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Dried Shrimp
Appears in
Published 1997
These are one of the major ingredients in the cooking of the indigenous peoples of Oaxaca. Centuries before the Spanish came, the Huaves and other coastal peoples were harvesting shrimp from southeastern bays and lagoons. Most of the catch was boiled, salted, and dried whole in the shells, for transport to the interior regions.
Today the flavor is still beloved everywhere in Oaxaca, but I have had a hard time selling it to some of my U.S. friends. Only Thai food enthusiasts take to it readily. It is penetrating and briny, with the insistent overtone of the dried shells. But I remember that many people here didn’t like cilantro either, until they learned to appreciate its magical chemistry with other flavors. Dried shrimp is another of those flavors that seem to mingle with many kinds of ingredients. It combines wonderfully with such Oaxacan accents as pumpkin seeds, dried chiles, beans, masa, chepil, or epazote.