Tiny Omelette Soufflés with Dried Shrimp

Dried shrimp is one of the defining notes in the food of Oaxaca. People have been salting and sun-drying boiled shrimp in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec since time immemorial. It is a way of preserving it for transport to distant areas without refrigeration. Of course, fresh shrimp is also valued. But it arrives in a twice-yearly glut during February and September. (I saw pink mountains of new shrimp at the village market of San Mateo del Mar in the main fishing region of the Isthmus—clearly mo