Dried shrimp, or shrimp that have been salted and dried in the sun, are often used in Asian, African, and Cajun cuisines, as well as in Carlos Gaytan’s native Mexico. He’s no stranger to the ingredient, but he’s not sure whether Bill Kim knew that when he chose it: “I’m assuming that he thought that we don’t do anything with dried shrimp in Mexico—or probably he was just being really nice to me. One or the other.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
With that in mind, he developed a breakfast dish—”coffee and doughnuts,” involving three pounds of dried shrimp (which are typically used in small amounts, as they have a strong flavor). Gaytan boiled dried shrimp with carrots, onions, celery, and bay leaves to make a shrimp consomme (the “coffee”), then blended the cooked shrimp with ground dried shrimp, potatoes, roasted garlic, Parmesan, white truffle oil, and cream for a brandade that he beer-battered and fried to make beignets (the “doughnuts”). A saffron foam topped the consomme, and tuile “spoons” made with ground dried shrimp finished things off.
The dish—like Mexique—is “modern Mexican with a French influence,” Gaytan says. He formally learned to cook as an adult, staging at French restaurants in Chicago, but also picked up a lot from helping his mother, who owned a tiny restaurant in his hometown of Huitzuco (between Acapulco and Cuernavaca). She liked to get creative with her cooking, and when his friends would stop by to eat they’d complain that the food wasn’t traditional, says Gaytan. “They used to complain, but they used to come back every single day to eat more.”
Video by Michael Gebert/Sky Full of Bacon
1 cup diced onions
Water to cover
1 t cumin
