We love having fun with food.

Whether we enjoy it at fine restaurants or make it ourselves, we relish food presented with wit, as works of art, or tongue-in-cheek.

Of the latter, we made a literal version not too long ago, layering sliced tongue with beef cheeks.

The famed dish Oysters and Pearls at The French Laundry in Napa and Per Se in Manhattan, is a sabayon of pearl tapioca topped with malpeque oysters and osetra caviar (more “pearls”), is one of Chef Thomas Keller’s tongue-in-cheek preparations

When you dine at L’Atelier Joel Robuchon in New York City, you may have all three experiences.

Every dish presented by the team representing the world-acclaimed chef is a work of art, for sure. Some are turned into beauty or wit by clever plating, including by creating custom plates (photo #1).

Here, “La Carotte,” is witty, artistic and tongue-in-cheek.

[1] The custom plates were designed by L’Atelier Joel Robuchon in New York City, which uses them to present different foods (photo courtesy L’Atelier Joel Robuchon).

In La Carotte, an oblong of carrot cake is iced with orange-tinted cream cheese frosting.

 
If you, too, enjoy fun food, look at your own cooking for inspiration. Our tongue-in-cheek dish is a concept that didn’t require any more effort than regular cooking of the two meats.

We added plate garnishes like pickled mustard seeds and a purée of beets for color, and everybody loved it.

[1] Pair a shrimp roll with a mesclun† salad (photo © Kindred Restaurant)

[2] Wild-caught gulf shrimp (photo © I Love Blue Sea | Vital Choice).

[3] Raw whole shrimp (photo © Mercato).

It’s National Shrimp Day. One of the easiest ways to celebrate is: Make yourself a shrimp roll.

The photo, which may appear to be a lobster roll, actually contains whole shrimp instead of nuggets of lobster.

While we’ve seen many a lobster roll, we hadn’t seen a shrimp roll until we saw these from the website of Kindred restaurant in Davidson, North Carolina.

A great idea: Shrimp is more available than lobster, and you likely couldn’t tell the difference in a blind tasting of shrimp salad versus lobster salad.
 
 
RECIPE: SHRIMP ROLLS

To make its shrimp salad, Kindred uses:

 
To this, we personally add a small dice of celery and Vidalia onion.

We’re not about to bake Japanese milk bread buns. Instead, we buy the brioche version at our local specialty food store.

In the Northeast, lobster rolls are served New England-style hot dog-style buns, which have squared edges.

You can buy a pan to bake them from King Arthur Flour. Here’s more on the types of hot dog rolls.
 
 
SHRIMP HISTORY

Shrimp is the most popular shellfish in the U.S., and the most popular seafood overall. Even people who don’t eat fish are known to raise their forks for the tasty shellfish.

Thanks to shrimp farming, which supplements the wild catch, there is enough supply available year-round.

Shrimp are crustaceans with long, narrow (and delicious!) muscular abdomens.

Crustaceans have hard shells—exoskeletons—and many varieties walk on jointed legs.

Americans love their shrimp. The U.S. harvests more than 650 million pounds a year from our own waters and fish farms—more than any other country.

Yet, to satisfy our cravings, the U.S. imports an additional 200 million pounds each year (source).

Shrimp farming became more prevalent during the 1980s, particularly in China, and by 2007 the harvest from shrimp farms exceeded the capture of wild shrimp (source).

The commercial shrimp species is worth some $50 billion a year. Shrimp farming became more prevalent during the 1980s, particularly in China. By 2007 the harvest of farmed shrimp exceeded the capture of wild shrimp (source).

There are more than 3,000 species of shrimp worldwide (source). Fossils of the same shrimp that we eat today date to the Late Jurassic, about 155 years ago.

Then, a warm shallow sea covered much of what is now Germany. Beautiful shrimp fossils have been found in the limestone there.

The English word “shrimp” comes from the Middle English “shrimpe,” meaning pygmy.
 
 
> LOBSTER ROLL HISTORY
 
 
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*The differences between crayfish, prawns, and shrimp: CRAYFISH (also called crawfish and crawdads) are small, freshwater lobsters. Their flavor is milder. SHRIMP are sometimes called prawns, but that is erroneous. While they taste exactly alike, shrimp have lamellar gills (a side plate that overlays segments in front and behind) and carry their eggs outside of their bodies, beneath their tails. PRAWNS have branching gills (side plates that overlap tile-like from front to back), and carry their eggs inside their bodies near their tails. Prawns have claws on three of their five pairs of legs, and shrimp have claws on two of their five pairs of legs. Their gills and body shape are different as well (source).

