Red Lobster opened its first location in Lakeland, Florida in 1968, and after General Mills bought the five-restaurant chain in 1970, it spread into towns where a sit-down seafood restaurant had never existed before. The chain occupied a specific gap: affordable seafood for families who had grown up eating tuna casserole on Wednesdays and fish sticks on Fridays, with nothing in between and nothing fancier on the horizon.
The early menus read like a seaside fish house, with fried shrimp, broiled stuffed shrimp, fried scallops and lobster tails, all priced for a family night out. Other seafood houses of the era filled out the same kind of menu with snow crab legs, broiled swordfish and stuffed flounder, and the dinners below come from both. A lobster tail no longer had to be the occasion of a lifetime, and people came back the following month because the food was worth it.
1. Steamed snow crab legs with drawn butter
Snow crab legs were the dish half the table ordered just to say they’d done it. You got a metal cracker, a tiny fork, a bib if you wanted one, and a pile of bright orange legs that looked nothing like anything from the frozen food aisle. For a lot of families in those years, this was the first shellfish they had cracked with their own hands. The restaurant made it feel like an occasion.
Almost every snow crab leg you buy has already been cooked once, on the boat or at a processing facility, then flash-frozen. You are not cooking raw shellfish. You are warming it through, and four or five minutes too long turns sweet, tender meat into something stringy and dry that pulls in strands off the shell. Two cups of boiling water under a steamer basket is enough, and the legs come out the moment the shells feel hot all the way through, usually around six minutes. Drawn butter is plain butter melted over low heat in a small saucepan with the white foam skimmed off, so what is left in the pan is clear.
Ingredients (Serves 2 to 4)
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2 pounds frozen snow crab legs, thawed overnight in the refrigerator
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8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
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1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
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1 lemon, cut into wedges, for serving
Instructions
1. If you haven’t thawed the crab legs overnight, run them under cold water for 20 minutes until pliable.
2. Pour 2 cups of water into a large pot fitted with a steamer basket. Bring to a boil over high heat.
3. Arrange the crab legs in the steamer basket, bending them at the joints if needed to fit. Cover the pot tightly.
4. Steam for 5 to 7 minutes, until the shells are hot throughout and steam escapes freely when you lift the lid.
5. While the crab steams, melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Skim the white foam from the surface, then stir in the lemon juice and kosher salt. Keep warm over the lowest possible heat.
6. Transfer the crab legs to a platter and serve immediately with the drawn butter in small bowls and lemon wedges on the side.
2. Baked stuffed shrimp with crab stuffing
Baked stuffed shrimp looked more expensive than it was because the math worked in the kitchen’s favor: a modest amount of crabmeat, stretched through crushed crackers and butter, could fill a dozen large shrimp and make a plate that looked like a real production. The shrimp were the costly part, and the stuffing itself came together for almost nothing, which is why restaurants could price the dish to pull in a family table and still cover the crab without losing the margin. Broiled stuffed shrimp with a crab stuffing was a seafood-house standard in those years. Across New England, baked stuffed shrimp is still a coastal-restaurant classic, and many local versions use buttery Ritz-style cracker crumbs as the stuffing base, because the crackers’ fat keeps the filling moist where plain breadcrumbs can dry out.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
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16 jumbo shrimp (about 1 1/2 pounds total), peeled, deveined, tails on
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6 ounces lump crabmeat, picked over for shell
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1 cup Ritz cracker crumbs (from about 24 crackers)
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4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided
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1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
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1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
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1/4 teaspoon black pepper
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2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
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Lemon wedges, for serving
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Butterfly each shrimp: use a sharp knife to cut down the back from the head end toward the tail, slicing almost all the way through. Open each shrimp flat and press gently so it lies cut-side up. Arrange all 16 in a 9×13-inch baking dish, tails pointing up.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the crabmeat, cracker crumbs, 3 tablespoons of the melted butter, mayonnaise, lemon juice, Old Bay, pepper, and parsley. Fold together gently so the crab stays in large pieces.
4. Spoon about 1 1/2 tablespoons of stuffing onto each shrimp, mounding it and pressing lightly so it holds its shape.
5. Drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon of melted butter evenly over all the stuffed shrimp.
6. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the shrimp are pink and opaque throughout and the stuffing is set and lightly golden on top.
7. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.
3. Combination fried seafood platter
The platter arrived piled high and steaming: a heap of shrimp, scallops, fish strips, and clam strips, each piece fried separately, all of it hot enough that the first bite could catch you off guard. Nothing on the plate was the same twice. The shrimp had a thin, snapping shell of breading that gave way to something firm and sweet underneath. The scallops were softer, almost custardy at the center when they came out right. The fish strips, usually flounder or pollock, broke apart in thick, white flakes, mild and yielding where the crust was aggressive.
