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By Root 1262 0

years ago when Henry Hugh was chef, and I recently tracked Henry down to see if he would part with the recipe for his delicious shrimp. Salt is the main flavoring, and it seems to bind the sweet juices of the shrimp to the surface of the shells, where they caramelize and take on the smoke-and-iron taste of the wok. The dish uses three teaspoons of salt, about 15,000 milligrams, which is the average salt ration of a Yanomamo family of four, if they have families of four, for six weeks. (But unless you swallow all the shells, you will consume only a fraction of the salt.)

1 pound medium-large shrimp (14 to 16 per pound), shells on

1 tablespoon salt (15,000 mg)

4 cups peanut oil

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 garlic clove, minced

1 fresh red hot pepper (an inch or two long if very hot, longer if mild), chopped fine without removing the seeds or internal membranes

1 teaspoon dry sherry

3 scallions, white part only, finely shredded

With a heavy scissors, cut all along the back of each shrimp through the shell and halfway down into the flesh; devein and rinse well under cold water, but do not remove the shell. Soak the shrimp for 10 minutes in 1 teaspoon of the salt dissolved in 1 cup of cold water. Drain and pat dry in paper towels without rinsing.

In a wok slowly bring the oil to about 400° F., just before it begins to smoke. (If you prefer, use 2 cups of oil instead of 4 and fry the shrimp in two batches.) As the oil nears this point, dust the shrimp with cornstarch through a sieve and toss to coat evenly. Fry the shrimp for 1 minute, tumbling them in the oil. Empty the contents of the wok into a large strainer set over a bowl to collect the oil.

Return ½ tablespoon of oil to the wok, heat, add the garlic and chopped pepper, cook for 10 seconds without browning, add the shrimp and the remaining 2 teaspoons of salt, toss a few times, sprinkle with the dry sherry, toss, cover for 10 seconds, uncover, toss a few more times for about 10 seconds, remove to a serving plate, and garnish with the scallions. Eat the shrimp with your fingers or with chopsticks, sucking the burnished salt and juices from the shells before discarding them. Or you can eat the shells too. Serves 2 as a main course or 4 as an appetizer.

August 1990

Pain Without Gain

Last night I played the neatest trick on my wife. I grilled a slice of my best homemade French country bread, spread it thick with Promise Ultra Fat-Free nonfat margarine, set it on the counter, sat back, and waited. Soon the toasty aroma drew my wife into the kitchen. Seeing the bread, she smiled broadly and took a bite. I’ll never forget the way her smile froze, as she gagged, stumbled over to the kitchen sink, and gave up her mouthful of bread covered with Promise Ultra Fat-Free nonfat margarine. What fun we have together!

I learned about Promise Ultra Fat-Free nonfat margarine—which is made from water, vegetable mono- and diglycerides, gelatin, salt, rice starch, and lactose, plus a bouquet of chemicals and artificial flavors—from Butter Busters (Warner Books), an extremely popular low-fat cookbook. I have been living with low-fat cookbooks for the past month or so—not because it makes any medical sense, as I will explain, but because the low-fat cookbook business has become a bloated and distended juggernaut that threatens to crush everything else on the market. Susan Arnold of Waldenbooks kindly sent me a printout of their best-selling cookbooks, and there, proudly occupying first and second place, were In the Kitchen with Rosie (Knopf) and Butter Busters. Rosie’s book has just gone into its thirty-second printing in eight months, bringing its grand total to 5.8 million copies in print and making it not only the number one best-seller of 1994 in all book categories but also the fastest-selling book since Gutenberg may or may not have invented movable type. Butter Busters, with well over a million copies in print, has nothing to be shy about either. And Susan Powter’s completely incoherent Food (Simon & Schuster) soared onto the best-seller list immediately upon publication.