Wish Upon A Dish: Louisiana BBQ Shrimp - Updated

January 8, 2013

Louisiana BBQ Shrimp - Updated



Fifteen years ago, when in Las Vegas, we made it our mission to check out two of my favorite chef's restaurants. Emeril's Fish House and B.Flay's Mesa Grill. The first dish I ordered was the infamous BBQ shrimp (for which Emeril sold aprons imprinted with the recipe). Now Vegas plays host to hundreds of star chefs, but back then you could still count them on your fingers.

My main meal was a crawfish stuffed mignon. Needless to say I came home, bought his cookbook and made both those dishes with great success.

That was the last time. Not sure why I had a hankering to make these shrimp after all that time but they did not disappoint me.

If you have never eaten a Louisiana BBQ shrimp I implore you to make them. Louisiana "barbecued" shrimp never touch an actual barbecue. Created at Pascal's Manale restaurant in New Orleans in 1954, the recipe has become a Southern staple. The approach may vary, but it's certain to include ample amounts of shrimp, butter, and garlic. This version is almost always served with French bread for soaking up the rich sauce but I made a small batch of Basmati rice.

The inspiration for this version comes from tastingtable.com and a chef in Atlanta. While his recipe makes enough sauce to feed an army, I reduced mine to a third, but added an addition of 1 tablespoon more lemon and a tablespoon of cream (to mellow out the Worcerstershire). I only used 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce and it was still too much (hence the cream) and in the end, hot sauce.

This is a very forgiving recipe so add and subtract as you feel compelled too. I do suggest tasting as you go.

Louisiana BBQ Shrimp
Makes 4 servings
Although there is a whole stick of butter in the sauce, serving rice allowed me to cut way back on the amount of that sauce I would actually eat if using bread.


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14 comments :

Anonymous said...

I think your recipe is incorrect. The picture shows a cream sauce, and the recipe does not call for cream. I did further research and the original recipe is COMPLETELY different. I am wondering why you left out many things in your recipe???

Susan..... said...

The butter is cream and makes the sauce look creamy. I did not use Emeril's recipe this time, I lightened up a recipe I found on Tasting Table. I also used the flash on my camera and sometimes the tone is way off and my pics are not always the best, I confess to being a terrible photographer.

Cookinupastorm said...

The picture and the final product not the same. Very lemony too. I always follow the recipe exact the first time. I wanted to love it but sorry, not what I was expecting

Susan..... said...

(to cookinupastorm)
Because I probably did not go into detail about the original creator of this recipe and where it came from, I have decided to make the sauce (and a new pic), sans the shrimp, again. Since I cook for two I often have to halve the amounts. In this case I reduced it by 1/3rd and added hot sauce. Yes, it is lemony and I did probably add a tablespoon of cream (I just forgot to add that because the original did not call for any cream) to cut down on the amount of Worcestershire the recipe called for, but the picture is of this recipe, taken under the light of the range hood.
I do apologize for the one typo and if you are looking for something less aggressive, I would try Emeril's original recipe found on the Food network site.

Susan

Anonymous said...

http://www.mrbsbistro.com/recipes_shrimp.php

The link above is as close as you'll get to the real thing. This is a dish that definitely benefits from head-on shrimp. The heads have a TON of flavor and here at home all BBQ shrimp come with the heads on and are never peeled. You lose so much flavor when peeled shrimp is used. (You won't find a single chef that shares their whole recipe for this simple dish - not even Pascal's.) Make it both ways and you will be able to tell the difference in the richness of the dish.

I was born and partially raised "down the bayou" in Louisiana and moved to New Orleans (the city itself) at the age of 10.

You've got some tasty recipes here. Keep up the yummy work!

Anonymous said...

I made this with rice noodles and it was yummy. While hot sauce is mentioned in ingredient list, it is not in the instructions, so I just added it at the end. I also added fresh spinach at end with rice noodles, shrimp and sauce. Very yum, but decadent. I liked the lemony taste and even added more juice. I also liked the addition of the cream.

enlightened soul said...

I just made this for dinner. My son is biggest shrimp lover ever and I am always looking for new ways to cook it. My husband and son both gave this 2 thumbs up. My son even requested it for his birthday meal. Delicious!

Unknown said...

I made this, but added a little cayenne, paprika & green onions & used frozen, headless shrimp, as I didn't have fresh ones & was dying to make this! It was wonderful; husband & I both loved it; served with yellow rice & asparagus - black beans would've been good with it too! Great recipe; will definitely cook again!

Mahabba said...

Wow. This did not turn out for me at all. Not sure why it is called BBQ shrimp since it tastes nothing like anything barbequed. When I tried to do step 1, the shrimp overcooked while there was still a lot of liquid. The worchester is way too much even if you cut it with cream. I think maybe this is based on a Southern dish that a lot of people are accustomed too and like, but it didn't taste right to me at all - flavors didn't blend, and it was way too much butter.

Samantha MacLaren said...

I know this is an old post, and I don't know if you monitor comments to it any more, but I wanted to thank you because this is a new family favorite. I made this and blogged about it with my alterations: http://onedishdelish.com/2015/07/28/bbq-shrimp/

Kristen S said...

This didnt come out as I thought it would but IT WAS DELICIOUS! Thank you!

Sandra said...

I tried this out having no expectations of how this should turn out. I serves the ahrimps with spaghetti and I thought they were delicious! I will definately be making these again, thank you for the recipe!

Anonymous said...

Wow, wow, wow! This recipe is amazing, how can people mess this up, it is so easy. Like the author states, taste along the way if you aren't sure about amounts. Served this over rice, used fresh large shrimp tossed in cajun seasoning, the flavor was outstanding! Can't wait to make this again!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this recipe, followed all instructions minus the straining and it was delicious! I will be making this dish again and sharing recipe with friends! Thank you!