A Mother's Day Remembrance

and a Shrimp Cocktail recipe

Anne, Helen, Josephine, Mary in Philadelphia, 1962

Mother’s Day is layered with memory for me. It was on Mother’s Day in 1956 that I first used a cookbook to make a recipe to surprise my mom with breakfast in bed.  I was 6, old enough to read, and enlisted the help of my younger brother.  We made Fluffy Egg Nests, but omitted the baking part, since we didn’t know how to turn on the oven. What mother wouldn’t enjoy raw whipped egg white on a slice of buttered toast with the raw egg yolk slipped in the center?  It’s testament to my mom that even at that age I knew how to separate eggs.

We always wanted to get mom gifts for Mother’s Day, but all she ever asked for was “a clean house.”  She was a working mother, and that was a rarity.  It seemed so boring to us, so we shopped on the avenue for a fine china tea cup or bottle of Jolie Madame.

My first day working in a restaurant occurred Mother’s Day, 1964. If you wanted to see mom that day you had to be at Stouffers, especially after she moved into management. My siblings and I each started in our 14^th year, peeling shrimp, in the recesses of the big kitchen, observing the bedlam of the line from the perimeter.  “Mother's Day is the most popular day of the year to dine out, with 38 percent of consumers reporting doing so,” according to 2009 National Restaurant Association research, indicating that mom is the one doing the lioness’s share of the cooking even today.

My favorite Mother’s Day was in 1995, my catering days, when, after a busy weekend, my 13 and 15 year old sons took an extra 5 pounds of shrimp and made me a feast—Shrimp Cocktail, Grilled Shrimp with Basil and Pancetta, Shrimp Scampi—and my daughter set the table very nicely with linen, china, and bouquets of lilacs.  We watched Forrest Gump on VHS.

And my saddest Mother’s Day of all time was in 1998 when my son called to say that our 18-year-old nephew Peter had been killed in a car accident in the early morning.  I was in France at the time and flew home immediately to be with my sister. For more than a decade we all blocked out Mother’s Day.

But many years later we sisters/daughters/mothers held a revival and all got together to celebrate Mother’s Day for my mom’s 85^th birthday year.  We made Stouffer specialties from the 50’s and 60’s and wore vintage aprons and had cupcakes and punch.

How glad we all were to celebrate with Mom that year. It sustains us on these sadder Mother’s Days without her, as she died in 2019 on the anniversary of Peter’s death. RIP.

Words of advice to husbands, sons and daughters:  Mom doesn’t want another tea cup or bottle of perfume. She really would like a clean house or maybe your time and energy to plant her annuals for her. She would enjoy a visit to an arboretum with you and afterwards perhaps some ice cream at the Creamery.  Out to dinner?  Or cook at home?  Just please—no Fluffy Egg Nests.

Fluffy Egg Nests (if you must!)

Make 6 “nests”

6 eggs

Salt and pepper

6 sliced of hot buttered toast

Separate eggs, leaving each yolk in the shell until ready to use. Season whites with salt and pepper and beat until stiff enough to form sharp peaks. Heap onto toast and make a hollow in the center of each mound. Slip egg yolks into hollow, season and bake in moderate oven (350°F) until white is browned and yolks are firm. Garnish with paprika and parsley.

Shrimp Cocktail

Shirley Corriher’s book CookWise describes the best way to cook shrimp so they are tender and sweet-salty.  The secret is to cook them in their shells in seasoned water until they are just barely tender, and them to cool them in a bowl with ice and cooled seasoned water.  When prepared this way, the salt that is in the shrimp itself does not leach into the cooking water, according to the principle of osmosis.  Although it may seem like a lot of salt in the cooking water, there is a very nice balance in the finished product.

Makes 8 servings

4 quarts water, divided

2-3 tablespoons shrimp seasoning (recipe follows)

1 tablespoon Kosher or sea salt

1 onion, peeled and quartered

2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

3 trays of ice cubes

2 pounds large shrimp in their shells, 21-25 count

Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot with the seasoning mix tied in a cheesecloth bag, the salt, the onion and the garlic.  Simmer for about 5 minutes to release the oils in the spices and then remove 2 cups of this seasoned broth to a large mixing bowl to cool.  When the broth is cool, add the ice cubes to it. Add 2 quarts of water to the seasoned broth in the pot and return to a boil.  Add the shrimp and when the water returns to a simmer, reduce the heat and simmer the shrimp for about 4 minutes, until the shrimp are pink and barely firm.  Scoop out the shrimp with a large strainer and plunge into the ice and seasoned broth.  Allow to cool completely and then peel and devein. Serve very cold, with bottled or homemade cocktail sauce.

Shrimp Seasoning:

1 teaspoon celery seed

2 dried red chili peppers

1 teaspoon mustard seed

1 teaspoon thyme

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon peppercorns

1 slice (about 1 tablespoon) fresh ginger (or 1 teaspoon ground dried ginger)

1 or 2 bay leaves (fresh, if available)

Combine all ingredients and put into a cheesecloth bag so that it can be removed easily and the whole spices won’t stick to the shrimp.