At the grocery store (or at your local fishmonger,) you can buy fresh or previously frozen shrimp in many different sizes, peeled or unpeeled, raw or cooked.

“Fresh” shrimp is just that, straight from the ocean. “Previously frozen” is frozen shrimp that they have already defrosted for you. When you get home from the grocery store you can freeze “fresh” shrimp, but you can not re-freeze “previously frozen” shrimp.

Shrimp, like all fish, should be cooked and eaten within 2 days of buying it.

When shrimp is cooked, it turns a lovely shade a pink/orange. It is just about the easiest snack, hors d’oeuvres, or topper for pasta or salad that you can buy.

Fresh or frozen shrimp is sold by the pound and the number of shrimp per pound indicates the size of the shrimp.

• 31-40 Medium
• 26-30 Large
• 21-25 X-Large
• 16-20 Jumbo

One pound of raw shrimp in their shells equals approximately ½ pound of peeled cooked shrimp.

Peeling your own shrimp is a bit tedious. If you can afford it, I would recommend buying already peeled shrimp.

Here are some excellent photos that show how to peel shrimp. It is not difficult, just time consuming. The steps involved are:

1. Gently rip the head off. (This is not as horrible as it sounds!)
2. Then pull off the legs.
3. With your thumbs pull apart the sides.
4. You can leave the tail on or pull it off.
5. With a small sharp knife slice the back and remove the vein.

Shrimp cooks in just a few minutes. With just a few ingredients, which may already be in your cupboard, you can cook up something very special for dinner.

Ingredients for Shrimp Scampi

Next week’s video is a recipe for Shrimp Scampi which I know you are going to love!

Shrimp Scampi

P.S.

If you are planning a trip to Boston you have to include a visit to Legal Seafood restaurant and try their Coconut Shrimp! It’s the best!

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