Friends, simple adjectives cannot do justice the flavor and beauty of this dish. As a seafood-aholic, I’ve had many a shrimp in my day. And this recipe is hands down the best shrimp I have ever had by leaps and bounds. Now, I know what you’re thinking: bacon, the diety of all things delicious, must be responsible for the incredible flavor of this dish. And while I have no business in diminishing the unmistakable presence of bacon (which, for the record, would not be the dish it is in its absence), the true brilliance of this recipe is the chipotle BBQ sauce. Rich, smoky and spicy… I’m simply at a loss for words to describe the beauty of this sauce. Now, perhaps it’s predictable if I don’t credit the bacon for the dish that I would credit the sauce (given the unseemly amounts of sauce I use on everything) – but you have to trust me on this one. This is unreal. Also critical: jumbo shrimp. Frozen shrimpsicles simply won’t cut it. We need massive shrimp to stand up to this hearty bacon (we used 16-20 count shrimp). I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to find out what all this hype is about – let’s turn up the airconditioning, because it’s about to get hot in here.
Applewood Smoked Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp with a Chipotle BBQ Sauce:
- 1 lb. 16-20 count jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 10 pieces of applewood smoked bacon
- 3/4 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce (we used Bulls-Eye Texas Style Sauce)
- 2 large chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, seeds removed and minced
- 1 heaping tablespoon adobo sauce
- Scant 1 tablepsoon fresh cracked pepper
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 3 skewers
- Salt and pepper
First, we have to start by soaking our skewers in water.
Next, preheat your oven to 500 degrees and line a baking sheet with tinfoil. Now, the shrimp only take a few minutes to cook, so it’s important that we partially cook the bacon through prior to wrapping the shrimp. Place your strips of bacon onto the tinfoil and pop in the oven for about 9 minutes. In the meantime, let’s peel and devein the shrimp.
After they are peeled and deveined, season generously with salt and pepper. Next, we are going to whip up our chipotle BBQ sauce (aka heaven in a bowl) by combining the original sauce with the adobo sauce, minced chipotle peppers, Worcestershire sauce and cracked pepper.
After the 9 or so minutes have passed, remove the bacon from the oven.
Pliable enough to wrap the shrimp while leaving room to crisp up over the flames of the grill (which by the way, you can probably fire up now. You’re looking for about 400 degrees). Then we enter the construction phase. One by one, wrap 1/2 a piece of bacon around 1 shrimp and skewer it so the bacon is secured.
Next, divide the sauce into two bowls (I’m a little bit of a freak about contamination of raw food) – one for basting and one for dipping, later on. Using one of the bowls of sauce, generously brush the shrimp to coat.
Then, carefully place the skewers on the grill for about six minutes. Using tongs, flip the shrimp at the three minute mark and let cook for an additional three minutes.
Remove from heat, and brush with additional sauce, if desired (yes, you should do this, and obviously use the rest for dipping!).
The next part is both obvious and inevitable: enjoy!
As for a drink selection, both my heart and my head are whispering beer. And when the heart and the head are in agreement, it must be right.
Cheers!
