Fantastic Grilled Shrimp

Tonight, I made by far the best grilled shrimp I've ever had. My guests agreed. These shrimp are a bit spicy, but oh so good!

Used the rub from Steven's "How to Grill" recipe for New Orleans shrimp. Added a bit of brown suger to the rub just because I like it. I'm originally from New Orleans so was intrigued by what was being classified as New Orleans shrimp. I've had shrimp almost every possible way. The few times though when I've had grilled shrimp, they were either dry and awful or served covered in steaming hot sauce in the shell and almost impossible to peel. They don't know what they're missing!

Made the basic BBQ sauce using Mesquite flavored Liquid smoke and adding 1/3 cup of honey and 1/2 cup finely chopped purple onion. For the rub in the sauce, I used the following storing the rest away for chicken at some later date:

1/2 cup McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning (found at Costco or perhaps Sam's)
1-1/2 tablespoons paprika
1-1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon course ground black pepper

Use large shrimp. To prep the shrimp before adding the rub, I peeled and deveined them with a plastic shrimp peeler. If you're going to prepare shrimp, getting this plastic tool makes an otherwise timeconsuming onerous task a breeze. I used double skewers to make flipping easy.

If you haven't tried shrimp this way, I'd strongly urge you to do so. Steven, if you read this, thank you for opening a new taste world for me.

Adam

I've been wanting to try this recipe myself for seem time but just haven't gotten to it. There is a recipe floating around here for "true" Nawlins BBQ shimp that I just love. Great stuff, so if this recipe passes your test then I'm deffinately going to have to give it a whirl. But what do you dip your french bread in?

Grand Scale wrote:

... But what do you dip your french bread in?

Sorry GS, while I've had good french bread with parmesian, garlic and butter, normally, french bread is just served on the tables with butter. Dipping bread is not a New Orleans custom, though I'm sure that somewhere there somebody does it.

I enjoy Northern Italian cuisine and dipping the different breads in basalmic vinegar, olive oil and spices. I have to wonder what this would taste like using the rub for the spices! Hmmm, have to try that.

While these shrimp are truly fantastic, I'm interested in seeing whether adding sweet basil and marjoram to the rub will improve it. Most of my recipes for dishes with shrimp include marjoram, sweet basil and thyme. They certainly go well together.

Cheers ... Adam

Oh man the dish I'm thinking of is this.
And it all but requires either french or some other harder bread to sop up all the great sauce.
This was originally posted by out buddy Chagan a long time ago.
I make it monthly.
It is from http://www.experienceneworleans.com


New Orleans Style Barbecued Shrimp
This is always a big hit at casual dinner partys. I spread out newspaper for the tablecloth, use lots of oversized napkins (since this is a hands-on experience!) and serve lots of cold New Orleans beer. I also serve hot steamed rice for those that want their shrimp on top. I usually make two desserts--bread pudding and banana pudding, along with chicory coffee. Something really sweet seems just right after this!
Submitted by Janet Dillingham

Ingredients:
4 lbs Gulf Shrimp (or 13-15/lb. size tigers)
1 lb butter
1 cup olive oil
4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground thyme
4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground oregano
1 tsp ground basil
2 tsp paprika
6 tsp crushed garlic
2 tsp ground rosemary
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp Tabasco sauce
2 tsp Liquid smoke
1 tsp lemon juice
3 bay leaves (finely crushed)
1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cooking Instructions:
Rinse shrimp and drain.
Spread out in a shallow baking pan.
Combine remaining ingredients in sauce pan over low heat until butter is melted.
Pour over shrimp.
Marinate for several hours (or overnight), turning and basting several times.
Bake at 325 F until shrimp turn pink, turning every 10 minutes for even cooking (cook no more than 30 minutes).
Serve in deep bowls with crusty French baguettes to soak up the yummy sauce.

GS, I'm absitively going to try this. With that much cayenne, do the shrimp come out very hot? Might have to tone that down a bit for the kids.

Thank you for sharing this recipe! ... Adam

If you want something really simple, what I have been doing lately, is taking a skewer of shrimp, wiping them with EVOO (butter would be good, if not better), and then sprinkiling heavily with garlic salt. I throw them on the warming rack, to get them a bit away from the fire, but still over it, and they turn out great. Not as complex as the above, but nice and simple, when you want it. Great for sides, not so much for main courses.

They do have a bite to them, but I love that sort of thing. Even toned down this is a dish that has to have a bite, like buffalo wings, you can go to mild if you choose but plain is just boring. The other thing I've done it to cut the oil in half. I appologize for not mentioning that above. This still provides plenty of liquid but it isn't nearly as "oily" (Yeah I know DUH, but I can't explain it better).
This recipe could also be done with great results in cast iron on the grill.
Make sure you have plenty of bread for dipping and plenty of TUMS if you're prone to that type of thing.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Thanks again Chagan for shaing this in the first place.
(PS - where ya been buddy?)

Rifter wrote:

If you want something really simple, what I have been doing lately, is taking a skewer of shrimp, wiping them with EVOO (butter would be good, if not better), and then sprinkiling heavily with garlic salt. I throw them on the warming rack, to get them a bit away from the fire, but still over it, and they turn out great. Not as complex as the above, but nice and simple, when you want it. Great for sides, not so much for main courses.

I have been doing the same, except using some other spices and then putting on top of a lettuce salad. Makes an excellent meal.

Hi all

Making more shrimp this weekend. This time, I also added 1 tsp. of marjoram, 1 tsp sweet basil, and 1 Tbsp of paprika to the rub from the 1st post. Steven's recipe only calls for putting the rub on 20 minutes prior to cooking. I put this on tonight in anticipation of cooking tomorrow. Hopefully, I didn't screw up. Is it possible to over-marinate meat or fish?

Cheers ... Adam

Here are a couple of links on timing for rubs and marinades:
http://www.barbecuebible.com/board/view ... light=cure
http://www.barbecuebible.com/board/view ... lt+content
Be very careful when marinating fish and seafood, they could get fully cooked in under 2 hours in an acidic solution.
I hope this helps. Good luck on those shrimps and let us know how they turn out.

The shrimp are huge and I washed them leaving them moist before adding the rub. Also, I added EVOO as recommended. So far, the shrimp don't seem to be cooking or curing. I thought about adding lemon juice to the mixture and am now relieved that I didn't. Proof will be in the eating in 4 hours. I'm reluctant to wash off the surface spices. I'll have chicken as back-up if the shrimp are inedible. They'll at least look pretty.

Having fun ... Adam

Z, you were right. While the shrimp didn't chemically cook, the salt cured them so that they were a bit tough. The spice though was right on. I definitely won't make this mistake again. The rub only goes on shrimp for 20-30 minutes! Even huge shrimp are too small to withstand more. Since they weren't ruined, I consider this a cheap lesson.

Just curious, has anyone tried a mild mustard slather as a base before applying rub to shrimp? As I was watching them on the grill, I began to wonder whether some kind of crust might make them more tender. Thoughts?

Cheers ... Adam

Adam,
The secret to tender shrimp is very brief cooking time. Shrimp cooks very quickly, but if you let over cook, it will be rubbery. The best thing about shrimp is that it has a built in doneness indicator. Once its color changes to orange and the flesh no longer translucent, it’s done. If you want to use an acidic solution or any kind of rub, do right before you place it on the grill, or butter yet, baste the shrimp with it after placing it on the grill. Depending on the size of shrimp and your method of cooking, it may take one to two minutes or less per side for complete doneness.
I’m glad you’re dinner turned out O.K. though. The best way to learn is by actual hands on experimenting. Hang in there perfection is around the corner.