Shrimp Burgers
Me and my parents at a Kibbutz in Israel with my Aunt Lisa & Uncle Rich. 1977-78? This was the trip where we drove around in a van for a month.
Dad and Mom at our Greene family reunion at Conesus Lake, Upstate New York. 1979. We drove there from NC.
Me and my sister at Fripp Island, South Carolina, where my Volberg Grandparents had a house. We drove there most summers.
When I was a kid, we spent a lot of time in the car. I guess most people did back then. Planes weren’t as prevalent as they are now. We drove to Kingsport, Tennessee every Christmas and Fripp Island, South Carolina every summer. We drove around England every weekend when we lived there. (My parents called these nauseating jaunts “excursions”. Dad was a smoker.) We drove to upstate New York one summer for a family reunion. And, we careened around Israel for a month in a rental van with my aunt, uncle, and cousin Sara. We had a lot of time on our hands during these drives.
We had some standard family songs we would sing. “Swinging Along the Open Road” had two different parts sung simultaneously which was a fun challenge. “There Once Was A Frog Who Jumped In A Bog” was always a family favorite. And then there was this little diddy called “Chicken”. You may know the song and if you do, you’ll be bummed that I reminded you of it because it will be in your head ALL DAMN DAY. It starts “C - that’s the way to begin and H - that’s the second letter in….”. My sister, cousin Sara, and I, all clad in matching Adidas sweatsuits (early Run-DMC!), sang this tune nonstop in Israel, to the point that we were FORBIDDEN by the adults to ever sing it again. The song still sparks outrage to this day!
We played the usual games: I Spy, the Alphabet Game, counting license plates. I tried to take it up a notch once by installing a flip down card table which hung with string from the car ceiling light. It seemed like a good idea until, say, the driver decided to make a turn or had to stop or anything like that, then it was cards everywhere! That seemed to be a theme during our road trips. Crap everywhere! Mom would start off by packing the car beautifully. She had what we called “spatial perception” (Dad did not) and would perfectly arrange luggage, gifts, and snacks with Tetris-like detail. But, once the wheels hit the road, all hell always broke loose and it was a free for all in the back seat. When we had our infamous “metallic camel” colored Chevy Citation (the original hatchback) Mom would sweetly set up our sleeping bags facing out the back window so that we could recline and catch all of the sights. This was great for a while until the items stacked along side us fell or someone spilled an entire 7-UP float from Dairy Queen on themselves. (Ahem, it was me.) We would wind our way through the Appalachian Mountains, even more nauseous than in England. Dad still smoked and our window handles were broken so we couldn’t roll them down.
Do I wish we had flown more? Hell yes. This is not one of those “it was better back then” posts. But, with time, I can at least laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. We were lucky enough that our Reed grandparents owned a mountain house and our Volberg grandparents owned a beach house. So, we had the best of both worlds at our disposal if we were willing to drive. And we were! When we were in South Carolina we would often go to the Shrimp Shack in Beaufort (where the Big Chill was filmed!) and have a Shrimp Burger. I thought they sounded disgusting at first, but once I had one I was a convert! As I got older, I was allowed to dip into the pitcher of beer that Mom and Dad would always get. Even better! Mom somehow got the Shrimp Shack recipe, so here it is. Enjoy!
SHRIMP BURGERS
1 lb medium shrimp peeled and deveined
1/3 c minced onion
¼ c mayo
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon or ¾ tsp dried
¼ tsp paprika
salt and pepper
1 tbsp veg oil, more if needed
1 tbsp unsalted butter, more if needed
½ c tartar sauce
6 best quality hamburger buns, lightly toasted
1 head bibb lettuce, leaves separated, washed, dried
Grind shrimp lightly in processor. Put in mixing bowl.
Add onion, mayo, egg, tarragon, paprika, salt and pepper.
Make 6 patties, 3” or so
Heat oil and butter. Fry until golden, 4 min. Per side. Reduce heat, add oil and butter if needed
Sauce on both sides of roll. Add burger and lettuce.
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