How to Grill Shrimp on a Stick Two Ways

METHOD: Direct grilling

COOKING TIME FOR BOTH WAYS: 4 to 8 minutes

The shrimp kebab is a perfect party pass-around or hors d’oeuvre if there ever was one. It invites you to indulge in the primal pleasure of eating shrimp with your fingers, but the skewer keeps you tidier than when you devour the shrimp right out of the shells (for a deliciously messy version of the latter, see the barbecued shrimp. Here are two of my favorite ways to illustrate this technique—shrimp on a stick wrapped with smoky bacon and fragrant basil leaves and shrimp skewered on sugarcane with a dulcet rum glaze.