The salt hit hard and it hit first. Fried seafood at that temperature, fresh from the oil, carries its seasoning on the surface of the crust, and the combination platter came seasoned well. Between the salt and the heat, the drawn butter on the side was almost redundant, though nobody left it untouched. The tartar sauce was thick and cold, and that contrast, cold sauce against the hot fish, was the thing you kept going back for.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
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1/2 pound large shrimp (21-25 count), peeled and deveined, tails on
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1/2 pound flounder fillets (or pollock), cut into 2-inch strips
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1/2 pound clam strips (thawed frozen surf clam strips)
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2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
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1 cup fine yellow cornmeal
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2 teaspoons salt, plus more for finishing
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1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
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2 quarts vegetable oil, for frying
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Lemon wedges and tartar sauce, for serving
Instructions
1. Pat all seafood thoroughly dry with paper towels. Set up three shallow bowls: one with 1 cup of flour; one with the eggs and buttermilk whisked together until smooth; one with the remaining 1 cup of flour, the cornmeal, 2 teaspoons salt, the pepper, paprika, and garlic powder stirred together.
2. Pour the oil into a large heavy pot and heat over medium-high to 350°F, checking with a deep-fry thermometer.
3. Working one type of seafood at a time, dredge each piece in the plain flour and shake off the excess, dip it in the egg-buttermilk mixture, then press it firmly into the seasoned flour-cornmeal mixture. Set the coated pieces on a wire rack.
4. Fry the shrimp in batches, 2 to 3 minutes, until the coating is golden and the shrimp have curled and turned opaque throughout. Lift them out with a spider or slotted spoon, drain on a paper-towel-lined rack, and sprinkle lightly with salt.
5. Skim any loose crumbs from the oil and let it return to 350°F. Fry the scallops 2 to 3 minutes until the crust is deep gold and the centers are just opaque. Drain on the rack.
6. Return the oil to 350°F. Fry the fish strips 3 to 4 minutes until the coating is golden and the fish flakes when pressed at the thickest point. Drain.
7. Return the oil to 350°F. Fry the clam strips 1 to 2 minutes until golden, checking early since they cook faster than the rest. Drain.
8. Arrange all the fried seafood on a large platter and serve immediately with lemon wedges and tartar sauce.
4. Broiled swordfish steak with lemon butter
Swordfish wasn’t a fish most families cooked at home in the 1970s, and on a seafood-restaurant menu a broiled swordfish steak was usually the order for someone who wanted something that felt grown-up.
The cut did a lot of the talking on its own. A swordfish steak is dense and pale, closer to a beef cross-section than what most people pictured when they thought about fish, and it holds under a broiler without pulling apart into pieces. The lemon butter was plain. It didn’t need to be more than that.
Butter brushed on before the steaks go under the broiler picks up color along the edges in a way oil never quite does. Five minutes of preheating at full heat lets the surface sear fast while the center stays firm instead of steaming through, and the steaks come out the moment the flesh turns just opaque at the center, because swordfish dries out quickly past that point. Along the Northeast Atlantic coast, and in New England’s working ports especially, fishermen have long called swordfish broadbill, and the name still turns up in the commercial fishing trade.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
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4 swordfish steaks, about 1 inch thick (6 to 7 ounces each)
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4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
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2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
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1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
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1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
1. Set your oven to broil and let it preheat for at least 5 minutes. Position the rack about 4 inches from the broiler element.
2. Pat the swordfish steaks dry with paper towels. Season both sides evenly with the salt and pepper.
3. Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute, then pull the pan off the heat. Stir in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and parsley. Set the sauce aside.
4. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and brush it over both sides of each steak.
5. Lay the steaks on a foil-lined broiler pan or a rimmed baking sheet. Broil for 4 to 5 minutes on the first side, then flip carefully and broil another 4 to 5 minutes, until the flesh is opaque through to the center and registers 145°F on an instant-read thermometer.
6. Move the steaks to plates and spoon the lemon butter sauce over each one. Serve right away.
5. Stuffed flounder with crabmeat stuffing
Stuffed flounder arrived at the table looking like something. The fillet folded around a mound of crabmeat stuffing, brushed with butter, sitting in a small pool of pan juices on a warm plate. For anyone who had only ever ordered fish in a basket or opened a can of tuna, this was a different register entirely, and the price was still low enough that ordering it didn’t require a conversation about the budget first.
The stuffing did most of the work. Lump crab, softened celery and onion, breadcrumbs to hold the shape, some mayonnaise and a beaten egg to bind it, a shake of Old Bay. The flounder itself is a flat, mild fish, white-fleshed and thin, and it played a supporting role around all that crab. What you were really paying for was the stuffing, and you got enough of it to matter.
