History

BBQ shrimp was invented at Pascal's Manale on Napoleon Avenue around 1954 by Jake Radosta, who wanted a dish for the bar that needed only a saute pan. The sauce is the dish: a lot of butter, a lot of black pepper, Worcestershire, lemon, garlic. The shrimp stay in their shells and the diner peels them at the table, then mops the sauce with French bread. Liuzza's by the Track later took the sauce and put it in a po-boy in the 1990s, inventing the BBQ shrimp po-boy. Both versions are the same sauce. Pascal's Manale still serves the original at 1838 Napoleon Avenue.

Common allergens: Shellfish, Dairy, Gluten

Make it at home

Yield Serves 2Hands-on 15 minTotal 20 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 450g head-on Gulf shrimp, shells on
  • 200g unsalted butter, cubed
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • Juice of 1 lemon, plus 4 slices of lemon
  • 2 teaspoons coarse cracked black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 1 teaspoon Creole seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • Pinch of cayenne
  • Crusty French bread, to serve

Method

  1. Heat a heavy saute pan over medium-high. Add the shrimp, garlic, Worcestershire, lemon juice and slices, black pepper, rosemary, Creole seasoning, paprika and cayenne. Toss 2 minutes until shrimp are pink.
  2. Add the butter cube by cube, swirling the pan to emulsify the sauce. Don't melt the butter directly; the goal is a butter-and-stock emulsion, not melted fat.
  3. Reduce heat to low once all the butter is in. Simmer 1 minute until the sauce is glossy.
  4. Serve hot in a wide bowl with the sauce. Eat with French bread to mop and shells off at the table.

Tip from the editors. Use shell-on head-on Gulf shrimp; the heads carry most of the flavour. Pre-peeled tail-on shrimp will give a thin sauce.

This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.

Where to eat bbq shrimp

BBQ shrimp in New Orleans

Liuzza's by the Track ★ 4.5

Liuzza's by the Track in New Orleans is the Bayou St John lunch counter near the Fair Grounds that invented the BBQ shrimp po-boy, $15 with butter-pepper sauce on Leidenheimer bread.

Try: BBQ shrimp po-boy

Tip: Cash only at peak; check the Jazz Fest schedule, the room turns into a circus on festival weekends.

1518 N Lopez St, New Orleans, LA 70119

Mother's Restaurant ★ 4.2

Mother's in New Orleans is the 1938 CBD cafeteria-line lunch counter at Poydras and Tchoupitoulas, with $12 red beans and rice plates and the Ferdi Special po-boy from the menu.

Try: Red beans and rice

Tip: Lines run long; arrive 11:00 or after 14:00 for the shortest wait, the cafeteria runs fast at the counter.

401 Poydras St, New Orleans, LA 70130

Cochon ★ 4.6

Cajun$$$warehouse-district

Cochon in New Orleans is Donald Link and Stephen Stryjewski's James Beard winning Cajun room on Tchoupitoulas, an ode to whole-hog cookery in a converted Warehouse District building.

Signature: Louisiana cochon with cracklins, Wood-fired oysters

Order: The cochon with turnips and cracklins. Then the rabbit and dumplings.

Tip: Cochon Butcher around the corner sells the same charcuterie at a counter; cheaper and equally good for lunch.

930 Tchoupitoulas St, New Orleans, LA 70130 Book →

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