About this recipe
The phrase “Shrimp on the barbie” originated in a series of television commercials from the Australian Tourism Commission starring Paul Hogan from 1984 through to 1990 (
see one commercial here).
Towards the end of the commercials, Paul Hogan says "I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you”. The “Shrimp on the barbie” phrase illustrates particularly to US audiences that Australians are friendly fokes which enjoy having a good time socially.
Whenever I visit America, I am always asked for the recipe of a shrimp on the barbie. I always just say grab some shrimp, heat up the barbie and wack them on. But they never believe me, so here is my recipe for Shrimp on the Barbie. You can do them plain straight on the barbie or you can use my simple marinate.
One thing to note is that Australians don’t use the word shrimp, we use prawn or king prawn depending on the size of the crustacean.
Ingredients
1kg (2 pounds) large shrimp or king prawns
5g (1 teaspoon) Alpine Pepper
60ml (4 tablespoons) soy sauce
Cooking instruction
Preheat your barbie to medium heat. In a bowl combine the alpine pepper and soy sauce. Mix well. You don’t want to peel the shrimp as they protect the meat from the heat. Simply combine the marinate and the shrimp for 20 minutes or for how long it takes for the barbie to heatup.
Then place the shrimp on the barbie, its easy. Each side needs about 6 minutes and you’ll need to turn them once over. If you keep turning them the heads might fall off so be careful.
I like to eat my Shrimp on the Barbie served with my Wild Lime Tartare.