The most popular way to eat shrimp is still pizza.
Shrimp casserole is a delicious and nostalgic dish. Roni Lehti
Pizza and shrimp. It’s a combination that impressed Finns in the 1970s. Pizza was the first food in which Finns ate frozen shrimp.
The fact that frozen shrimp came to Finnish dining tables in the 1970s is thanks to the industry’s pioneer seafood restaurant Arvo Kokko. The company’s first sales product was just frozen shrimp.
In his previous workplace, Kokkonen noticed that shrimp could be a good import product, as the demand for them increased in pizzerias. In the beginning, Kokkonen delivered shrimps in cooperation with Pizzakeisari Rabbe Grönblom with the then Pizzeria Nr1 chain. Grönblom is known, among other things, as the founder of the Kotipizza chain.
From pizzerias, Arvo Kokkonen’s customer base expanded to restaurants and wholesalers.
In the early days of the company, shrimps were still a foreign product to Finns, but their recognition was increased by numerous tasting events held in stores.
– They didn’t know how to use them back then. Someone had eaten on the ship, but for most of them shrimp was still a foreign ingredient. Many people said at the store’s tasting that they wouldn’t put such worms in their mouths, Arvo Kokkonen told Iltalehte at an event organized by the Norwegian Seafood Council a few years ago.
Kokkonen recalls that people also asked his wife, who did the tastings, for recipes, because there were none anywhere.
– We developed and invented the recipes ourselves. Among other things, our own version of shrimp pile and shrimp cocktail was born in our kitchen.
In the 1980s, Kokkonen already ordered truckloads of peeled shrimp from Norway.
– From the beginning, I believed in the product and its sales. Gradually, we started bringing other shellfish to Finland, and in the 90s, for example, fresh mussels and lobsters from Sweden.
Pizza is still the most common way to use shell-free frozen shrimp. This is stated by more than half (53%) of the Finns who responded to the Norwegian Seafood Council’s survey.
Chef Risto Mikkola states that the shrimp casserole is a classic of the 1980s, which deserves its place as a contemporary classic as well.
– This retro delicacy is made from unimaginably few raw materials. Plus, it’s ready in minutes. It is especially good for shrimp and garlic lovers, says Mikkola.
He continues that in the eighties, shrimp soup was available in almost every restaurant, but it can also be easily prepared at home. Remember that you only add the shrimp to the food at the very end. Crabs must not be boiled at all, because then they will become tough.
Shrimp House
400 g of thawed shrimps
6 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 chopped onion
1 tsp sriracha chili sauce
1 dl white wine
1. Sauté the onions in oil, add white wine and chili.
2. Simmer for 10 minutes and add the prawns and heat, do not boil. You can use the shrimp broth to season the barracks.
3. Serve with cooked pasta or rice.