Instructions: Butterfly shrimp are a favorite among Chinese and Westerners alike. They are shrimp cooked with a slice of crisp bacon attached to each, and served with a separate sauce which you may or may not dip the shrimp into. It a very expensive dish in a restaurant, and I have never quite understood the reason, since it is relatively moderate in cost when prepared at home.

There are several seemingly unimportant procedures that must be carefully followed if you hope to achieve success. The thing that disturbs beginning cooks most about this dish is that they cannot make the bacon stick to the shrimp.

Follow these three rules, and the rest is simple.

1. The shrimp must be split almost in half, but the two halves should still be attached so that when opened up they look like butterfly wings. Whats even more important is that the shrimp must be split from the underside, or else the natural curl of the shrimp will force the bacon off when fried.

2. Coat each shrimp with the beaten egg before putting bacon on the shrimp.

The egg mixture is what glues the bacon to the shrimp.

3. Fry with low heat, with the bacon on the bottom. The low heat prevents fast shrinkage of the bacon, and gives the egg coating a chance to bond the bacon and the shrimp together.

12 - 16 large shrimp, cleaned, split, dried with paper towels 2 eggs
1/8 teaspoon salt
12 -16 half slices of lean bacon, uncooked 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup sherry
chopped green onions (optional/to taste)

Prepare shrimp as explained above. Beat up eggs with salt (add a little pepper if you wish as well as the chopped green onions) added. Place open shrimp on platter with split sides up. Brush liberally with egg mixture. Place a half slice of bacon on each shrimp. Heat wok or pan hot and dry. Add the oil. Turn heat down immediately to low. Take shrimp one at a time and put into wok or pan with bacon in contact with bottom until all have been put in. Cook slowly until bacon has turned slightly brown and crisp, and the egg has bonded the bacon to the shrimp. (Use 2 frying pans if one is not large enough to accommodate all the shrimp. Use 1/2 of the sherry for each pan.)

Turn each shrimp over carefully and fry the other side about 3-5 minutes.

Quickly pour in the sherry. Cover and cook 1 minute more. Place shrimp on top of lettuce in platter and serve, with or without sauce.

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