If someone at the table didn’t finish theirs, the rest went home in a box. By the next afternoon that crab stuffing, loosened with a spoonful of mayonnaise, became a sandwich filling on white bread. The flaked flounder folded in too, or got pressed into a rough cake in a hot buttered skillet until both sides were brown. Nothing formal about it. It was just what you did with good fish when you didn’t want to waste any of it, and it usually tasted better than the original plate had any right to predict.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
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4 flounder fillets (about 6 ounces each)
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8 ounces lump crabmeat, picked over for shells
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1/2 cup plain dry breadcrumbs
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2 tablespoons unsalted butter (for cooking the aromatics)
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2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (for brushing the fillets)
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1/4 cup finely diced celery (about 1 stalk)
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1/4 cup finely diced yellow onion
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1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
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1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
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1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
2. Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter for the aromatics in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the celery and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
3. In a large bowl, combine the crabmeat, breadcrumbs, softened celery and onion, beaten egg, mayonnaise, Old Bay seasoning, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Stir gently until the stuffing holds together.
4. Pat the flounder fillets dry with paper towels. Lay each fillet flat. Mound about 1/2 cup of stuffing in the center of each fillet, then fold the fillet in half crosswise, bringing the tail end over the stuffing to meet the thick end, pressing the edges lightly together. Secure with one or two toothpicks and set the stuffed fillets seam-side down in the baking dish.
5. Brush the tops of the stuffed fillets with the 2 tablespoons of melted butter.
6. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the fish is opaque and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the stuffing reads 165°F. Remove the toothpicks before serving.
6. Fried shrimp dinner
Large shrimp at a restaurant table in the 1970s meant something real to most families. Frozen breaded shrimp in a cardboard box was as close as many home cooks had ever gotten to the actual shellfish, and the count on the label was a number few people thought to look for. Count matters here. The 21-25 count, meaning 21 to 25 shrimp per pound, are the ones large enough to butterfly: a single cut along the back, the outer curve, almost through to the other side, so the shrimp opens flat and fans out in hot oil. Smaller shrimp curl into a tight knot and stay knots. Gulf white or Gulf brown shrimp are the right ones when you can find them, with the tails left on, because the tail is a handle.
The coating is three layers, and each one has a job. Seasoned flour goes on first, dry and light, so the egg has something to grip. Egg wash goes on second, thin enough to coat without pooling. Breadcrumbs go on last, pressed in firmly. Oil temperature is what determines whether the crust comes out crisp or soaked. Below 325°F, the coating absorbs fat before a shell can form. A Dutch oven is the right pot: it holds enough volume to buffer the heat. Start each batch with the oil at 350°F, because cold shrimp will pull the temperature down about 20 degrees, and that drop needs to stay above 325°F, not below it.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
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1 1/2 pounds large shrimp (21-25 count), peeled and deveined, tails on
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1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
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1 1/2 cups plain dry breadcrumbs
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About 2 1/2 to 3 quarts vegetable oil, for frying
Instructions
1. Pat the shrimp dry with paper towels. Butterfly each one by cutting along the back (the outer curve) almost all the way through, then press open flat.
2. Stir together the flour, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne, and salt in a shallow bowl. Beat the eggs with 2 tablespoons water in a second bowl. Put the breadcrumbs in a third bowl.
3. Working one shrimp at a time, dredge in the seasoned flour and shake off the excess, dip in the egg wash, then press into the breadcrumbs until fully coated. Set on a wire rack and let rest 10 minutes.
4. Pour the oil into a large Dutch oven to a depth of 2 inches, leaving at least 2 1/2 inches of space above it. Heat over medium-high to 350°F on a deep-fry thermometer.
5. Fry the shrimp in batches of 6 to 8, not crowding the pot. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, turning once, until the coating is deep golden brown and the shrimp are cooked through. Remove to a paper-towel-lined plate.
6. Before starting each new batch, let the oil return to 350°F. Serve immediately.
7. Broiled sea scallops with lemon butter
Broiled scallops came out of New England fishing towns, where the dish had been a staple for generations: a hot broiler, some butter, done. When seafood chains carried it inland, the scallops traveled on ice instead of coming off the boat that morning, and the lemon butter did more of the work. A large share of the country’s sea scallops came from Georges Bank, the shallow underwater ledge east of Cape Cod worked by New Bedford’s dredge fleet, and New Bedford has led American ports in catch value for most of the past two decades, most of it scallops.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
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1 1/2 pounds large sea scallops (about 16 to 20 scallops)
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4 tablespoons unsalted butter
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2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
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1/4 teaspoon black pepper
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2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
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Lemon wedges, for serving
Instructions
1. Pat the scallops completely dry with paper towels. Remove the small tough side muscle from each one if it is still attached.
2. Position an oven rack about 4 inches from the broiler element and preheat the broiler to high.
3. Arrange the scallops in a single layer in a broiler-safe baking dish or on a rimmed sheet pan.
4. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter with the garlic, stirring until the garlic softens, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice and paprika.
5. Spoon the butter mixture evenly over the scallops, then season them with the salt and pepper.
6. Broil until the tops are golden and the scallops are just opaque through the center, 4 to 6 minutes depending on their size. They should feel firm but give slightly when pressed; pull them the moment the centers go from translucent to white.
7. Transfer to plates, spoon any pan juices over the top, scatter the parsley, and serve with lemon wedges.
These are the dinners that made a night out for seafood feel real in those years, and every one of them cooks up well at home.
