PrintShrimp Salad with Celery?
I am getting ready to make shrimp salad. My husband like finely chopped celery in the shrimp salad and I would prefer to leave it out my dressing is flavorful enough without it as far as I am concerned. What do you guys think??
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20 Comments:
It's not a matter of flavor really, but a matter of texture. In any kind of salad like that; chicken salad, tuna salad, egg salad- a little crunch is a very good thing. Texture's almost as important as taste.
PumpkinBear at 6:37PM on 03/06/08
Wow! I just checked my typing. One would think I have been in my cups. What do you think of jicama in it's place? I have never been a celery fan in my salads.
crazyspice at 6:41PM on 03/06/08
I like crunch in the salads PumpkinBear mentioned. Celery, a little onion, radish, jicama, finely chopped carrots, green/red/yellow/orange peppers - as long as the flavor doesn't overpower the shrimp. I'm with your husband on this one....and I'm a huge celery fan. It's a snack for me and sometimes I crave it. I like to serve those salads on a leaf of endive - more crunch!
PerkyMac at 7:00PM on 03/06/08
I can't stand the crunch or flavor of celery in any of my salads (green or mayo'ed), but if that's what he likes, set a small serving aside for him so he can have his so you can enjoy yours. =)
Cassaendra at 7:06PM on 03/06/08
My husband is gloating right now! I am boiling the water for my shrimp as I type. I have 2 pounds of fantastic 31-40. I boil with lemons, salt and peppercorns. How about you guys?
crazyspice at 7:09PM on 03/06/08
OMG! I LOVE and must have celery in my shrimp salad, but I guess it is always a matter of one's own personal taste. :)
GumbeauxGal at 9:02PM on 03/06/08
No celery in any salad ever!! I can eat celery plain but HATE it in anything, salad or otherwise. The perfect way to make a wonderful lobster roll inedible. Definitely more of a texture thing than a taste thing. Wow, I just realized this is one of the food things I feel most strongly about.
mrsmoosie at 9:53PM on 03/06/08
I'm not a big fan of celery, but I also use some when I make my shrimp salad (I chop it very finely though:-)) because my husband always requests it. I've got to tell you though that it doesn't bother me as I expected it would. Perhaps it's because I also add capers and scallions to my shrimp salad, and my dressing is usually quite flavourful too, so the actual flavour of celery becomes virtually non-existent, it just adds the "crunch". When I poach shrimp for the salad, I add salt, peppercorns, white wine and a bay leaf (and I also brine the shrimp before I poach them). Ooooh, what have you done, crazyspice, now I am craving me some shrimp salad!:-)
brooke29 at 9:58PM on 03/06/08
Celery AND green onions in my shrimp salad for crunch, and to play off that sweet, plump shrimp. With good mayo (kewpie!), lemon, sambal olek, and and a teaspoon or so of the broth that I cooked the shrimp in (shrimps with shell and head cooked in celery, garlic, green onions, peppercorns and salt). My shrimp salad recipe is a pain in the butt, what with the shelling of shrimp and whatnot, but holy cow, it is delicious.
lorelei76 at 10:14PM on 03/06/08
End result: super fine chopped celery was added, (good wife I am) I also used organic garlic chives. the shrimp salad is awesome. BIG shrimp flavor. I added sour cream to my mayo (50/50). Some people poach, being from Maine, we poach, but call it boil. The shrimp are whole and I did not brine them because I purchased the 31-40 size. I like my food pure and simple. Lunch for me tomorrow will be a whole wheat pita with boston lettuce and my gorgeous shrimp salad. (Okay, I am dealing with the celery.)
crazyspice at 10:32PM on 03/06/08
@crazyspice.......I thought for sure you'd follow Cassaendra's excellent advice to put celery in his only - you must really be in love!!!! ;)
I'm shocked and amazed and laughing that there are such diverse opinions about something as mundane (but so delicious and crunchy and great mixed in peanut butter, stuffings, all salads with fruit or veggies or eggs or seafood or meat and I could go on and on and on) as celery! Who wudda thunk it? Not I said the walrus.
PerkyMac at 10:49PM on 03/06/08
If I had to describe my food (at present) celery would have a circle with a line drawn through it. While I don't mind celery in my food, BF simply hates it. It was so strange preparing T-Giving and Christmas Even and there was not a shred of celery in the house.
Lots of things can give shrimp salad texture. A bit of red onion diced or jicama would do the trick as well as celery.
Celery is basically water in long stalk-like shape - as iceberg lettuce is water in the round.
chiff0nade at 5:02AM on 03/07/08
@PerkyMac: I did think about making his separate, but I am also taking my (larger portion) to the office to share with my partner for lunch today. She likes celery as well. The garlic chives are the stronger flavor so I think I will survive the celery.
@chiff: If I wasn't feeling so lazy last night, off to the store for jicama I would have gone.
Growing up, the holiday table was always adorned with celery stuffed with blue cheese. Bleh!!
crazyspice at 9:16AM on 03/07/08
I do not want celery, period. The only place for it is in chicken noodle soup, and then only cooked to mush and left at the bottom of the bowl. I do like celery seed in a few places...
Cary at 9:18AM on 03/07/08
The differences in opinion make me giggle. I think for those who like the crunch and flavor of celery, it's great and the flavor is not very distinct. For those who don't, the flavor screams out.
I like to eat celery sticks with ranch, but for whatever reason, don't like the crunch when it's hidden in stuff. I can taste the celery, even under heavy garlic explosions.
It reminds me of the numerous times I've asked coworkers and relatives if the macaroni/egg/etc. salad they juuust took a bite of has any onions. I hate raw onions. 99.999% of the time, people will say no, if they love onions. I'll take one bite, and I'll hear that *CRUNCH* then that strong raw onion taste, spit the salad out, and exclaim, "WTH?! You said there were no onions in this thing!" The response is always, "Oh, I didn't notice it."
GAH!
Yet, I feel like Charlie Brown with Lucy and the football. I continue to have faith in people's word on whether or not a salad has any onions lurking...
Cassaendra at 9:55AM on 03/07/08
I've already said how much I love the crunch (I always peel my celery - don't like those strands), but the flavor it adds when cooked would truly be missed in stuffings, soups, stews, pot roasts and the like. I also add onions, leeks, fennel and other veggies with strong flavors, but I'd still miss the celery.
PerkyMac at 10:08AM on 03/07/08
David Rosengarten always made his chicken salad with shredded cabbage...great texture, but neutral. Sure it would work for Shrimp Salad. Don't forget the dill, mayo and a whisper of dry sherry (that's the kicker).
bessfour at 11:12AM on 03/07/08
I like celery...but if you want to remove it and still have crunch...use cucumbers...I would remove all the seeds and slice it to the size you like
Bosmer at 3:04PM on 03/07/08
You guys are amazing (and yes, hilarious!) Thank you for so many new ideas. Some I would have thought of for my shrimp salad, and others are a pleasant new idea.
crazyspice at 4:05PM on 03/07/08
how about just making your salad without any add in's and put them in seperate bowls so anyone can in fast food parlance Have it their way ;)
Thats how we handle it where I work anyway, and shrimp salad is a huge seller, we just put a small cup beside each serving with celery, onions or whatever they request.
huney_bumper at 8:10AM on 03/10/08