New Orleans–Style Barbecue Shrimp
New Orleans–Style Barbecue Shrimp
Servings
8
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
5 minutes
"Pascal’s Manale is located a couple blocks away from Mosquito Supper Club. The team there has helped us with many last-minute restaurant needs, and there is no finer place to eat raw Louisiana Gulf oysters in the city of New Orleans. Legend has it that this recipe was invented at Pascal’s Manale in the 1950s and spread like wildfire, each chef in New Orleans creating their own version and putting it on their menu.
We call this preparation “barbecue” shrimp because the sauce is sweet, spicy, and tangy. It’s prepared in a flash, so the key is to have all your ingredients ready. This is a dish to share—beautiful shrimp that asks you to be present—plus I love a dish that requires you to dig in and viscerally eat with your hands, sopping up the sauce with crusty bread. If you imbibe, wash it down with a dry white wine or a pilsner."
NOTE: You’ll need a very large sauté pan or brazier, at least 16 inches (40 cm) in diameter, to cook this amount of shrimp; if you have only a large sauté pan, consider cutting the recipe in half.
Excerpted from BAYOU by Melissa Martin (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2024. Photographs by Denny Culbert. Copyright © 2024.
Melissa Martin (@MosquitoSupperClub)
Ingredients
3 lbs (1.4 kg) head-on medium-to-large shrimp
2 Tbsp hot sauce, preferably Original Louisiana Hot Sauce
1 Tbsp kosher salt
-
½ tsp cracked black pepper
-
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
-
1 bay leaf
3 Tbsp canola oil or olive oil
2 cups (110 g) finely chopped green onions
8 garlic cloves, finely chopped
-
⅓ cup (80 ml) honey
⅓ cup (80 ml) hot water
⅓ cup (80 ml) Worcestershire sauce
Juice of 1 large lemon, about ¼ cup (60 ml)
½ cup (120 ml) Coca-Cola, beer, or white wine
8 ounces (225 g) unsalted butter, cut into cubes and kept in the freezer
¼ cup (15 g) finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Crusty bread and lemon wedges, for serving
Directions
In a large bowl, combine the shrimp, hot sauce, salt, black pepper, cayenne, and bay leaf.
Warm a very large heavy-bottomed sauté pan or brazier over high heat. Let it get very hot. At this point, things are going to move really fast, so have all the other ingredients ready to go. If you have a hood fan, now is the time to turn it on and maybe open a window or door. This preparation can cause some smoke.
Add the oil to the pan, then stir in the green onions and garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Do not let the garlic burn—keep moving it with a wooden or stainless steel cooking spoon. Add the honey, hot water, and Worcestershire and cook for 30 seconds.
Making sure your pan is still hot, add the seasoned shrimp and lemon juice, then pour in the Coke to deglaze the pan and scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom. Cook the shrimp for 2 minutes in the sauce that forms in the pan, stirring and shaking the pan to keep the shrimp moving.
Remove the butter cubes from the freezer, reduce the heat to medium, and add the butter slowly, cooking for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. This technique is called mounting with butter; it will help the butter emulsify in the sauce, creating a lovely buttery, tangy broth for the shrimp.
Reduce the heat to its lowest setting. Using tongs, remove one shrimp and carefully but quickly peel it, blowing on it so you don’t burn yourself. Taste the shrimp for doneness; it should be firm and seasoned but not mushy. Usually the shrimp are done at this point, as they will continue cooking with residual heat for a few more minutes, but depending on the size, you may need to cook them for 1 minute more.
Taste again. Does the shrimp need more salt, pepper, or heat? Adjust the seasoning, top with the parsley, and serve immediately from the pan. Put out the crusty bread and lemon wedges, then tuck away your cell phone, grab a sturdy napkin, and enjoy this treat.
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