Old Charleston Recipes: Shrimp Creole
A traditional Low Country recipe
When most people hear the word “Creole,” they immediately think of New Orleans or Louisiana. You might be surprised to learn that there are many Creole descendants living in the Southeastern United States. Here, the distinct type of Creole is known as Gullah. The Gullah culture and language range along the coast from northern Florida to southern North Carolina and have had a major influence on cities like Charleston and Savannah, including their culinary arts.
My great-grandmother spent much of her life in these two lovely cities by the sea, and they obviously influenced her cooking. My mother told me once that the first thing Mama Schaffer did every time she went into her kitchen to prepare a meal was to put on a big pot of rice. Evidently, the family ate rice with everything.
One of the family’s favorite meals was shrimp Creole. I guess this was only natural with all the wonderful fresh shrimp available on the Georgia and South Carolina coasts. And, of course, it was a dish that went wonderfully with rice.
For this recipe, I used my great-grandmother’s heirloom recipe and made a few tweaks to it to make it my own.
Holle’s Shrimp Creole
What you’ll need:
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup diced fresh pimientos
½ cup diced onions
½ cup diced green bell pepper
¼ cup diced celery
2 cans crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon ground red pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
Tabasco sauce, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 bay leaves
1 ½ - 2 pounds boiled, peeled, deveined shrimp (I like to use small shrimp for this)
Directions:
Melt butter in a skillet and sauté bell pepper, pimientos, onion, and celery until soft.
Pour pan ingredients, including butter, into a stock pot.
Add tomatoes, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, red pepper, sugar, the bay leaves, and salt and black pepper.
Cover and simmer for four hours. Remove bay leaves.
Add shrimp and cook for an additional fifteen minutes.
Serve over white rice, yellow rice, or grits. I like it best over yellow rice!
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