Burgers

DIRECTIONS

This dish is also called “Barbecue Shrimp,” and you will find it as such on the menus at many of the finest restaurants in New Orleans. Most New Orleaneans call it “Shrimp Mosca” because it’s not usually cooked outside on a barbecue grill, and it doesn’t contain what anyone would ever think of as barbecue sauce. It’s super easy, and it’s fast – faster than you might think: the most common mistake is to overcook the shrimp. This dish is ALWAYS accompanied by fresh, hot, crusty French bread for sopping up the sauce…and a bib. For this recipe we've gone 'Old School' and use a charcoal grill - you can easily create this dish on a gas grill too!

Preparation
De-head the shrimp and rinse them, if necessary. Then use two skewers – one inserted near the tail, the other inserted about an inch up – and get all the shrimp onto skewers. We can usually get about 6 large shrimp, with a little room between them, onto each skewer bundle. Note: a single skewer makes a shrimp whirlygig – it takes two skewers to keep them from spinning.

Method
Build a medium fire in the usual cool side/hot side configuration. When the fire is hot, put in the grate and heat it up (about 5 mins.) Set a large, disposable metal pan on the cool side of the grill and add all of the Ingredients except the shrimp skewers. Adjust the pan over the hot coals so that the butter melts and all the Ingredients come to a simmer (about 5-7 mins). Move the pan to the cool side of the grill, and put the shrimp skewers directly on the grate over the coals.

Grilling the Shrimp
Where they hit, they sit – don’t move them for three minutes. Flip the skewers and let them be for two-three minutes (the shells may turn black). Then use your tongs to remove the shrimp from the skewers and drop them directly into the pan on the cool side, and continue grilling the rest of the skewers until all of the shrimp are in the sauce. We’re careful during this operation to put the shrimp into the pan starting nearest the coals, and working them over to the outside as additional batches are added. When they first hit the sauce, they’re on the hot side, and then move each time to a cooler place in the pan. This is to prevent the first batch from becoming overcooked before the last batch is off the grate. The shrimp need to spend 10 minutes (total) in the sauce, so the first ones into the pan will be the first ones out. Serve in bowls, making sure each bowl gets a couple of the lemon slices and some rosemary with a big spoonful of sauce. Top with several slices of crusty French bread to sop up the sauce.

How to Buy Shrimp
Every fishmonger worth his salt sells shrimp by their count number - that is, roughly the number of shrimp per pound - head on. That means that the larger the number (50/60) the more shrimp in one pound, thus, the smaller they are. We consider anything in the range of 25/30 and smaller to be gumbo shrimp or bait. When you get up to about 15/20, you're talking nice sized shrimp. Notations with a "U" before the number (U/12) means that there are "under" twelve, or fewer than 12 shrimp in a pound. "U" shrimp in the range of 10 or so are best left for high-heat, hands-on technique and fancy dishes. They are difficult to cook well and thouroughly, and are best when treated as small lobsters.

Thanks to Girls on a Grill for their contribution as guest chefs and writers.