Behind the Dish

Executive Chef Joey Edwards found a way to bring Summer flavor to his Winter menu with an inventive dish. See how his grilled gulf shrimp with smoked burdock root creme fraiche, hominy, pickled biquinho peppers, and dried marigold came to be!

The story behind this dish is that one of the local farms we buy from had some burdock root for sale, and since it was one of the only things growing right now, I figured we’d get some to experiment with. I had heard of burdock being used medicinally, but I had no idea what it tasted like. I decided to hang it over the fire to dry for a few days, expecting it to develop a bitter and nutty flavor like dandelion root. Once it was dried, I took it down and steeped some in hot water like tea. The flavor was nothing like I expected. It tasted like okra and jalapeños – very green and vegetal. I thought it would be so cool to have something that tasted like Summer vegetables in the middle of Winter, so I ran with that idea. I tried the root steeped in melted creme fraiche, and it immediately reminded me of a corn chowder with jalapeños I had once. Since corn isn’t in season, I looked to the dried hominy we get from Anson Mills to add that sweet corn flavor. We also had some delicious pickled peppers left over from the Summer and plenty of marigolds that we had dried. Just like that, we had a shrimp and corn chowder in the middle of Winter, made from roots and preserved vegetables. Moments like this remind me why we put so much focus on preserving ingredients during the Summer. It’s so cool to have that inspiration available when not very much is growing.
– Joey Edwards, Executive Chef at Three Sisters