Recipe: Barbecued Shrimp (5 recipes)

BARBECUED SHRIMP

"This dish has nothing to do with a barbecue pit or barbecuing. Why is it called "barbecued" shrimp? Beats me. If you're really curious, ask someone at Pascal's Manale Restaurant on Napoleon Avenue in New Orleans; it's where the dish was created. Me, I don't care. This dish is so good you can call it whatever you want. Just, um, don't have it every day. You'll know why immediately when you see the first ingredient listed."

2 pounds butter (Yes, you read right. Two pounds. Eight sticks. Don't whine. DO NOT use margarine! Real butter only.)
2 tablespoons Creole seasoning, to taste (OR 3 to 4 teaspoons cayenne pepper and 3 to 4 teaspoons black pepper, to taste)
2 tablespoons chopped rosemary leaves
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
6 ounces good beer (microbrewery is preferable to mainstream swill)
5 to 10 cloves garlic, finely minced (or as much as you like)
1 medium onion, very finely minced
3 ribs celery, very finely minced
3 to 4 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 teaspoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
5 pounds shrimp, heads and shells on

[This feeds 8-10 people, BTW ... cut it in half if you need to.]

Melt a stick of the butter in a skillet. Saute the garlic, onions, celery, parsley, rosemary and seasoning blend for about 2 - 3 minutes.

Melt the rest of the butter. Add the beer (drink the rest of the bottle). Add the sauteed stuff, Worcestershire and lemon juice.

Drown the shrimp in the seasoned butter, using as many baking dishes as you need. Make sure the shrimp are more or less submerged. If they're not ... melt more butter and add to the sauce. (Aah, what the hell ... what's another stick or two when you're already up to these butterfat levels?) Bake in a 350 degree oven until the shrimp turn pink, about 15 minutes.

Serve in big bowls. Put in a handful of shrimp and ladle lots of the spicy butter sauce
over it. Roll up your sleeves and wear a bib (DO NOT wear nice clothes when eating
this!) Serve with plenty of French bread to sop up da sauce!

Try to avoid going to have your cholesterol and triglycerides taken for a few weeks afterward. Remember that this is a special treat. Don't eat this all the time if you want to live. But hey, every now and again ... LIVE! As with lots of New Orleans cooking, there are a zillion ways to do this.

Here are some other BBQ shrimp recipes provided by some of the kind folks on the NEW-ORLEANS mailing list:

From: Marc LoCascio

I've never had BBQ Shrimp at a Brennan's restaraunt, but i assume it's the same idea as BBQ Shrimp every where else in New Orleans. i have two recipes. I'm not sure where the first one's from, but the second is from "Recipes and Reminiscences of New Orleans" (vol 1, c 1971 Ursuline Academy Parents' Club). i'll list both sets of ingredients, but the cooking instructions are the same for either:

BBQ SHRIMP #1:
8-10 lbs shrimp
1 lb butter
1 lb margarine
6 oz Worcestershire sauce
8 tbsp black pepper
1 teaspoon rosemary
4 lemons (sliced)
1 teaspoon Tabasco
4 teaspoons salt
2-4 cloves garlic

BBQ SHRIMP #2:
8 lbs whole shrimp
1/2 lb butter
1 cup olive oil
8 once chili sauce
3 tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 lemons, sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons red pepper
1 teaspoon Tabasco
3 tbsp liquid smoke
salt and pepper to taste

Wash shrimp. Spread out in shallow pan. Combine ingredients in sauce pan over low heat and pour over shrimp. Refrigerate. Baste and turn shrimp every 30 minutes while refrigerated for several hours.

Bake at 300 degree for 30 minutes, turning shrimp at 10 minute intervals. Serve in soup bowl with French bread to dip in sauce."

When I cook it, i mix and match ingredients and add seasoning of my own, but I'd pretty much start with the second version. i did mention that those Ursuline Parents' Club cookbooks (vols 1 and 2) are great, and every fan of N.O. cooking should have them, right? ;-)

BTW, there's also a recipe for BBQ Shrimp in Paul Prudhomme's first cookbook, but the second one above is close to definitive, IM(NS)HO.

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Marc From Lan Sluder :

I don't have the Mister B's recipe, but I use one adapted from the Collin cookbook. It's a lot like the old Manale's barbecue shrimp. It's easy to make and delicious ... and great for dinner parties, as long as your friends aren't uptight about eating with their hand and getting butter and oil all over their clothes.

In a big, heavy saucepan melt:
2 sticks (1 cup) REAL butter

Then add and mix:
1 cup vegetable oil

Add:
1 Tbsp minced garlic
several bay leaves, crushed
1 Tbsp dried rosemary leaves, crushed
1 Tbsp paprika
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp lemon juice
a little (maybe half a teaspoon) oregano
a little basil
a little salt
a little cayenne pepper

Heat to boiling and then simmer this mixture for about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and let stand 30 minutes. Add one-half pound of whole medium or large fresh whole shrimp (heads, antennae, shells and all) per person -- for more than six people you'll want to increase the sauce recipe. If you can't find shrimp with the heads, that's okay, but it makes the meal more dramatic and, I think, adds flavor. Cook over medium heat for 6 or 8 minutes, just until the shrimp turn pink.

Then put the pan in a 450 degree F oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Serve in a wide bowl or large plate with lots of the sauce, with crusty French bread on the side and a few bottles of white wine.

This recipe takes longer to type than you'll spend in the kitchen. It's fool-proof. I've served it a hundred times to guests, and always get raves.

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Lan Sluder

BAR-B-CUED SHRIMP #4

8-10 pounds jumbo shrimp, heads and shells on (20 shrimp/pound)
FOR THE SAUCE:
1 pound butter
1 teaspoon ground rosemary
1 pound margerine
4 lemons sliced
6 oz. Lea and Perrins
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
8 tablespoons finely ground black pepper
4 teaspoons salt
2-4 cloves garlic (optional, but not with me)

In a saucepan melt butter and margarine. Add Worcestershire, pepper, rosemary, lemon slices, Tabasco, salt, garlic and mix thoroughly. Divide shrimp between two large shallow pans and pour heated sauce over each. Stir well.

Cook in a 400 degree F oven about 15-20 minutes, turning once. Shells should be pink, the meat white and not translucent.