Huli Huli Shrimp Skewers
I have yet to visit Hawaii and have always assumed the first recipe I cooked at home for the islands' famous huli huli chicken isn't all the traditional, but it was damn delicious. Ever since then, I've returned to this adaptation I got from Cook's Illustrated and it has proven to be great in many forms like in tacos and on wings. Last summer I was doing another tiki-influenced Meatwave and once again turned to that tried-and-true recipe, but this time turning it into huli huli shrimp skewers.
It's a little hard to tell exactly how much this recipe treads a traditional line because at least in videos I watch from folks eating huli huli chicken in Hawaii, the recipes seem to vary from vendor to vendor. It does seem more likely that when a sauce is employed, it's introduced as a marinade and due to its thickness and sugar content, that renders the final chicken with a nice color and saucy appearance. However, in the Cook's Illustrated recipe, a pineapple-based sauce is simmered into a glaze and applied at the end, which is much better suited for quick cooking shrimp, so I kept with it.
I still lament losing the really great butchers and fishmongers I had easy access to in Astoria and after trying some close-by local seafood shops here in Durham, I came to the conclusion that buying frozen shrimp is my safest pathway to consistency. Having quality fresh seafood did lead me to better shrimp in NY, but I must say a little bump down in quality is rewarded by a bump up in convenience as I've now become accustomed to dumping out a bag of peeled and deveined frozen shrimp and defrosting them quickly under running cold water—the once somewhat cumbersome shrimp prep process now only takes me a couple minutes.
A little trick I picked up from Kenji at Serious Eats has also helped my frozen shrimp turn out more consistently plump and juicy and that's to add some baking soda to whatever seasoning mixture I plan on applying. In the case of this recipe, I used a combo of brown sugar, white pepper, ginger powder, garlic powder, and salt along with the baking soda.
I wanted to have something more than shrimp on these skewer and pineapple was naturally my first thought, but I actually had a somewhat similar recipe on this site, so began thinking other ideas. It took a little time, but the perfect accompaniment finally hit me—shisitos! The peppers have a good fruitiness to them and most of them are mildly spicy, which is a nice contrast to the sweet sauce. There was an added bonus of adding some green to the dish, giving it a more appetizing appearance in the end.
Once the shrimp were defrosted, I dried them with paper towels and applied the seasoning. I then threaded them onto skewers with shisitos interspersed after every couple shrimp. I then rested the skewers over a large container and placed that in the fridge for about an hour. This gives the shrimp some time to brine and dry further, which in turn leads to quicker browning, shorter cooking, and juicier meat.
The cooking part does go incredibly fast, so having everything prepped and on hand once I laid the shrimp over the hot direct heat was key. I began by grilling the skewers until the shrimp just started to turn opaque, turning them once or twice in the minute or two it took for that to happen.
I then move the skewers over to the cool side of my two-zone fire so I could brush on the glaze without the shrimp cooking as quickly.
Then to finish them up, I moved them back to the hot side of the grill and they quickly developed some browning an charring and also finished cooking through.
The shisito peppers were definitely the right call because I felt they were a crucial element in this success of these skewers. The shrimp were well cooked and had the addictive sweet, fruity, and tangy flavor that makes the Huli Huli sauce a recipe I keep coming back to over and over again. The peppers did a lot of work though in keeping the sweetness in check while amping up the grilled flavor with their charred exteriors. I personally think the best bites were those when you hit an extra-spicy pepper, but that wasn't so common that it turned off anybody who wasn't as much of a heat head as I am. One day I'll eventually get to Hawaii and gain more knowledge of traditional huli huli recipes, but until then, I bet this one gets recycled at least a few more times.
