First, drop the margarine and the olive oil into a 12-inch heavy aluminum skillet and blend them together over medium-low heat (just make sure the mixture doesn't burn). Then remove the skillet from the fire and - adding one ingredient at a time - stir in the onion powder, garlic powder, cloves, cayenne pepper, black pepper, barbecue spice, paprika, rosemary, Worcestershire, lemon juice, and bay leaves.

Now stir everything into the seasoning base really well. Then slowly add the beer and stir it into the mix until the foam disappears. At this point, stir in the salt, preheat the oven to 300 degrees, set the seasoning mixture aside to allow the flavors to marry, and place the shrimp in a large baking pan (be sure to use a pan large enough to give you room to stir the shrimp periodically as they bake).

When you're ready to cook - and this dish is best served right out of the oven - pour the mixture over the top of the shrimp, making sure you coat each shrimp really well. Then place the pan in the oven - uncovered - and bake for about 40 minutes, basting thoroughly every 10 minutes or so.

When you see a slight air space appear along the back of the shrimp and you see the shell segments start to pull apart (actually, the shell pulls away from the meat), they're ready to eat.

It is recommended that you serve barbecued shrimp in soup bowls, piping hot with the shrimp swimming in the sauce, accompanied by a bottle of your favorite white wine and a big loaf of hot crisp French bread.

[Chef's Note: Don't overcook `em! The shells will set and the shrimp will be hard to peel. If you plan to serve the shrimp as a dinner entre, I recommend you serve them alongside either bronzed or creamed potatoes, a cooked green vegetable (broccoli is good) and a crisp Italian salad. But most of all...you got to have a good supply of French bread to sop up the juices! It's the absolute best part of the whole recipe. One more thing: if you should have any of the basting sauce left over, it can be refrigerated in a small bowl and used as a topping for mashed potatoes, baked potatoes or fried grits. It can also be used as a condiment for broiled oysters on the half shell (a couple of teaspoons on each oyster), for brushing over redfish on the grill, or for whatever reason else tempts your palate. So go ahead and be creative!]

[Source: "Frank Davis Cooks Cajun, Creole, and Crescent City" by Frank Davis]

Carl McCaskey http://tlh.fdt.net/~tcm/pepperhead.html

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