Symi Shrimp Fried Whole (Garides Symis)

Symi shrimp are a genuinely local product. They are caught in the deep cold water in the channel between Symi and the Turkish coast, they are small enough that thirty of them fill a hand, and they are sweet enough that the island has built a dish out of doing almost nothing to them.

The method is one line long: get olive oil properly hot, drop the shrimp in whole, count to sixty, lift them out and hit them with coarse salt. No flour, no batter, no marinade. Anything more than that is covering up shrimp that were not worth eating in the first place.

They are eaten entire, shell, head, legs and all, which surprises people the first time and stops surprising them the second. At that size the shell crisps rather than toughens, and the heads carry most of the flavour. This is the classic ouzo meze of the Dodecanese and it needs a cold glass beside it.

Key preparation steps

1. Rinse and dry small whole shrimp thoroughly.
2. Heat olive oil until it shimmers and is nearly smoking.
3. Fry in small batches for about a minute.
4. Salt immediately and serve with lemon.

What size shrimp should I use?

As small as you can find. Genuine Symi shrimp are tiny, roughly the length of a thumbnail, and that size is what makes eating the shell pleasant rather than a chore. Anything sold as a large prawn is the wrong animal for this dish.

Outside the Dodecanese, look for whole small shrimp with heads on, fresh or frozen. Frozen work well if you thaw them fully and dry them properly. What will not work is peeled shrimp, since the shell is doing all the crisping.

How hot does the oil need to be?

Very. The oil should shimmer and move visibly in the pan, around 180C, and a single shrimp dropped in should sizzle hard immediately. At that temperature the shell crisps before the flesh inside has time to overcook.

Oil that is merely warm poaches the shrimp instead of frying them. The shells go leathery, the flesh goes rubbery and the whole point of the dish is lost. Get it hot, and let it come back up to temperature between batches.

How long do they actually take?

About a minute, and rarely more than ninety seconds. Watch the colour: as soon as the shells have turned an even orange-pink and the legs have gone crisp, they are done.

Fry in small batches so the pan stays hot and the shrimp are in a single layer. A crowded pan drops the oil temperature, the shrimp release water, and you end up steaming them in their own juices.

How are they eaten?

Whole, in one bite, with your fingers. Head, shell and tail all go in. The shell shatters, the head releases everything that makes shrimp taste of shrimp, and there is nothing to leave on the plate.

Salt them the second they come out of the pan, while the surface is still hot enough to hold it, then squeeze lemon over the whole plate at the table rather than in the kitchen. A glass of ouzo or a cold white wine is the traditional and correct accompaniment.

What matters in this dish