Cooked Shrimp and Raw Shrimp

[Red02]

Hi all,


I have cooked for years, but it is mainly buying something and then following direction. I have not had the desire to develop chef skills. I became more inspired to cook more because of the shows I saw on PBS Create channel. I like shows like this and others.



https://createtv.com/show/Jamies-Quick-&-Easy-Food



I have a few questions about cooking shrimp. I have used the cooked shrimp from the store a few times a year. I can usually get a sauce from cooking it. Recently I have tried cumin and chili power and the sauce came out great but the shrimp did not have much flavor though. Also recently I bought a bag of raw shrimp.


So my question is can I get cooked shrimp to get the flavor when I stir fry it or is cooking raw shrimp a better bet. If it is, how do I cook it and give it a great flavor.



What else do I need to do to give the shrimp a flavor it can maintain.


Finally what about using rice or pasta with the shrimp. Any thoughts.


Thanks for the help.

 

[dragnlaw]

Hi Red, Welcome to DC

Shrimp - if they are already cooked you should only be gently reheating them. Over cooking them will make them tough and rubbery. Your flavour will have to be in the sauce.

I personally think that the cooked shrimp I've bought have been very tasteless and so try to use only fresh or frozen. I've used cooked shrimp when intending to serve them cold.

In a stir fry, add them last and only long enough to heat thru. (cooked shrimp, that is)

If frozen, defrost, peel and really dry them well. No moisture. Adding flavour is probably best to use a marinade but again, be careful as to how long they are marinaded and with what you are marinating. Citrus marinade will 'cook' your shrimp if left too long plus the possibility of mushy broken down shrimp.

Hope this isn't too discombobulated and helps!

 

[Andy M.]

I always use raw shrimp.

Starting with raw shrimp, toss them with your chili powder and cumin combo then sauté it quickly ( a minute on each side) and serve.

 

[GotGarlic]

Ditto what Andy said, and, like dragnlaw, I find pre-cooked shrimp tasteless and sometimes tough.

In addition to what Andy said, I would brine the raw shrimp briefly, to help them retain moisture. Dissolve a tablespoon of salt in about a quart of water, submerge the shrimp and let sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Drain well, dry the shrimp and toss them with your seasonings and a teaspoon or two of olive oil. Sauté and serve.

 

[Just Cooking]

I always use raw also.. I settle for frozen here in MO and find it to be fine..

I, generally, add shrimp to a seasoned dish so, I saute in butter/oo and add to whatever dish I'm making..

Did that today to add to an omelette, along with asparagus and avocado..

Plain sauteed shrimp works for me..

Ross

 

[WhateverYouWant]

I never buy cooked shrimp. And where I live, fresh shrimp is just frozen shrimp that is thawed. So I stick to frozen. Even when I lived in So Cal, the best prawns we got were frozen in 7 lb frozen blocks.

As for cooking, unless I am preparing shrimp cocktails (where it is boiled), I'll use a marinade of olive oil, salt & pepper, garlic, wine vinegar, soy sauce, fresh herbs (thyme and or parsley and or cilantro), with a splash of fresh orange juice. It doesn't have to marinade long (20-40 minutes will do).

 

[Souschef]

Cooking shrimp

This is a method Kayelle uses

[FONT=&quot]Cooking shrimp[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]Start With a Brine, No Matter How You're Cooking[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Before we dive into the details, there's one technique that we've found improves all shrimp, regardless of cooking method: a quick brine of salt and baking soda. It may sound minor, but the combination works wonders: the salt helps keep the shrimp nice and moist as they cook, while alkaline baking soda delivers a crisp, firm texture. You're looking for about 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda for every pound of shrimp; give it a quick toss and rest the shrimp in the fridge for anywhere from 15 minutes to about an hour.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Poaching[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Slowly raising the temperature of the water means that the shrimp will cook more slowly—it may not be the fastest method, but that expanded window of time significantly slows down how quickly the shrimp can slip into over-cooked territory. Better yet, shrimp cooked this way have a more tender texture than shrimp tossed into simmering water and pulled when they hit the same internal temperature.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]But by using the cold water-start method, you can restrict that upper bound." The sweet spot for perfectly cooked edge-to-edge tender shrimp, just stop heating your water once it hits 170°F. It's that simple (and at roughly seven minutes, still pretty darn quick).[/FONT]

