Fried Shrimp Basket with Remoulade

Local creek shrimp dredged in seasoned cornmeal and fried hot and fast, the way it's done at every dockside shack from Shem Creek to Port Royal. A cornmeal coat stays crisp longer than flour and gives that Lowcountry crunch.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs medium shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails on
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1 cup fine yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Peanut or vegetable oil, for frying
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon Creole or whole-grain mustard
• 1 tablespoon dill pickle relish
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1 teaspoon chopped capers
• Lemon wedges, to serve

Instructions

1. Make the remoulade first: stir together the mayonnaise, mustard, relish, lemon juice, hot sauce, and capers. Refrigerate while you fry.
2. Whisk the buttermilk and 1 teaspoon hot sauce in a bowl, add the shrimp, and let them soak for 15 minutes.
3. In a shallow dish, combine the cornmeal, flour, salt, paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, and cayenne.
4. Pour 2 inches of oil into a heavy pot or Dutch oven and heat to 360 degrees F. Set a wire rack over a baking sheet nearby.
5. Lift the shrimp from the buttermilk a handful at a time, letting the excess drip off, then toss in the cornmeal mixture to coat fully. Shake off the loose meal.
6. Fry the shrimp in batches so you don't crowd the pot, about 2 minutes per batch, until golden and floating. Keep the oil temperature steady between batches.
7. Drain the shrimp on the wire rack and salt them lightly while hot.
8. Pile into baskets and serve at once with the remoulade and lemon wedges.

Tips

• A cornmeal-heavy dredge is the coastal Carolina signature and it stays crunchier than an all-flour coat. Keep the ratio at roughly two parts cornmeal to one part flour.
• Fry in small batches and let the oil come back up to temperature between them. Crowding drops the heat and gives you greasy, pale shrimp.