The Double Skewer Method To Easily Flip Shrimp On The Barbie
Of all the proteins that take wonderfully to being grilled — from chicken thighs to pork tenderloin to salmon filets — one of our very favorites to throw onto the barbie is shrimp. Mild in flavor, meaty in texture, and oh-so-quick-cooking, shrimp stand up well to the concentrated heat of a grill and are fully cooked within five minutes, making them a perfect choice for harried weeknights (via Cooking Light).
With a mild, briny taste, shrimp take well to all manner of marinades, glazes, and dry rubs, from chili garlic sauce, sweetened with honey to a souvlaki-style mix of olive oil, garlic, oregano, and fresh lemon. Sounds like all systems go for grilling, right? Unfortunately, anyone who's skewered up shrimp and taken them out to a hot grill is familiar with how clumsy the process can be, with the thin, small shrimp tending to hang off the skewer as you're grilling. Luckily, there's an easy solution, and all you need is one extra skewer for each set of shrimp you're grilling.
Double skewers help the shrimp stay in place
If you love grilling shrimp, you likely thread your seasoned seafood onto a skewer before heading to the grill, for ease of flipping and to help keep the crustaceans from slipping through the grill grates. This strategy definitely helps, but according to Bon Appétit, the shrimp are still likely to spin around the skewer when you lift it up, making it difficult to quickly and efficiently flip over the entire line of shrimp.
That's where double skewering comes in, the outlet writes. Instead of running just one skewer through your shrimp, you'll send the first skewer through the line of shrimp near the thicker side of the seafood, and then run another skewer parallel to that first one, snagging closer to the thinner tail end of the shrimp. With two skewers in place, the whole shebang will be much easier to flip on the grill, cooking more evenly and reducing your time spent sweating over hot flames.
For charred, crispy shrimp, Bon Appétit recommends leaving a bit of space between each shrimp on the skewer. For juicier, less flame-kissed ones, you can push the shrimp close together. Just don't be tempted to thread any veggies on there, The Spruce Eats notes. Produce cooks a lot slower than shrimp, so you'd be left with cooked seafood and underdone veggies. Instead, skewer your chunks of veg separately, so you can throw them on a few minutes before the shrimp.