 

[dcSaute]

the IQF shrimp around here are almost to exclusion Asian farmed shrimp.
in my experience:
- they have no taste.
- the bigger they are, the worse the no-taste issue.


16-20 count per pound is the largest I will buy - look for domestic shrimp from the Gulf (of Mexico) or south-eastern states. from an earlier rant:


so I asked our fish monger "What's with the shrimp?"
the Cliff's Notes version:
there's some 60 "things" / species caught/sold/eaten as shrimp.
they do not all taste the same.

interjection: hmmmm, shopping at Giant which is focusing more and more on cutting prices....mebbe they're buying-selling the least desirable/least tasty/probably least expensive?
at Giant - to paraphrase Ford - Quality May Not Be Product #1.

the fish guys thinks "brown hoppers" are the best tasting. he had them in small / medium / large. so I bought eight medium to cook up "plain" for a taste test.
boiling water, sliced onion, salt. peeled and aten . . .

DW: much better than Giant stuff.
me: me too - like real shrimp!

the bag of Giant yukkie shrimp only says caught & processed in USA. no indication of where or what kind of shrimp they are, other than tasteless.

brown hopper? yup, my reaction as well....a hopping shrimp?? but there is.
(Florida) "hoppers" apparently come in different colors - so methinking his "brown hopper" moniker applies to shrimp from a certain region which has picked up a brownish coloration.

info:
Wild American Shrimp | Wood's Fisheries | Port St. Joe, Florida

all below applies to wild caught USA/non-Asian shrimp.
this may be more than you wanted to know....

White Shrimp (Penaeus Setiferus), from brackish water estuary, are milder in flavor and just a little softer in texture than either Browns or Hoppers. These may be the perfect shrimp to fry or sauté.
season: late Spring through June, then again from Fall until the dead of Winter sets in sometime in January.

Key West Pinks
Florida Hoppers or Pink shrimp (Penaeus Duorarum) produced locally by the high salinity waters of St. Joe Bay may just be the perfect boiling shrimp. These easy peeling, firm shrimp are in the middle of the flavor spectrum and have one of the prettiest after cooked colors. Unlike most shrimp that have a distinct color, Hoppers are chameleons who match the color of the bottom they are sitting on top of. From the almost translucent green hue they exhibit in St. Joe Bay, to the golden brown color caught off the shores of Cape San Blas, to the distinct almost cooked pink color of the hoppers caught off the Florida Keys, hence called Key West Pinks, these shrimp can always be identified by the ever present circular spot right in the middle of the shrimps side.
season: March to early May

Wild American Browns
Brown Shrimp (Penaeus Aztecus) or locally called Brownies are a little richer in flavor than the hoppers and are golden brown in color. These shrimp are a little softer than hoppers and are great for just about any cooking you can think of.
season: Normally they kick in when the hopper run ends in early May and can last throughout the Summer months.

Rock Shrimp (Sicyonia Brevirostris) probably best described as armor-plated shrimp that tastes more like lobster, lives and breeds offshore of Cape San Blas in between 100 and 200 feet of water. These tasty shrimp are an everyday meal to a hungry snapper lurking over the Empire Mica. They are difficult to peel but well worth the trouble to split and broiled. They just may be the most underrated shrimp on the planet
season: May and June

Royal Reds (Pleoticus Robustus) are perhaps the softest and most delicate of all our native shrimp species. This vibrant red shrimp never sees the light of day, preferring the cold dark depths out at the edge where the gently sloping bottom of the Gulf drops abruptly off the continental shelf.
season: early March through June.

