Chef Lupita
Coditos con Camaron Sinaloenses
Sinaloa's pinata-and-wedding pasta salad. Elbow macaroni, small Pacific shrimp, mayo, crema, and the brine from a can of pickled jalapenos. Always cold. Always next to the frijoles puercos.
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Ensalada Rusa de Camarón Sinaloense
Created by
Sinaloa's coastal ensalada rusa: cold diced potato, carrot, and peas folded with tiny Pacific shrimp and lime mayonnaise, mounted on a crisp tostada with avocado and a stripe of Salsa Huichol.
Salads
Mexican
BBQ
Picnic
Potluck
30 min
Active Time
25 min cook•55 min total
Yield8 servings (about 16 tostadas)
This is from Sinaloa. Specifically from Mazatlán, where the marisquerias along the malecón serve it cold on a tostada with Salsa Huichol and a beer that is colder than the salad. Ensalada rusa exists in many Mexican states, but the Sinaloa version, with shrimp, on a tostada, with that particular orange-red Huichol stripe across the top, belongs to the coast.
The Russian salad arrived in Mexico through Spanish cookbooks in the 19th century, the way it arrived everywhere: potatoes, carrots, peas, mayonnaise. What Sinaloa did was add the shrimp that comes off their own boats and serve it on a tostada instead of with a fork. That single decision turned a European appetizer into a Pacific-coast botana that you eat standing at a marisco bar with a Pacífico in your hand.
The shrimp is the dish. Camarón pacotilla, the small bay shrimp, is what the cooks use because every spoonful needs to have shrimp in it, not just one or two big pieces hiding under the mayonnaise. The potato has to hold its cube. The peas have to stay whole. The mayonnaise has to be Mexican, made with lime, because the lime is part of the flavor signature. And the Salsa Huichol, that orange-red bottle on every Sinaloa table, is non-negotiable. Without it, this is just potato salad. With it, it is Mazatlán on a plate.
My mother did not make this. It was not in the Jalisco notebook. I learned it from a woman named Doña Estela who ran a marisco stand in the Mercado Pino Suárez in Mazatlán the first summer I went to Sinaloa to collect recipes. She told me three things and I have not forgotten them: the potato gets cooked in the shrimp water, the salad rests for two hours minimum, and the tostada gets eaten the moment it is loaded. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Russian salad, known in its country of origin as Olivier salad, was invented by the Belgian-born chef Lucien Olivier at the Hermitage restaurant in Moscow in the 1860s and traveled to Mexico through Spanish cookbooks during the late 19th-century Porfiriato, when European cuisine was a marker of bourgeois sophistication. The dish was naturalized along Mexico's coasts during the 20th century by adding local seafood: shrimp in Sinaloa and Nayarit, jaiba in Veracruz, sometimes octopus in Baja California. The tostada presentation is a Sinaloan innovation tied to the rise of marisquerias and tostaderías as casual coastal eating formats in Mazatlán and Culiacán in the mid-20th century, and the inclusion of Salsa Huichol, manufactured in Nayarit since 1959, made the dish a regional signature even though the salsa itself is not Sinaloan in origin.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
small Pacific shrimp (camarón pacotilla)
Quantity
1 pound
peeled and deveined
Yukon gold potatoes
Quantity
1 1/2 pounds
peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
carrots
Quantity
3 medium
peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
fresh shelled peas, or thawed frozen peas
Quantity
1 cup
white onion
Quantity
1 medium
halved
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
smashed
bay leaves
Quantity
2
kosher salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon, plus more to taste
fresh lime juice
Quantity
1/2 cup (about 6 small Mexican limes), divided
Mexican mayonnaise (McCormick or Hellmann's con limón)
Quantity
1 cup
crema mexicana
Quantity
2 tablespoons
finely diced white onion
Quantity
1/4 cup
chopped fresh cilantro
Quantity
1/4 cup
fresh chile serrano (optional)
Quantity
1
finely minced
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
corn tostadas (tostadas horneadas if you can find them)
Quantity
16
ripe avocado (optional)
Quantity
1
sliced
Salsa Huichol
Quantity
for serving
lime wedges
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| small Pacific shrimp (camarón pacotilla)peeled and deveined | 1 pound |
| Yukon gold potatoespeeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice | 1 1/2 pounds |
| carrotspeeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice | 3 medium |
| fresh shelled peas, or thawed frozen peas | 1 cup |
| white onionhalved | 1 medium |
| garlic clovessmashed | 4 |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| kosher salt | 1 tablespoon, plus more to taste |
| fresh lime juice | 1/2 cup (about 6 small Mexican limes), divided |
| Mexican mayonnaise (McCormick or Hellmann's con limón) | 1 cup |
| crema mexicana | 2 tablespoons |
| finely diced white onion | 1/4 cup |
| chopped fresh cilantro | 1/4 cup |
| fresh chile serrano (optional)finely minced | 1 |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| corn tostadas (tostadas horneadas if you can find them) | 16 |
| ripe avocado (optional)sliced | 1 |
| Salsa Huichol | for serving |
| lime wedges | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 4-quart pot for poaching
- •Slotted spoon or kitchen spider
- •Sheet pan for cooling the vegetables
- •Wide glass or ceramic mixing bowl
- •Rubber spatula for folding
Instructions
- 1
Poach the shrimp
Bring 6 cups of water to a gentle simmer with the halved white onion, smashed garlic, bay leaves, and 1 tablespoon of salt. Drop in the shrimp. Small Pacific shrimp cook in 90 seconds, two minutes maximum. They are ready the moment they turn pink and curl into a loose C. An overcooked shrimp curls into a tight O and goes rubbery. There is no recovering from it. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and spread on a sheet pan to cool. Keep the poaching liquid on the heat.
