Table Talk for July 2, 2009

• By TOMMY SIMMONS
• Advocate Food writer
• Published: Jul 2, 2009

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We are probably going to move inside for at least some of our Fourth of July celebration. It’s too “mosquitoey” in my backyard, and this heat wave isn’t helping.

We have not finalized our menu. I’m sure it will include potato salad, deviled eggs, baked beans, sliced tomatoes and watermelon. If we opt for a grilled fish entree, I might make a bowl of Shrimp Remoulade to serve alongside the grilled fish.

I tested a different recipe for a Remoulade Salad Dressing last week and served it at the retirement party for Roy Miller, Advocate state editor.

The mayonnaise-based dressing was milder tasting than the red remoulade sauces popular in New Orleans. It called for Durkee Famous Sauce, a bottled sandwich sauce that I hadn’t ever used in a recipe.

I halved the recipe and still had enough sauce for six pounds of boiled shrimp.

TOMMY'S TIP
Thawing frozen shrimp under cold running water is the fastest and best means of thawing. Frozen shrimp can also be thawed in the refrigerator, allowing 12 hours for a one-pound package, said Jerald Horst in his cookbook, “The Louisiana Seafood Bible: Shrimp.”