Buying Shrimp

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CraigC

Master Chef
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Jan 27, 2011
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Does it matter to you whether you purchase wild caught or farm raised? IMO, farm raised doesn't have a lot of flavor.:(
 
I think wild caught is usually the best tasting. If you're having a meal where the shrimp is main focus of the dish, I feel like it's the best choice. If you're just chopping it up to make something like shrimp salad, it probably doesn't matter. I would try to stay away from shrimp imported from Asia or South America, though, as much of it is farm raised in polluted environments or doused with antibiotics.
 
My dad used to have to go to New Orleans every now and again...he'd bring back 20 lb of fresh shrimp. I think it was "wild caught." It was soooooooo good. We'd steam it and eat it cold....best shrimp I've ever had. Or maybe that is like remembering things that were SOOOOO BIG when one was a child. He'd also fly back from Boston with live lobster...probably can't do that anymore...I used to bring live lobster home on the plane from Boston or Maine as well back in the days that I traveled there for work.
 
IMHO there is all the difference in the world. Wild caught shrimp has much more flavor. There used to be any number of roadside sellers of shrimp between here and the Outer Banks. Last time I went that way, I didn't see but a few. Maybe it was bad timing on my part or maybe the regulations regarding such sales have changed. I reckon I need to find out.
 
I will have to look at the packaging on frozen shrimp to see if they are wild caught. I just thought frozen shrimp were watery, tasteless, and rubbery, so I never bought them. I admit I got that impression from the shrimp platters that people bring to potlucks or serve at parties (not necessarily this brand):

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I'm always on the lookout for wild caught, U.S. shrimp. When we go to Mexico, their wild caught shrimp is also excellent, very sweet.
 
The best shrimp I ever had were wild caught Danish shrimp. They were a special tiny kind, less than an inch in diameter.
 
The farmed shrimp usually come fom Thailand, Vietnam or China ...

They are said to be raised in less than sanitary conditions.

I avoid them if i can.
 
Asia (and other countries) have gone to farming shrimp because of the polluted waters , it got into the shrimp. Also over fishing along with the polluted waters has greatly reduced their numbers.

These days, it's getting harder to find places selling shrimp that isn't farmed.

I find farmed shrimp are somewhat mushy, less colorful and less tasteful than wild caught.
 
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My dad used to have to go to New Orleans every now and again...he'd bring back 20 lb of fresh shrimp. I think it was "wild caught." It was soooooooo good. We'd steam it and eat it cold....best shrimp I've ever had. Or maybe that is like remembering things that were SOOOOO BIG when one was a child. He'd also fly back from Boston with live lobster...probably can't do that anymore...I used to bring live lobster home on the plane from Boston or Maine as well back in the days that I traveled there for work.

Yeah, you can still fly with live lobsters. In fact at Logan Airport, there is a place that sells and packs them for you to take on the plane with you. They have a tank full of live ones. If I were buying any to take with me, I would never buy tham at the airport. Way too expensive. You will be paying $5.99-$6.99 a pound or up. The tourists don't know any better.

Right now there is such a glut of them on the market. They are only $3.99 a pound for 1-1.5# chickens. That is the supermarket price. The lobstermen are cutting out the middle man and selling them directly from their boats. Be at the dock when the boats come in, and they are almost giving them away. But I would rather pay the supermarket price to them. They are having a really rough year. Some lobstermen have stopped going out in the morning to set their traps. :angel:
 
Yeah, you can still fly with live lobsters. In fact at Logan Airport, there is a place that sells and packs them for you to take on the plane with you. They have a tank full of live ones. If I were buying any to take with me, I would never buy tham at the airport. Way too expensive. You will be paying $5.99-$6.99 a pound or up. The tourists don't know any better.

Right now there is such a glut of them on the market. They are only $3.99 a pound for 1-1.5# chickens. That is the supermarket price. The lobstermen are cutting out the middle man and selling them directly from their boats. Be at the dock when the boats come in, and they are almost giving them away. But I would rather pay the supermarket price to them. They are having a really rough year. Some lobstermen have stopped going out in the morning to set their traps. :angel:
I never bought them at the airport--I used to stop at a fishmonger place on my way to the airport...you have no idea how tempting it is to make a road trip to Boston!
 
I never bought them at the airport--I used to stop at a fishmonger place on my way to the airport...you have no idea how tempting it is to make a road trip to Boston!

Call when you arrive. We can do lunch together. And some other stuff. Son #1 would love to meet you. He has been keeping up the the Chicken Chronicals. :angel:
 
We're really fortunate in most of Texas. It's an unusual week when my grocery doesn't have wild brown Gulf shrimp, often fresh. They make an effort and have exclusive contracts with a number of Texas Gulf boats that include painting the boats in the store logo. (I had assumed their commercials touting this were largely hype, but independent stories show they do control the catch of a substantial fleet.)

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Talk to your seafood counter staff. One thing I've learned is that "previously frozen" doesn't necessarily mean it's been hard frozen. Apparently, there's some middle ground, short of hard freezing, that still mandates the "previously frozen" label. I suspect it may be where some portion of the catch was on board long enough to freeze, but most of the catch was moved on ice without freezing. This seems to happen most often with those local brown Gulf shrimp.

The overall impression of these shrimp is that they are in every way superior to farmed. One aspect is texture. The local wild shrimp seem to have a firm texture that's so important, especially for such as ceviche.
 
I have tasted the shrimp in this type of package several times at a relative's home and they are consistently tasteless and waterlogged.

The vacuum packing causes that waterlogged ick. I get my platter at Costco and don't have that problem.
 
The Costco platters are done each day and the shrimp are on a bed of green leaf lettuce to hold them out of any liquid that drains off.
 
When we lived in Aransas Pass on the Gulf, my husband was a shimper. He often went out of the Southern fleet. When he came in, he would have some shrimp with him. they would be from the last catch.

The eyes of shrimp glow in the dark. When I first lived there, I didn't know this. My husband came in from a trip. A couple of shrimp heads fell out of the cuff of his pants. I didn't see them. That night in the middle of the dark, I got up to go to the bathroom. There were these things glowing on the floor in the kitchen. You had to go through the kitchen to get to the bathroom. I dang near busted a bladder waiting til morning to see what it was. Of course the light switch was on the other side of the kitchen. Stop that laughing! I can hear ya!

Later when I went out on a couple of trips with him, there were a couple of boats that were pulling in their bags of shrimp. It looked so pretty with all the eyes glowing. Like jewels in the night. :angel:
 
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