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Shrimp on the Barbie

Summer in the United States is barbecue season. Millions of home cooks fire up the grill, invite friends over, and cook outdoors. Whether it's a charcoal grill or a gas grill, the main point is to make a great show of putting some kind of meat over some kind of fire and proving one's outdoor skills to a gathering of family and friends.

This recipe for barbecued shrimp is sure to delight your guests while offering something just a little more out of the ordinary than hamburgers and hot dogs. By placing the shrimp on skewers, you can bring the presentation level up a notch, but even without the skewers, they are sure to be a big hit. The sauce described below is my personal favorite basic sweet teriyaki. It is also great for beef or chicken.

Yield: Four pounds of colossal shrimp makes 15-18 skewers with four shrimp per skewer. Your mileage may vary depending upon the size of the shrimp you use and the number of shrimp that you place on each skewer.

Preparation: about 30 minutes spent about 4 hours in advance of actually cooking.

Ingredients:

4 pounds of raw colossal shrimp (12-15 shrimp per pound)
1 cup low sodium soy sauce
3/4 cups of granulated sugar
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger
3 large cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of corn starch
water for soaking bamboo skewers

Equipment List:

1 very large mixing bowl (large enough o hold four pounds of shrimp with room to spare)
1 large mixing spoon
bamboo skewers (approximately 8 inches long)
Plastic wrap to cover mixing bowl
Refrigerator space for large mixing bowl
Tongs for use on the grill
Grill

1) Pour soy sauce into mixing bowl.
2) Add sugar to soy sauce. Mix well with spoon to dissolve sugar. It may not dissolve completely, but make sure the sugar is thoroughly wetted to for a slurry.
3) Add 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.
4) Peel and finely mince three large cloves of garlic. Feel free to add more garlic according to your taste.
5) Add freshly grated ginger and minced garlic to mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly.
6) Slowly sprinkle in 1 tablespoon of corn starch while stirring. Avoid clumps as you add the corn starch. Continue stirring until the corn starch is completely dissolved.
7) Clean and peel the raw shrimp leaving the tail and one segment of shell on each shrimp.
8) Rinse the shrimp under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
9) Place the shrimp in the mixing bowl with the sauce. Use the large mixing spoon to turn the shrimp over until it is thoroughly covered in the sauce. The liquid should reach near the surface of the shrimp in the bowl as shown in the photo.

10) Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for about four hours to allow the marinade to soak into the shrimp. Exact timing is not important for the marinade, you can go much longer or a little shorter as long as there is time for shrimp to pick up the flavors of the sauce. Longer is better.
11) Immerse the bamboo skewers in water and allow them to soak while the shrimp sits in the refrigerator. Since you'll be using wooden skewers over an open flame, waterlogging them before-hand helps to keep them from burning easily. They'll still char and burn, but will last long enough to make it to the serving platter and the plate.
12 ) Stir shrimp in sauce one final time before placing 4 shrimp on each skewer, piercing each shrimp twice so that all four lie flat along the skewer.
13) Preheat the barbecue grill. You want it quite hot, but you don't want flames reaching up to the level of the grill or you risk setting fire to the skewers and the shrimp tails.
14) Lie skewers flat on the grill surface. Watch as the shrimp turns from translucent to opaque as it cooks. Cooking time will vary depending upon the size of the shrimp and the heat of your grill.
15) When shrimp is cooked about 1/3 of the way through, flip each skewer over to cook the other side. The second side will cook faster as the shrimp is already heated.
16) You don't want the shrimp charred, but a little caramelization of the sugar coating the shrimp is fine. Shrimp should be cooked all the way through.
17) Remove the shrimp skewers from the grill and place on a serving platter. Line the all up in the same direction on the serving platter to make the presentation look better and to make it easier for guests to take one without having to disentangle the skewers from one another.
18) Enjoy! 

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