†Mesclun is a mix of assorted small young salad greens that originated in Provence, France. The traditional mix includes arugula, chervil, endive, and leafy lettuces, but may also include baby spinach, collard greens, dandelion greens, frisée, mâche (lamb’s lettuce), mizuna, mustard greens, radicchio, sorrel, Swiss chard, or other fresh leaf vegetables.
 
 

People love crescent rings. The taco crescent ring is one of the most popular recipes of all time on Pillsbury.com.

Crescent rings, stuffed crescent dough arranged in a circle, can be served:

 
Whatever flavor you seek—from beef to chicken to Tex-Mex to cheesecake—you can find a recipe for a crescent ring.

Crescent rolls—pre-sliced puff pastry dough in a tube—were introduced by The Pillsbury Company in the 1960s.

Pillsbury Crescents became an instant hit for dinner rolls, and introduced America to Poppin’ Fresh, the Pillsbury Doughboy.

In the years that followed, Pillsbury recipe developers and home cooks turned the dough into much more than rolls, including—but hardly limited to:

 
Check out these creative recipes from Taste Of Home.

They created shapes galore, such as bunnies, Christmas trees and turkeys to pinwheels, roses, swirls and wheat stalks.

Now, it’s your turn.

If you’re new to crescent rings, start with one of the recipes below.

Then, you can create your own recipes. We even came across a carb-lover’s delight: a macaroni and cheese crescent ring.
 
 
BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER RING RECIPES

Crescent rings can be fun for upcoming Mother’s Day and Father’s Day festivities, general entertaining, or when you’re feeling crafty*.

 
Ready for dessert?
 
 
SWEET BREAKFAST & DESSERT CRESCENT RINGS

Although the pastry type is different, sweet rings are similar to danish rings. You can serve them at breakfast, with a cup of coffee, or for dessert.

Cream cheese is the unifying ingredient for filling, so if you like cheesecake (or a big schmear), you’ll be happy with these:

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*By which we mean, a food-craft project.

[1] Buffalo Chicken Crescent Ring (photo courtesy Pillsbury).

[2] Sausage & Egg Breakfast Ring (photo courtesy Pillsbury).

[3] Nutella Crescent Ring (photo courtesy Pillsbury).

[4] Raspberry Cream Cheese Crescent Ring (photo courtesy Like Mother Like Daughter).

[1] The Hanako San Bloody Mary at Bamboo Sushi in Portland, Oregon.

[2] Ready for its close-up.

There are many variations on the Bloody Mary, one of America’s favorite cocktails.

This one is from Bamboo Sushi in Portland, Oregon.

It’s called Hanako-San, The Bamboo Bloody. While we don’t have the exact recipe, the ingredients are:

 
You may not be up for making a copycat, but the garnish is easy enough to pull together (especially if you’re a mixologist at a sushi bar):

 
 
Are you ready to have fun with it?
 
 
ABOUT HANAKO-SAN

Hanako-san is a Japanese female name. In an urban legend, she’s the spirit of a young girl who haunts school bathrooms. Here’s the legend.

A tip from Paul Duncan, executive chef at Ray’s Boathouse in Seattle:

When preparing salmon and other fish, keep it simple to let the great flavor of fresh fish shine.

He, of course, uses fresh, local Copper River sockeye salmon (photo #2). But even if you buy yours at the supermarket, you can use the same technique.

Chef Duncan prepares fish like salmon skin-on, which makes for crispy skin, adding a crunchy texture atop the supple flesh.

It adds plenty of omega 3-6-9 essential fatty acids, too.

Salmon has the best skin to sear to a nice crisp. Never thought of eating fish skin before? Head to the nearest sushi bar for a salmon skin roll. It’s a delight.

Good fish to sear skin-on: branzino, flounder, mackerel, sea bass and snapper in addition to salmon.

Fish skin to avoid: monkfish, skate, swordfish and tuna skin are too tough or otherwise inappropriate to be grilled skin-on.
 
 
TO CREATE THE FISH IN THE PHOTO

“The only preparation required before grilling the salmon is to rub it with olive oil and season with kosher salt,” says Chef Duncan.

He finishes the fish with freshly ground pink and black pepper. “It’s all you need to make this fish into an incredible meal,” he states.

Duncan serves the fish with a seasonal salad of asparagus, green peas, radishes for bite and color, and herbs like dill and chive (photo #1).

You can garnish the plate with dots, swirls or swaths of your favorite sauce (here, aïoli [a.k.a. garlic mayonnaise—here’s the recipe]).
 
Ready To Cook?

[1] Skin-on Copper River salmon, alongside an asparagus, radish and pea salad, makes for a perfect summer menu item at Ray’s Boathouse in Seattle.

[2] Raw Copper River salmon fillets (photo courtesy Copper River Salmon).

 
 
HERE ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SALMON