Shrimp Du Jonghe

Shrimp de Jonghe is Chicago’s great contribution to American seafood cooking. Created at the DeJonghe Hotel in the early 1900s, it’s a casserole of parboiled shrimp blanketed under a thick layer of herbed, sherried butter-crumb topping and baked until bubbly and golden brown.

The crumb topping is where the flavor lives. Soft bread crumbs get creamed with room-temperature butter, dry sherry, lemon juice, minced garlic, shallots, and a generous mix of fresh herbs: parsley, chives, tarragon, marjoram, and chervil. That paste gets spread over the shrimp and bakes into a crisp, fragrant crust.

Parboiling the shrimp for just 2 minutes before baking is important. They finish cooking under the crumb topping during the 25-minute bake. Raw shrimp would release too much liquid and make the crumbs soggy; fully cooked shrimp would turn rubbery.

Pro Tips

• Use soft, fine bread crumbs, not dried panko. The butter needs to bind them into a paste that holds together as a crust.
• Cream the butter and crumb mixture thoroughly. It should form a smooth, spreadable paste, not loose crumbs.
• Spread the topping evenly to the edges. Gaps let the juices escape and leave parts of the shrimp unprotected.
• Serve with a crisp green salad dressed in a tart vinaigrette. The acidity cuts the richness of all that butter beautifully.

Variations

• Use crab meat or lobster chunks instead of shrimp for an even more luxurious version.
• Add a pinch of cayenne to the crumb mixture for a subtle heat.
• Bake in individual ramekins instead of one large dish for an elegant dinner party presentation.