Scampi

True scampi are a type of lobster and a fairly common source of food, especially in parts of Europe, as the delectable 5 to 10 inch lobsters live in areas of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean from Norway down the western European coast to Portugal, and also in the Adriatic Sea. Scampi were a fairly common food in some parts of Italy, and when some Italian immigrants to America arrived, scampi were not available, so they used the much more plentiful shrimp, but the term "scampi" persisted, which brought a number of Americans to use the term for large-size shrimp. By the way, the singular form of this type of lobster is "scampo," a form not often heard in American English, while "scampi" is the plural, although I've heard "scampis" many times, as the plural has mistakenly become confused as being the singular form by many Americans.

In the early 1960s, we ate at "Captain Frank's," a seafood restaurant right on the East Ninth Street pier on Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland. Visitors often called it "The Lobster House," as the front had those words displayed for many years, but to Clevelanders, it was "Captain Frank's," and EVERY Clevelander had heard of it, whether they had ever been there or not, and I doubt there were many who hadn't been there at least once. Up until then, I don't believe I'd ever heard of "scampi," which were on the menu there, but after that day, they became a favorite of mine. Years later in the 1970s, none other than Captain Frank himself, an Italian immigrant, explained to me how scampi were different from what many Americans believed them to be. Captain Frank's family name was Visconti, and he was born on the Italian island of Sicily, but he had lived in the United States for many decades. He opened "Captain Frank's" in the 1950s and he died in 1984; a couple of years after which, the restaurant began to go down hill and it closed in 1989. The building was torn down and this part of the lives of so many Clevelanders and visitors to Cleveland was gone, except from the file marked "fond memories" stored within our minds.  

This was the first time I ever made scampi at home. In honor of Captain Frank:

Ingredients:

 

scampi

butter

garlic

lemon juice

breadcrumbs

(optional) chopped parsley

As with other lobster, open the scampi shells. Briefly saute some thinly sliced garlic in some butter over low heat, and add a sprinkle of lemon juice and, optionally, a little finely chopped parsley. When the butter is all melted and the garlic has softened, add a little to the scampi and bake at 400 F for about 16 to 18 minutes (until golden), turning once at the 9 minute mark. Serve with small dishes (ramekins) of more garlic butter for dipping.  

WORD HISTORY:

Fist-Closely related to "foist," a word borrowed by English from Dutch, to "five," a word from the Germanic roots of English, and to the prefix "pent(a)," which is Greek derived, although Latin borrowed some words with the prefix from Greek and passed them to its descendants (example: "pentagon," Greek to Latin to French to English, but "pentagram" was borrowed by English directly from Greek). "Fist" goes back to the Indo European root "penks/pengs," meaning, "having to do with a hand," a shortened form of "penkwe/pengke," which meant "five." This gave Old Germanic "funshtiz/funstiz" (Indo European "p" became Old Germanic "f"), meaning "balled up fingers or hand;" thus, "fist," which became "fusti" in the West Germanic branch of Germanic. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "fyst" meaning "fist," this then became "fust" and "fist," where it has been for several hundred years. Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Faust," Low German "Fuust," West Frisian "fûst," Dutch "vuist." The North Germanic branch languages use forms from Old Norse "hnefi," which means "fist, fistful," but why Old Norse had the word is unknown, as is the origin of the word.