Tell me how to grill shrimp on the barbie.

Next weekend I'm heading up to the relatives which will consist of a Memorial Day weekend cookout. I want to try to grill some shrimp on the barebecue as I had a grilled shrimp salad at a restaurant last weekend and it was the best shrimp I ever had. Although I'll probably buy the frozen shrimp at Costco as it is a pretty good deal, tell me the ideal shrimp to use (peeled, unpeeled?) and you marinate it first right? I imagine you probably don't cook it all that long.

Very easy.

Peeled and deveined make life easy. Put in a baggie with enough marinade to cover. Use whatever you like. Nothing wrong with your favorite italian dressing.

Take some bamboo skewers and soak them. Put the shrimp on the skewers. Grill for just a couple minutes on each side.

Like I said...way easy.

-F

Buy the biggest ones you can find, (16/Lb) and wrap them with premium bacon and a toothpick. (1/8" thick!) Dust 'em with garlic salt, and grill 'em! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Larry

Like they said. Defrost and marinate. Depending on how hot your grill is, 2-4 mins on each side. Don't play with them!! Use a timer and grill one first to see how long it takes, then do the rest just right!

My neighbor buys cocktail shrimp (peeled, deveined, and cooked) and puts them in a zip lock bag with a little bit of olive oil, and Tony Chachere's Cajun spices. He then puts the shrimp on a medium hot grill for 2 or 3 minutes (turn once) to heat them through.

One weekend we discovered the perfect dipping sauce to compliment:
1 cup [250 mL] mayonnaise
1/2 to 3/4 cup [125 to 190 mL] ketchup
2 tablespoons [30 mL] dry Gin
The original recipe then calls for 5 to 9 drops Tabasco sauce, but I recommend experimenting with different hot sauces and adding to taste. We use much more than recipe calls for, not just because we're heat freaks, but the hot sauce balances the ketchup and mayo flavors and creates something unique and tasty.

My favourite recipe for prawns on the barbie (in Australia shrimp are tiny little things that go onto pizza, not the bbq /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif) is to peel them, put them in a bowl, squeeze a couple of lemons, sprinkle on coarse black pepper, and then drench with a bottle of thick sweet chilli sauce. Stir through and leave for an hour. Pour the whole lot onto a super hot bbq plate. Cook for at most 2 min per side. Take the prawns off and let the sauce thicken on the plate until like molasses. Put prawns back on the plate and toss around for 30 seconds to coat with sauce. Serve immediately - preferred accompaniment 3-4 beers (I recommend Hoegaarten). Mmmmmmmm chilli prawns /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Prawn
http://www.sharelynx.com/photos/fishing/BigTigerPrawna.jpg
frozen suck. to mushy when thawed
Once they are pink, they are cooked.
If they start to shrink, they are overcooked and will be tough (not crisp, crisp is good.
If you really want to go in salad, peel and take the guts out. Dunk whole lot in boiling water for about 30 seconds or till pink. Straight in salad with Italian dressing.
On BBQ. Whole raw prawns (heads & tail on - shell off) in big bowl with lemon, lime, sea salt(pinch of) minced garlic (to taste) and some chili.
Marinade for 20 mins. Onto hot plate till flesh pink.
However you do it is good /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif YUM enjoy!!!

Extensive testing over the past 10 years lead me to come up with this concoction

3 lbs Large, peeled and de-veined shrimp

Place tin foil, approx. 12"x18" the grill. Curl up sides approx. 1"

Melt 1/2 stick of butter on tin foil then season with your favorite. I uses lemon pepper, garlic powder and Natures Seasonings. Place 3 pounds of shrimp on foil, low heat. Turn after 2 minutes then immediately spread 8-12oz. of grated mozzarella cheese on top. Sprinkle 1/2 pd (precooked wt) crumbled bacon on top. Close lid and cook 2 minutes. Slide the tin foil off the grill onto a cookie sheet. Do not attempt to remove the shrimp from the tin-foil prior to serving or it will get ugly. (That may be tacky but it's not an option)

This recipe is downright decadent.

Method two as described by another: Wrap in bacon. I never marinate shrimp, I love the natural flavor.

:droool: /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif (How would Parmesan go?)

Larry

Step One : Get a barbie. (no, not -that- Barbie. The grill, not the girl! ). Or get a Barbie with a barbie.

Step Two : Get some shrimp. Bigger is better from the standpoint of easier to handle. Note that most shrimp you buy is farm-raised, there is a new food campaign out for "Wild Shrimp" which is caught shrimp not farm-raised stuff.

Step Three : Make up some marinades or not if you just want the flavor of the shrimp. Italian dressing works, olive oil with lots of GARLIC, whatever you want. Note that if you use something with citrus (lemon juice, orange juice, lime juice, whatever) or other acidic ingredients, you will start to 'cook' the proteins in the shrimp from the acid during the marinade time (the culinary term is 'seviche'). Keep the marinade time to 30 minutes if there is an acidic component in the marinade unless you want a seviche. The olive oil and garlic can be in the fridge marinating overnight.

