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Barbecue Shrimp

Source of Recipe

From "Tom Fitzmorris's New Orleans Food" by Tom Fitzmorris


Recipe Introduction

"Barbecue shrimp, one of the four or five best dishes in all of New Orleans cooking, is completely misnamed. They're neither grilled nor smoked, and there's no barbecue sauce. It was created in the mid-1950s at Pascal's Manale Restaurant. A regular customer came in and reported that he'd enjoyed a dish in a Chicago restaurant that he thought was made with shrimp, butter, and pepper. He asked Pascal Radosta to make it. Radosta took a flyer at it. The customer said that the taste was not the same, but he liked the new dish even better. So was born the signature dish at Manale's. I know that the amount of butter and pepper in this recipe seems fantastic. Be bold. This is not a dish you will eat often - although you will want to."

List of Ingredients

◦  3 pounds fresh Gulf shrimp (16-20 count), with heads on
◦  ¼ cup dry white wine
◦  1 Tbsp lemon juice
◦  2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
◦  2 cloves garlic, chopped
◦  4 Tbsp fresh ground black pepper (or more!)
◦  2 tsp paprika
◦  ¼ tsp salt
◦  3 sticks (1½ cups) butter, softened
◦  1 loaf French bread


Recipe

Rinse the shrimp and shake the excess water from them. Put them in a large skillet (or two) over medium heat, and pour the wine, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic over them.

Bring the liquids in the pan to a light boil and cook, turning the shrimp over with a spoon every 2 minutes or so, until all the brown-gray color in the shrimp is gone. Don't overcook! At the first moment when you think the shrimp might be done, they will be. Lower the heat to the minimum.

Cover the shrimp with a thin but complete layer of black pepper. You must be bold with this. When you think you have enough pepper in there, you still need a little more. Add the paprika and salt.

Cut the butter into tablespoon-size pieces and distribute over the shrimp. With a big spoon, turn the shrimp over. Agitate the pan as the butter melts over the shrimp and emulsifies into the liquid at the bottom of the pan. When no more solid butter is visible, remove the pan from the burner.

Serve the shrimp with lots of the sauce in bowls, with hot French bread for dipping. Don't forget plenty of napkins and perhaps bibs.


Serves 4 to 6