up a floret, held it upside down, and then proceeded to extrude about a tablespoon of butter from by squeezing it from the stem to the top. But hey, we’re on vacation! I’ll worry about my waistline when I’m home.

I don’t even know if the seafood boil I had had any Old Bay in it. I’ve never had it before, you see. I only knew on an intellectual level that Old Bay was sometimes present in Cajun cuisine. But that experience inspired me to get some seasonings and condiments I can’t get at home, to bring them home and make myself some American food. I got what I wanted from Costco, and boy was shopping at Costco eye opening: seeing 6lb packs of ground pork made me cream my meal-prepper pants.

But anyway, I got home and was determined to make a more sane version of that seafood boil that I could meal prep on Monday, have for lunch all week and not fall dead by Wednesday. So, I had myself a little Old Bay tasting party on the kitchen counter, to see what I’m getting myself into.

I didn’t expect Old Bay to be so celery-forward! It was also quite salty, although also very aromatic and herby. A very convenient all-in-one seasoning that I could shake over some protein and call it a day. I’m sure a lot of you know this already, but this is a first for me! Armed with that knowledge, I set off to make the coming week’s lunches.

Looking for other ways to use shrimp? Try a light yet warming Tom Yum Kung or an aromatic and savoury Stir Fry Supreme. Old Bay is also a great shortcut to make some colourful and flavourful mayo-coated baked cod.

Dramatis Personae

Served 6, but you might want to do 4. This is high protein and relatively low calorie, but pretty low-volume and so not the most satiating.

Shrimp – 1kg, peeled.

Frozen and tiny, because I’m a cheapskate and also because the shrimp stays in meal prep containers for a couple days before being nuked for a few minutes. I’ll save the fancy big shrimp for fancy big occasions, where the appearance and texture can really shine.

Butter – 4 tablespoons

Since shrimp is such a lean protein, there’s plenty of room for the richness and calories that the butter brings. But because butter isn’t good for searing (it would burn at such high heat), I’m adding it towards the end, more like a seasoning than a cooking fat.

Garlic – 10 cloves, minced

A key ingredient here. Mince it fine, so there’s plenty of surface area to infuse the butter with its aromatic goodness.

Old Bay – 6 tablespoons, I think

I’ll admit, I didn’t measure. I sprinkled until the pan looked an angry, fiery red. Then I tasted, added some more, and repeated that process until I liked how it tasted.

Broccoli – 2 heads

Always eat your veggies! The garlic-butter-broccoli combo of works really well, because the butter picks up all the delicious flavours from the rest of the dish which the broccoli can then pick up in turn. Other vegetables with a lot of surface area can probably serve a similar function, like cauliflower or kale.

Executive summary

1. Make rice. Drain and dry shrimp very well. Wash and cut broccoli, and finely mince garlic.
2. Sear shrimp on a very hot pan in some vegetable oil. Reserve.
3. Switch off the heat. Add butter and minced garlic.
4. When the butter melts and you smell the garlic, add shrimp and toss to combine. Reserve again.
5. Add broccoli to pan. Salt, and stir around in the butter. Cook until desired doneness.
6. Assemble and serve.

Play by Play

Draining my shrimp very well, and tossing them with some paper towels in the colander. Water is the enemy of browning, and browning is flavour!

I’ll need my broccoli immediately after the shrimp is done, so I’m cutting them too. I like to hold it upside down, and work my way around cutting florets off the trunk from bottom to top.

The broccoli core is perfectly edible too. Cut off the woody bottom and sides. They take longer to cook than florets, so either give them a head start or cut into thin pieces. I also minced the garlic, but I forgot to take a picture of that.

Ripping hot pan with a bit of vegetable oil. The shrimp were basically ready to flip by the time I got them into a single layer. While they did brown, unfortunately the brown seemed to prefer to stay on the pan surface.

Butter and garlic in. The heat is off by this point. There’s enough residual heat in the pan to melt the butter and infuse it with garlicky goodness.

Shrimp go back in with what looks like an appropriate amount of Old Bay. Start small in this case, because it’s easy to add more later. Toss everything to combine, taste and adjust the seasoning.

Look at what a mess was left in the pan after I reserved the shrimp! What should I do with all this shrimp, buttery, garlicky, Old Bay-y goodness?

That was a rhetorical question. The broccoli is more than happy to mop all that up as it cooks. It may need a bit of salt, and if you like them softer you can steam them for a bit by a splash of water and covering with a lid for a couple of minutes.

Time to plate up and enjoy!

Aw yeah baby! U-S-A!

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