Shrimp-Mango Salad, Tips and a Poll: Spilled Milk #218

This week's recipe is free for everyone, and we're trying something different with the video: Please tell me what you think of it.

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Trying something new, why not. Our video this week is a tad more instructional than we have typically executed in the past.

It’s also a part of my first-ever readers poll, and I need your help!

I will select one person, randomly, from each category of subscriber and send them a cool prize. So please submit a reply in the comments, in the chat or on the Substack app.

Let’s get to the poll, first and foremost:

1. Do you prefer a video that’s more snappy, fast and less instructional? Or do you like me talking through the video like this one?

2. If you are a paying subscriber, tell me what made you decide on that status and what you want to see more of. What would make this a better newsletter for you?

3. If you are a non-paying subscriber, please know you are just as valued. I am curious: What would make you become a paying subscriber?

4. What would you like to see more of on Spilled Milk?

Did you know with a paid subscription you get a lot more cool stuff each week like this recipe, PLUS our 2x-a-year deep sponsor discounts on Shun knives for example, that makes the subscription cost pay for itself and then some in savings on their merch?

OK, so this week’s recipe, free for everyone…

Recipe: Shrimp-Mango Salad

This salad is a year-round favorite, but it’s also a seasonal one. Right now, it’s mangos, and I take it in a southeast Asian direction, flavor-wise. In fall I make it with apples and cukes along with steamed mussels or clams and a citrus vinaigrette. Yes, the recipe in a sense is always important but it also is more about a style of cooking that I like.

There are some true nuggets buried in here:

1. Store fragile herbs like Thai basil in a jar with a few inches of water in the bottom after making a fresh cut on the bunch (unless you pulled them from your own garden) and place a plastic bag loosely over the top. Then place in your fridge. Your herbs will last a long time. I hit my local Asian market once a week or every ten days, and I have Thai basil, garlic chives and cilantro year round at peak texture flavor because I treat them like cut flowers. The cold retards rotting, the water is a source of health for the herbs and the loose baggie over the top preserves the right amount of humidity/CO2.

2. Peeled shrimp. I cook them like I make tea, by steeping them. Season the water and bring to a boil. Lower heat to maintain a simmer and place the shrimp in, swirl, and turn off the heat. In 5 minutes (sometimes less if you have very little shrimp, or more if you have several pounds) give or take, they are done. I poach chicken the same way, with no flame under the pot. More on that in a few weeks. The result are the most tender and perfectly cooked shrimp you will make. For other applications I cool very slowly in melted butter, over the lowest heat setting for 15 minutes. If the SHRIMP ARE IN THE SHELL I devein them, leaving shell on and grill them. Don’t grill peeled shrimp: They get too dry and tough.

The Shrimp

• 1 lb. U-15 wild caught or farmed shrimp (get good ones, please!)

• 1 lemon

• 1 teaspoon salt

The Dressing

• 4 tablespoons colatura, Italian fish sauce (I buy mine from Gustiamo)

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• Juice of a Meyer lemon, or lime juice to taste

• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

• A 2-inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled, sliced very thin, stacked and cut into thin matchstick threads

• 1 tablespoon garlic chives, sliced

• 1/2 teaspoon shio koji (I get it on Amazon)

• A healthy splash of Huilerie Beaujolaise calamansi vinegar or similar fruit vinegar (I get mine on Amazon)

The Salad

• 1 mango, not quite fully ripe

• 3 or 4 Persian cucumbers or one large euro-hydro cucumber

• 2 Fresno peppers

• 2-3 shallots

• Several handfuls of fresh herbs (I like a mix of cilantro, mint and Thai basil)

1. Cook the shrimp and reserve to a bowl — don’t refrigerate them.

2. Combine the dressing ingredients and adjust taste balance.

3. Peel and shave the mango.

4. Shave the cukes.

5. Slice the peppers thinly.

6. Slice the shallots as thinly as possible.

7. Combine the salad ingredients and top with the shrimp. Spoon over just enough dressing (it’s strong) and enjoy.

Recipe: Shrimp-Mango Salad

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