My dad, a native New Englander, is a huge fan of lobster rolls, those heavily-buttered hot dog buns stuffed with chunks of mayonnaise-rich lobster and maybe a little celery for crunch.
Wildly flavorful and obscenely indulgent, lobster rolls are a summertime fixture at every seafood shack in New England. Problem is, they can be pricey. So I came up with this recipe, my attempt to concoct a poor man’s lobster roll.
I did it by swapping shrimp for the lobster, and I must say it turned out splendidly. You just have to be careful not to overcook the shrimp. So let me share some tips with you.
First, don’t be fooled by the raw shrimp at the fish counter. Just because they are raw doesn’t mean they are fresh. Almost all of the shrimp we buy in this country have been frozen, often in 5-pound blocks. And as soon as they are defrosted, they start to head downhill. Your best bet for freshness is to buy IQF (individually quick-frozen) shrimp.