re: New Orleans Style BBQ shrimp - What did I do wrong?

quote:

---

Royal Reds

---

No.

I do them one of two ways. First is how my parents did them growing up, second is how I tend to do them now b/c I think they are better. I don't have measurements because I don't measure, sorry.

Broiled-
Cook down two sticks of butter, juice of a lemon or two, as many cloves of garlic as you llike (the more the better), fresh thyme and worcestershire sauce. It's about two parts butter to one part worscestershire. Lea & Perrin is best.

Lay your whole shrimp down in a single layer in a broiler safe pan (I exploded a glass baking dish once doing this). Once the sauce is cooked down and thickened, pour it over the shrimp, top with thinly sliced lemon rounds, and broil until the shrimp are ready. Not long. Shrimp cook fast. They'll brown a bit on top. Serve in the shell. Growing up, we ate the shells.

The Pan method, which I think gives best results and you can cook a lot more of them. Last time I did it, I did 10 pounds.

First, peel and de-vein your shrimp. They should be huge. LEAVE THE HEADS ON. In a deep and large pan on the stove, make a similar sauce. Two sticks of butter, bunch of worcestershire, lemon juice, garlic. Cook it down for a bit. Then, add a single layer of shrimp, after a minute or two, flip them. After another minute or two, pull them out, lay them in a large dish. Repeat the shrimp process until you finish cooking all the shrimp.

NOTE - Your sauce will slowly disappear. You can replenish it in between batches of shrimp.

Once all the shrimp are done, I replenish the sauce a bit, simmer for a few minutes, then kill the fire and swirl in 1-2 tablespoon pats of COLD butter, one at a time, till you've added a stick or two, depending on how much sauce you want. Keep swirling and keep it off the heat. You'll have a nice buttery and emulsified sauce to pour over the giant pan of shrimp that you've kept warm in a 100 deg. oven or warming drawer.

Oh, add lots of cracked black pepper for both recipes, depending on how much spice you like. Top both finished products with chopped green onions.

Serve with hot bread and butter. goes great over grits too.

Edit - When making a 2-3 pound batch in the pan, I go through about two bottles of worcestershire. It takes a lot more than you would think. It seems harsh, but once its cooked down and the butter is added, it is not. Maybe one bottle. I like to have two handy in case.

Fat from the heads makes the sauce. That is an absolute necessity.

Sorry I suck at giving recipes.