Camarón pacotilla, the small bay shrimp, is what they use in Mazatlán. If you can only find larger shrimp, poach them whole and chop them into pea-sized pieces after they cool. The salad needs small pieces so every spoonful has shrimp. - 2
Cook the potatoes and carrots
Add the diced potatoes and carrots to the same poaching liquid. The shrimp seasoning belongs in the vegetables. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, until a paring knife slides into a potato cube with the lightest resistance. Test one. The potato should hold its cube shape, never collapse. Mush is the death of ensalada rusa. Drop the peas in for the final 60 seconds, just to set their color and warm them through.
- 3
Cool the vegetables properly
Drain the vegetables in a colander and spread them in a single layer on a sheet pan. Do not rinse them. Rinsing washes away the seasoning. Let them cool to room temperature on the counter for 15 minutes, then refrigerate uncovered for at least 30 minutes more until completely cold. Warm vegetables break the mayonnaise and turn the salad into soup. No me vengas con atajos.
- 4
Dress the shrimp
While the vegetables cool, toss the cooled shrimp with 2 tablespoons of the lime juice and a pinch of salt. Let them sit for 10 minutes. This is not aguachile. The lime here brightens the shrimp without curing it further. The shrimp are already cooked. The lime is for flavor.
- 5
Build the dressing
In a wide glass bowl, whisk the mayonnaise with the crema, the remaining lime juice, several grinds of black pepper, and half a teaspoon of salt. The crema thins the mayo just enough so it coats every cube without weighing the salad down. Mexican mayonnaise made with lime is the right starting point. American mayonnaise will work but you will need to add more lime to wake it up.
- 6
Combine gently
Add the cold vegetables, the dressed shrimp, the diced raw white onion, the cilantro, and the serrano if using. Fold everything together with a rubber spatula. Fold, do not stir. You want the cubes intact, the peas whole, the shrimp visible. Taste for salt and lime. The salad should taste assertive. It will mellow as it sits.
- 7
Chill and rest
Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving, two is better. The flavors need time to talk to each other. The mayonnaise relaxes into the vegetables. The lime sharpens. This is the dish settling into itself. Serve it cold, never room temperature.
Ensalada rusa is better the day after it is made. The cooks at the marisquerias in Mazatlán make the base in the morning and serve it through the lunch rush. - 8
Mount on tostadas at the table
Set the bowl of salad in the middle of the table with the tostadas, sliced avocado, Salsa Huichol, and lime wedges. Each person spoons a generous mound onto a tostada, lays a slice of avocado on top, and finishes with a stripe of Salsa Huichol. Eat immediately. The tostada starts to soften under the salad within a few minutes, so you assemble and eat one at a time. Asi se hace y punto.
Chef Tips
- •Camarón pacotilla is what you want. The small bay shrimp from the Pacific that come pre-cooked and frozen in the freezer aisles of Mexican markets are perfect for this and what most marisquerias actually use. If you cannot find them, buy the smallest raw shrimp you can find and chop them after poaching. Big shrimp on this salad is wrong. Every bite needs to have shrimp.
- •Use Mexican mayonnaise made with lime. McCormick or Hellmann's con limón. The lime is part of the recipe, not an addition. American mayonnaise tastes flat in this dish and you will be chasing the flavor with extra lime juice all night.
- •Salsa Huichol is not optional and there is no substitute. It is not Tabasco. It is not Cholula. It is the orange-red salsa from Nayarit that every Sinaloa marisquería has on the table. Buy a bottle. It keeps for a year and you will use it on everything.
- •Yukon gold holds its cube better than russet. Russet falls apart and turns the mayonnaise to glue. If you only have russet, undercook it slightly and handle it gently when you fold.
Advance Preparation
- •The salad should be made at least one hour ahead and is better after two. It keeps refrigerated for two days and the flavor improves on the second day.
- •Do not assemble the tostadas in advance. The tostada softens within five minutes of being topped. Build them at the table, one at a time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 270g)
Calories
465 calories
Total Fat
25 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
21 g
Cholesterol
100 mg
Sodium
490 mg
Total Carbohydrates
44 g
Dietary Fiber
7 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
17 g
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