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1
Start a grill or preheat the broiler or oven.
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2
Make the fire as hot as it will get and put the rack close to the heat source.
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3
Mince the garlic with the salt; mix with the cayenne and paprika, then make into a paste with olive oil and lemon juice.
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4
Smear the paste on the shrimp.
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5
Grill, broil, or roast the shrimp, 2 to 3 minutes per side, turning them once.
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6
Serve immediately or at room temperature, with lemon wedges.
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7
You can take this dish in a completely different direction by substituting curry powder for the paprika, peanut oil for the olive oil, and lime juice for the lemon juice.
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8
Almost all shrimp are frozen before sale.
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9
So unless youre in a hurry, you might as well buy them frozen and defrost them yourself; this will guarantee you that they are defrosted just before you cook them, therefore retaining peak quality.
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10
There are no universal standards for shrimp size; large and medium dont mean much.
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11
Therefore, it pays to learn to judge shrimp size by the number per pound, as retailers do.
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12
Shrimp labeled 16/20, for example, contain sixteen to twenty per pound; those labeled U-20 require fewer (under) twenty to make a pound.
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13
Shrimp from fifteen to about thirty per pound usually give the best combination of flavor, ease (peeling tiny shrimp is a nuisance), and value (really big shrimp usually cost more than $15 a pound).
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14
On deveining: I dont.
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15
You can, if you like, but its a thankless task, and there isnt one person in a hundred who could blind-taste the difference between shrimp that have and have not been deveined.
