- City Fish Market - https://cfishct.com -

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1 tablespoon hot red pepper sauce (see Note)

• 1 tablespoon vinegar, or to taste

• vegetable oil for frying

• 1 1⁄2 pounds raw medium to large shrimp, peeled

• 1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour

ACCOMPANIMENTS

• Celery sticks

• Buffalo Shrimp Dip or a premium bottled blue cheese or ranch dressing

In a large saucepan melt the butter. Off the heat, add the hot sauce and vinegar to taste and reserve.

In a deep fryer or kettle, heat 1 inch of vegetable oil to 375°F. Toss the shrimp with the flour until coated thoroughly. Fry the shrimp in small batches in the oil for 1 minute or until cooked through, and let the oil return to 375°F before adding the next batch. Drain the shrimp on paper towels and add them to the sauce, tossing to coat well.

Serve the shrimp immediately will1 the celery and dip.

NOTE: Some of the sauces made especially for hot chicken wings already have the extra vinegar added, and have varied levels of “heat.” For example, once I used 5 tablespoons of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and omitted the vinegar, but another time I used 1 tablespoon Tabasco with 1 tablespoon vinegar. The latter was hotter. There are so many hot sauces on the market, especially “hot wings” sauces, that you must rely on your taste buds to determine how much to use.

Frying small batches of the shrimp at a time allows the oil to stay hot, keeps the shrimp crispy, and lets the oil return to 375°F quickly.

Serves 8 as a first course or 4 as a main dish

Thanks to Leslie Glover Pendleton for this recipe