Shrimp has become a favourite seafood dish to do on a barbecue. Use these tips and techniques to get great tasting shrimp.
Barbecue Shrimp
Shrimp is great to do on the grill there are so many different flavours and recipes you can use. Grilling your shrimp makes it a healthy alternative to the normal frying of shrimp.
Barbecue shrimp can be served as a main course or as a delicious appetizer. You can serve them on skewers or plain, the choice is yours.
There are over 300 different shrimp species in the world. The flavour and texture of the shrimp differs depending on the waters they live in and their feeding habits.
Buying your Shrimp
Buy shrimp of larger sizes as small shrimp become hard to grill on a barbecue. Ideally shrimp should be cooked 24 hours after it has been purchased.
You can freeze your shrimp which will retain its quality over several weeks. Fresh shrimp should only smell of salt water, any other smell tends to mean it is past its prime. Never buy frozen shrimp that has had their shells removed, shells protect the meat and add flavour to it.
Barbecuing Shrimp
De-vein your shrimp before you grill as doing it after can be difficult. Let your shrimp thaw out in the refrigerator and not in the microwave.
This vein is the digestive tract of the shrimp which is edible but I prefer the shrimp without it. To de-vein simply slit the back of the shrimp with a small sharp knife, and pull the black vein out.
Shrimp needs to be cooked quickly to keep the natural flavour, never over cook shrimp. It normally takes about 3 - 4 minutes soon as they pink they are ready.
The smaller the shrimp the faster it will cook. Once you know how to BBQ shrimp you will be having more and more.
