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Shrimp Recipes for the Everyday Menu
By Allan Stearman | February 4, 2010
If shrimp recipes are off your radar because they seem too complex, revamp your mindset. By learning the basics of preparation, you can add shrimp recipes to your weekly menu without flinching.
Go beyond opening a box and putting it in the microwave. When you try a simple shrimp scampi recipe at home just once, and your family sits in awe, it will be a short step to adding grilled shrimp recipes or a shrimp pasta recipe. A simple grilled shrimp recipe can bring restaurant fare to the suburban kitchen. The main ingredient for shrimp recipes can be easily mastered.
There are a variety of sizes of shrimp including the popcorn or bay shrimp for tacos or salads, small tiger shrimp that can be purchased ready to cook, peel, and serve, medium shrimp which are the favorite for pasta, large shrimp which are the choice for shrimp cocktail, jumbo prawn for grilling, and the colossal tiger shrimp, for when you want to wow your crowd.
To ensure you have quality ingredients, learn how to shop for shrimp. Keep in mind that the larger the shrimp, the more you will pay per pound. Fresh shrimp should have semitransparent flesh, be moist, firm, and have no ammonia odor or black spots on the shell. The ration of fresh shrimp to prepared shrimp is 3 to 2, that is 1 pounds of shell on shrimp produces 1 pound of shelled shrimp.
If you are fortunate enough to be near water and the source of locally sold shrimp, the quality of your cooking is going to increase immensely. Today most of the shrimp on the market has been frozen. If your shrimp is frozen when purchased, be sure that it is solidly frozen and examine the pack for any signs of freezer burn, which negatively affects quality and flavor. Then leave the shrimp in the refrigerator overnight to thaw, or place under cold running water. If you are buying shrimp previously frozen but thawed, the flesh should remain firm and shiny.
The shrimp will then need to be peeled and deveined. If your shellfish is processed and this step has been done for you, it is very possible that the flavor has been diminished due to the preprocessing. Simple steps for deveining being with peeling the shell from the shrimp.
Using a small paring knife, make a light slit down the back from the head end to the tail. A black sand vein is frequently present in the center of the back. With the knife tip, you can remove it and then rinse the shrimp in running cold water. At this point, it is easy to cut the shrimp in half by placing the front on a cutting board and then cutting the shrimp lengthwise. Make every effort to keep the prepared shrimp at the same temperature to ensure even results when cooking.
Whether your boil, fry, bake, steam, or broil the shrimp, the only limits are your creativity and resourcefulness. A cooked shrimp will be opaque when cut through the thickest part. To stop completely boiled shrimp from cooking when done, dump them in ice water. In addition, when sauting shrimp, do not crowd the pan or the moisture released will steam rather than fry the shrimp. With these basic understood, your cooking vocabulary is enlarged along with your menu choices. Now eat hearty!
Shrimp is versatile and very tasty. Professional cook Allan Stearman will guide you through cooking your garlic shrimp recipe in a simple way. For more advice you should stop by great shrimp recipes dot com.
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