Lent has long been the bane of meat-eating Catholics in Chicago. Even lapsed or inveterate Catholics tend to give the meatless Friday a shot out of residual guilt – the spiritual equivalent of phantom limb pain.
If you’re one of the multitude of Chicagoans giving no-meat Fridays a go in the run-up to Easter, it’s important to have some solid seafood recipes in your back pocket. This one’s from a recent visit to New Orleans, and might perhaps qualify as the richest damn thing I’ve ever eaten. The name “barbecue” is a misnomer, but also a bit of a tradition down there. Between the near-horrifying amount of butter and the the $1.50 gin martinis at lunch, I spent that particular afternoon in the Crescent City napping through Liam Neeson’s “Taken” on HBO in my French Quarter hotel. It’s as close as I’m likely to come in this life to achieving a Zen-like state. Knock back a few of these butter-drenched crustaceans, and you may get there too.

The Setup

- 18 jumbo (12/lb) shrimp, shell and head on
- 2 sticks cold, unsalted butter, cubed
- 1/2 Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tsp cracked black peppercorns
- 2 tsp Creole seasoning
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 loaf French bread, warmed in the oven

First off: good luck getting head-on shrimp in Chicago. Even my beloved fish market didn’t have them. Just make sure to remember that a) the shell’s aren’t optional, but the heads can be and b) if you can’t find 12/lb, get something reasonably close. You don’t want small, easily overcooked shrimp.
Second: make sure to do the fresh cracked peppercorns. Don’t just double the ground black pepper. Oils are released when you crack a peppercorn, and you want that sharp, pungent taste to cut through the butter and compliment the Worcestershire. A mortar works best, but you can just crack a few at a time with your knife.
Third: Don’t get too fancy. This is very nearly the same preparation as legendary New Orleans lunch place Mr. B’s, and dang if it isn’t nearly perfect. No extra effort needed.

Cooking

1. Combine shrimp, Worcestreshire, Creole seasoning, lemon juice, black pepper, and garlic in a medium bowl. Toss to coat shrimp and toss into a large skillet over medium-hi heat.

2. Cook the shrimp 45 seconds-1 minute per side, until they just turn pink. Remove the shrimp to your eventual serving bowl.

3. Knock the heat down to medium and stir in the butter a few cubes at a time, whisking to combine.

4. After the butter is all incorporated, remove the sauce from the heat and pour over the shrimp. Serve with the warm bread. You can probably split this with someone else and still end up breathing heavy the next time you walk up the stairs.