Sources

Shrimp from the Carolinas

At Citarella we’ve been in the business of high quality seafood since 1912. It’s our business to honor tradition. And when it comes to regional seafood, America is rich with it. From Maryland crab to New Orleans blackened redfish to Manhattan clam chowder, if it comes out of the water somewhere in America, it finds its way into a local recipe that’s simple and delicious. In this beautiful culinary landscape—from sea to shining sea—we zero into the Carolinas, so worthy of our attention.

Visit many coastal towns in the Carolinas and you’ll find a tiny shack serving up seafood as fresh and delicious as anything you’ll find in New York. On the menu, whatever the local fisherman brought in that morning. Clams one day, crab the next. All of it served up with spicy coleslaw and hush puppies (cornmeal fritters).

"This is some of America's finest, most understated cuisine. And it's from this seafood-rich region that we source our wild-caught Atlantic shrimp."

There, a collective of fishermen based out of Wanchese, a small fishing town on North Carolina’s Roanoke Island, work the shrimp-rich waters from the Outer Banks down to Hilton Head, South Carolina. The northernmost shrimping region in the United States, its cold, ocean water results in plump, juicy shrimp with a high fat content. And as is always the case when it comes to the best seafood: more fat means more flavor and richer texture. 

"Wild-caught shrimp sourced from the Carolina coasts are always firm, tender and sweet with a distinctly crisp, subtly briny Atlantic flavor. That makes for one fine shrimp cocktail."

The perfect shrimp cocktail prepared at home starts with Carolina-sourced wild shrimp from Citarella (available cooked, raw, or peeled and deveined with care by our highly skilled fishmongers in New York). If you’re cooking at home, leave the tails on. Boil the shrimp for exactly two minutes. No more. Then, transfer to cold, salted water, and stir. Drain. Plate. Serve. And if you like a little zip, dip in homemade cocktail sauce fortified with fresh grated horseradish. Then, pinch the tail and gently squeeze when you bite to release all the meat. You won’t taste better fresh shrimp. And you’ll always find them—freshly sourced from the Carolinas—at Citarella gourmet market.