LuLu's Perfect Peel and Eat Shrimp

By: Beth Anderson on April 27, 2016.

Nothing screams summer like a spending your day at the beach and your evening with friends. Setting the mood is key and cold Corona, peel and eat shrimp and Margaritaville playing on the BOSE will keep your party going well into the night. We’ve found the perfect recipe for peel and eat shrimp and it comes from the sister of Mr. Margaritaville himself.

Lucy Buffett (chef sister of Jimmy Buffett) has updated her cookbook, LuLu’s Kitchen: A Taste of the Gulf Coast Good Life, with a new introduction and amazing photography. The bestselling, self-published cookbook includes amazing recipes from her destination restaurant in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

Like her brother, Jimmy, Lucy Buffett celebrates freedom, relaxation, and seaside decadence in her own art — cooking. This previously self-published book (formerly titled Crazy Sista Cooking) has sold over 70,000 copies without marketing or much trade distribution.

Packed with more than 120 signature recipes from Lucy’s famous Gulf Coast restaurant, LuLu’s cookbook is the next best thing to being there. Tucked inside are humorous stories and plenty of wit and wisdom from Lucy’s own kitchen. The book features party menus, Buffett Family favorites, and lots of telling it like it is. Renowned novelist Tom McGuane contributes engaging essays that blend smoothly with the spicy dishes and distinctive drinks.

Recipes include soul-satisfying Southern delights like West Indies Salad, Perfect Fried Shrimp, Blackened Grouper Sandwich, Garlic Cheese Grits, Silver Queen Succotash, and Heavenly Fried Crab Claws. And there’s a whole chapter on 25 specialty drinks, including “Bama Breeze” and “LuLu’s Painkiller.”

You can find more information on Lucy at www.LucyBuffett.com and you can follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

LuLu’s Perfect Peel and Eat Shrimp

1 ½ – 2 gallons water
1 cup LuLu’s Perfect Pepper Hot Sauce ™
¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 ½ cups liquid Zatarain’s ® crab and seafood boil
1 (3 ounce) bag Zatarain’s ® dry crab and seafood boil
5 bay leaves
½ cup LuLu’s Crazy Creola Seasoning ™
¼ cup salt
2 – 3 pounds large headless shrimp with shells

Combine all ingredients except shrimp in a large stockpot. Bring to a full rolling boil. Be prepared to have the spices “tickle” the back of your throat. Gesundheit!

Add shrimp. Cook for 2 minutes.

Turn off heat and cover for 1 minute. Drain shrimp in a colander and place a layer of ice on top to stop cooking process.

Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Drain and refrigerate. Serve with my Red Horseradish Sauce.

Photo credit: Sara Essex