Steven Raichlen

How to Grill Shrimp

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top 1000How to Grill
How to Grill

By Steven Raichlen

Published 2001

  • About
METHOD: Ddirect grilling
ADVANCE PREPARATION: 1 to 2 hours for marinating the shrimp
Everybody loves grilled shrimp. Shrimp cooks quickly and evenly and the searing heat of live fire seems to bring out its natural sweetness. Its handsome size and shape are ideal for making kebabs, and shrimp readily absorbs the flavors of rubs and marinades.

The recipe accompanying this technique comes from Brazil, where shrimp is bathed in a tangy tempeiro—a marinade flavored with garlic, onion, peppers, cilantro, and coconut milk. The last counteracts shrimp’s one potential shortcoming, a tendency to dry out during grilling. That’s why shrimp is usually prepared with some sort of fat—marinated in yogurt or coconut milk, basted with oil or melted butter, or even wrapped in bacon.