Mrs. Brown's remoulade

It seems only right to return to the remoulade that started it all: Mrs. Brown's remoulade. As near as we can tell, the recipe comes from River Roads Recipes, published by the Junior League of Baton Rouge. This one is the 1972 edition (which gives you a hint about how long M and I have been married).

This remoulade is piquant and a little sharp. Not sweet at all. The color comes largely from paprika.



Here's the recipe:

4 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons vinegar
4 tablespoons prepared mustard
4 tablespoons prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
Dash of cayenne (I use a little more than that)
2 tablespoons catsup (optional, and I don't opt for it)
1 cup oil (I used a combination of olive and canola)
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped green onion

Combine the lemon juice, vinegar, and everything up to the oil. Gradually add the oil (although I admit that I dumped it in all at once, and I don't see that I did any damage.) Finally add the celery and onion.

You get about two cups.

According to River Roads Recipes, this recipe was submitted by Mrs. Lenton Sartain. Mrs. Sartain, I thank you. If you made this remoulade for them, your family was darned lucky, Mrs. Sartain.

The picture on the right above is my battered, coverless copy of the cookbook. It has moved from place to place with us, well over a dozen times. What's funny is that I had myself convinced that Mrs. Brown had given us the cookbook along with the jar of remoulade, but looking at it again, I'm reminded that it was a wedding present from a member of M's family, not Mrs. Brown at all. So I may be kidding myself that this remoulade is close to what I remember so fondly.

The picture on the left at the top of this post is our dinner: boiled shrimp on a bed of lettuce with plenty of remoulade on top, sliced pickling cucumbers (from the Dallas farmers' market) in seasoned rice vinegar, sauteed yellow squash, and sauteed, sliced sweet potatoes (also from the farmers' market).

I wanted to begin with a remoulade that I know my husband and I love and hold to be the platonic form of remoulade by which all others are judged. And shrimp with remoulade is pretty much the perfect summer dinner. It's hot in Commerce.