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Shrimp Grilled On Sugarcane
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Mar 31, 2025
Shrimp is the perfect shellfish for grilling: quick, affordable, with big briny flavors that have you coming back for more. What makes these unique is the use of strips of sugar cane for skewers—but them for a burst of sweetness. The ginger, garlic, scotch bonnet marinade is guaranteed to wake up your tastebuds.
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0:00
Sugar cane has fueled the Caribbean economy for centuries as a sweetener and as an ingredient for rum
0:08
I think you'll love the way the cane sweetens the shellfish from the inside out
0:13
Step number one, the glaze. It starts with eight tablespoons of salted butter
0:21
one-half cup brown sugar, Dijon mustard, cinnamon, and cloves for a tropical flavor
0:43
distilled white vinegar, and a generous splash of rum. Okay, and you want to simmer these ingredients
0:56
on the stove or on the side burner of your grill. Cook the sauce until thick and richly flavored
1:06
whisking from time to time, cooking time about five to eight minutes
1:11
Let me show you how to put together the shrimp. Now, these are sugarcane swizzle sticks
1:17
They're sticks cut from whole sugarcane. You can buy them packaged at most supermarkets
1:23
And what you want to do is you want to cut off one edge here to make a sharp point
1:29
What you do on the shrimp, you make a starter hole using a metal or bamboo skewer
1:35
You just want to twist it a couple times to kind of widen that hole
1:38
And then insert the sugar cane pointy end first through the shrimp These shrimp by the way are U10s
1:50
That means there are 10 shrimp to a pound. They are what we would call jumbo shrimp
1:57
They've been peeled and deveined. And next thing you want to do is oil, salt, and pepper the shrimp
2:08
Little extra virgin olive oil. We'll brush the tops of the shrimp
2:17
Now, sugar cane is actually not native to the Caribbean. It was brought there by Christopher Columbus on his historic voyage
2:26
Became a very important staple, both as a sweetener and as an ingredient for a new distilled beverage
2:34
The European settlers craved wine and brandy, but grapes wouldn't grow in the Caribbean
2:40
So they decided to still fermented sugarcane juice. The Latin word for sugarcane is saccharum
2:47
It was shortened to a beverage we all love, rum. Okay, we have one more preparation
2:54
An aluminum foil grill shield. Fold your aluminum foil in three, like a business letter
3:02
and you want the shiny side out so it will reflect the heat
3:08
Okay, let's set up the grill. And while we're back here, let's just give a whisk to our glaze
3:14
which has thickened into a luscious sauce. Grill preheated to high. You remember the grill master mantra keep it hot One Caribbean two Caribbean ouch Keep it clean with a few swipes of our wire
3:35
grill brush and keep it lubricated or oiled. And here is a cool technique. Take a half an onion
3:44
dip it in oil and rub it across the bars of the grate
3:49
Take your grill shields, and you want to lay them along the front of the grill
4:00
And that way, when you put the shrimp on the grill, it will keep the sugarcane skewers
4:07
from burning. Put a second row on the grill, and the shrimp in the first row will act as a shield
4:19
Cooking time is quick, about two to three minutes per side. Turn the shrimp over
4:28
By the way, if you wanted to give this recipe a Southeast Asian accent
4:32
you could use stalks of lemongrass instead of sugar cane. Or for an Italian accent, use sprigs of rosemary
4:41
The important thing to learn here is the idea of using a flavored skewer. baste the shrimp
4:49
with this rum brown sugar glaze. And I actually like to cook the glaze
5:02
right into the shrimp on the grill. And the way you tell the shrimp are done well first of all the poke test They feel firm to the touch You can see by the color Take the shrimp off And I going to start in the middle here Remember the shrimp in the center cooks a little more quickly than the edges
5:22
so we'll give these guys on the edges just a few more minutes. And if they get a little bit too hot, you can certainly use a set of tongs to take the shrimp off
5:40
Just to finish up, what you can do is take a little bit of this sauce and ladle it over the shrimp
5:49
It's a really nice sauce, kind of sweet with the mustard and vinegar to balance the sugar
5:58
And then any leftover sauce can go into a bowl to serve with the shrimp for dipping
6:10
A little cilantro will kind of reinforce that Caribbean flavor. And there you have it
6:21
Shrimp grilled on sugar cane with a mustard rum brown sugar sauce
6:27
Let's see how we did. Mmm. This is really nice. The shrimp has a great smoky flavor and the rum comes through
6:36
And best of all, you kind of, you bite it and you get that little squirt of sugar cane juice
6:42
It's the quintessential taste of the Caribbean. To the crew, I just want to let you know there's another batch for you all to try that doesn't have a bite out of each shrimp
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