If you want to skewer, then do so. With the bigger shrimp, I'll just put them right on the grill sans skewer.

DO NOT OVERCOOK THE SHRIMP !!!!!!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/whoopin.gif

Step Four : Cook the shrimp just until ALMOST done, turning over once about halfway through the cooking time. Take them off the heat just before they are cooked so that the carry-over (think of the heat ''coasting" the food along for a few minutes after you take it off the heat) will have them end up cooked just right.

Step Five : Eat.

You can go simple (plain grilled shrimp), or you can do marinated grilled shrimp, or you can do marinated grilled shrimp with a sauce, or you can do the shrimp-with-stuff cooked on the grill. Yumm.

Cool stuff that helps cooking shrimp on the grill is Reynolds Release Grill Foil. It comes 6 sheets to the box (or was that 3 sheets to the wind???). The stuff is non-stick and the correct side to use is marked "NonStickSide" so even the most sophisticated chef can't screw it up or at least will have a harder time trying to.

It not only won't have the shrimp stick to it, but also has small holes in it so the extra moisture drains out. Great for grilling veggies, too -- even diced veggies.

Check out some shrimp recipes at Wegmans.com, too. They have good shrimp recipes and a few good salsa recipes to go with the shrimp.

My favorite shrimp grilling idea is to wrap them in applewood smoked bacon, skewer them, and when you serve 'em up, use a nice hickory BBQ sauce as a dipping sauce. Serve with a salsa made with pineapple, papaya, mango, red onion, cilantro, mint, lime juice, and jalapeno. Tip: cut out the ribs and seeds of peppers -- they have little flavor and if you use only the flesh of the pepper, it's a little less firery. Let the salsa flavors blend together for about 1/2 an hour before you serve it. Great for a side dish or dipping with chips.

Now, how 'bout some Spiedies to go with the shrimp? Do a search on that (beef or chicken Spiedies) and see if you don't start to drool.

I use the 16/20's peeled and devained raw shrimp from Costco. These are quick and easy and offer a good value. You can check with the meat counter to see if they have anything larger. They often get U15's for restaurants and don't even put them out for the general public where I shop. These numbers describe how many shrimp you should get per pound. I just got back from a trip to New York. I saw live shimp for sale in Chinatown. I've never seen live shrimp for sale, as most are frozen. I would love to try these out some day.

There has been lots of good advice on marinading and cooking here. The key is a hot fire and quick cooking. If you use a sweet marinaide it will keep the shrimp from crisping and can burn. I like to coat the shimp in this kind of marinade just after cooking. It is really a glaze and not a marinade.

My favorite preperation is to marinade overnight in olive oil, fresh chopped garlic and orange zest. Pat shrimp with paper towel to remove excess oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and grill. Make sure shrimp are room temp before putting on the grill. The garlic and orange should char a little bit and add great flavor. Serve as is or with a little Thai sweet chili sauce for dipping. If you skewer the shimp, don't put them too close to each other and you can add a wedge of fresh orange first and last to keep the shimps from falling off, adds a little color, and tells people these are something special.

Have fun and eat well,

Greg

I hate to rub this in but...Every Sat. about 5PM our "shrimp guy" comes bye the store and sells us large to jumbo (8-10) shrimp taken off his Uncle's boat that AM. He brings different types of fresh fish as well but he always has head-off shrimp at (current price) $6.00 a pound. I will admit I can't tell a difference between frozen and fresh but I never see large frozen shrimp and the concept of freshly caught shrimp is nice. For what it's worth, our largest and most popular seafood store that probably sells 2,000-4,000 pounds of shrimp a day reportedly uses frozen shrimp. When you get to the store you see huge vats of shrimp on ice but from what I hear it was frozen before they put it out. That is rumor only but with the amount of shrimp they sell and the fact I have never seen them run out, it makes sense.

It's my opinion that in 2004 Pensacola had the distinction of having the most dynamic combination of best shrimp and worst hurricane of anywhere in the country, so we got that going for us. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

EDIT: I was wrong about the size of the shrimp. They are 12-15 not 8-10.

Dave, you plick! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Best I have found is pre-cooked, pond-raised 16/20's here! I've bought larger raw, but just ain't that good a cook! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif I've played with the citrus maranaid(sp) and found you can overdo it real quick. I'm working on getting it right, and get another chance this coming weekend! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Larry

$6.00 a pound for U8-10 fresh-caught jumbos!?!?! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twakfl.gif Up here, jumbos (U12-15) are like $15 (or more) a pound for frozen imported pond-raised stuff. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif

Dinner at Dave's house this Saturday! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nana.gif