A perfect match: Barbecue and Shrimp

Barbecue is a fun outdoor activity for family and friends but the real joy is when you have some shrimp to join the happening. Let’s start with some basic tips for the barbecue itself:

Preparing the Barbecue

• Choose quality charcoal and or good lumpwood charcoal as you want to maintain a good heat and everything to get evenly cooked. The least messy way to get your barbecue fueled might be ready-in-the-bag charcoal briquettes but also a gas barbecue is a great thing and easy to maintain. It’s somewhat more expensive, however.
• Clean the barbecue. It’s kind of a no-brainer, but some warm and soapy water and if scrubbing with a metal scourer can make look it like new
• Tie back long hair, avoid windy areas and use long matches. Stay safe.
• Metal skewers are not advisable as they can get pretty hot. Soak wooden skewers in water, for at least 20 minutes so that they can’t start to burn.
• Don’t barbecue frozen food, get it thawed first.

Ingredients

2 pounds of large shrimp or scampi

1 cup of ketchup

3 cloves of garlic, minced

½ cup of onion, chopped

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon of chili powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Shell and devein the shrimp if you are up to it, I am usually not, especially when it comes to barbecue and grilling. The shell carries an important part of the great shrimp flavor and in contrast to other cooking methods it’s sorta B.S. to remove them just to add them back while barbecuing and discard them again afterward…  However, sometimes it might be necessary and you can how to devein shrimp here. If you chose this option, you might want to brine or marinate the shrimp, but our barbecue sauce should do the trick as well.

In a bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients before pouring these over the shrimp.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. You can either place this in the refrigerator or in an ice box to marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Light the grill or preheat the oven after marinating the shrimp. Skewer the shrimp on bamboo or wooden sticks. Choose skewers that are flat in shape so that it can hold the shrimp as it cooks and changes in shape. Remember to soak the bamboo or wooden skewers for some 20-30 minutes in water.

Use wooden skewers for your shrimp barbecue

Lay the shrimp skewers on the grill or pan and let it cook for 3 to 5 minutes on each side. That will depend pretty much on the heat of your barbecue. But once the shrimp turn pink they should be ready.

You can vary your barbecue by adding a minced jalapeno pepper or 2 teaspoons of Tabasco to your marinade. For those who enjoy sweet barbecue options, you can try to substitute brown sugar with ½ cup of honey or more depending on your taste to create that honey barbecue flavor. A great thing I started to use quite a lot in the last time is the phenomenal Teriyaki sauce.

Serving this dish with a bowl of you favorite salsa recipe would be a great addition to the flavor of the shrimp. Shrimp kebabs can also be made by adding tomato halves and quartered green bell peppers to the skewers. Make sure that you blanch these vegetables before adding to the shrimp skewer or grill separately because vegetables cook longer that shrimp.

Vary further, get inspired by my nice and growing collection of shrimp recipes.