unless you live in shrimp boat country, getting fresh-never-frozen shrimp is all but impossible.
here a list by season, so when some teenager behind the counter tells you these are fresh caught rock shrimp - and the calendar says November - you can assume a lack of knowledge or a desire to fraudulate.

by season:
early March through June - Royal Reds (Pleoticus Robustus)
March to early May . . . - Key West Pinks aka 'hoppers' (Penaeus Duorarum)
May and June . . . . . . - Rock Shrimp (Sicyonia Brevirostris)
May thru Summer . . . . .- Brown Shrimp (Penaeus Aztecus)
late Spring through June - White Shrimp (Penaeus Setiferus)
Fall thru dead of Winter - White Shrimp (Penaeus Setiferus)

 

[Linda0818]

I never buy cooked shrimp. And where I live, fresh shrimp is just frozen shrimp that is thawed. So I stick to frozen. Even when I lived in So Cal, the best prawns we got were frozen in 7 lb frozen blocks.

As for cooking, unless I am preparing shrimp cocktails (where it is boiled), I'll use a marinade of olive oil, salt & pepper, garlic, wine vinegar, soy sauce, fresh herbs (thyme and or parsley and or cilantro), with a splash of fresh orange juice. It doesn't have to marinade long (20-40 minutes will do).

That sounds delicious.

And I too never buy cooked shrimp. The only cooked shrimp I've ever bought is the small salad shrimp that I use for salads only. But most of the time, even on a salad, I prefer to buy raw and cook the shrimp myself.

 

[CraigC]

I don't think we've ever bought frozen, cooked shrimp. The only shrimp we get from the freezer section are Royal Reds with shell on, no heads. If we are eating shrimp for a cocktail, salad, etc. I use Old Bay to steam them.

We tend to cook shrimp with spices and methods required for the recipe we are making. My pet peeve is folks that over cook shrimp and seafood in general.

As far as flavor goes, it starts with the freshness and quality of the shrimp you are purchasing. If you start with crap, that is what you end up with. For those that can't get fresh shrimp, stay away from those from Asian origins. You must inspect the packaging closely to avoid Asian products that are packaged in the US to determine the country of origin.

 

[Linda0818]

I don't think we've ever bought frozen, cooked shrimp. The only shrimp we get from the freezer section are Royal Reds with shell on, no heads. If we are eating shrimp for a cocktail, salad, etc. I use Old Bay to steam them.

We tend to cook shrimp with spices and methods required for the recipe we are making. My pet peeve is folks that over cook shrimp and seafood in general.

As far as flavor goes, it starts with the freshness and quality of the shrimp you are purchasing. If you start with crap, that is what you end up with. For those that can't get fresh shrimp, stay away from those from Asian origins. You must inspect the packaging closely to avoid Asian products that are packaged in the US to determine the country of origin.

There is nothing worse than overcooked seafood. Except for maybe an overcooked steak.

 

[dragnlaw]

Ahh yes, I do buy precooked shrimp. Completely forgot. I get what we call Nordic Shrimp. Sometimes frozen, sometimes not (but probably defrosted - never checked).
Guess they are also called salad shrimp. Very tiny.

I use these for salads, sandwiches and grabbing a handful to nibble on.

When purchased frozen they need to be defrosted and really squeezed of all liquid. A little pricey but I love them.

 

[salt and pepper]

No to pre-cooked...

 

[strmanglr scott]

The more it's processed the less flavor it has.

Fresh caught for sale never frozen, head on shrimp the best.

Fresh caught, for sale never frozen, heads cut off.

head on, quick frozen.

no head, quick frozen.

No head, deveined, quick frozen. - this what I usually buy in the 20-25 count.

Deveined and peeled, quick frozen.

Cooked frozen shrimp.

My humble opinion.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

We are limited in what shrimp we can get where I live. I purchase Forida Pink, wild caught, and wild caught Tiger srimp, EZ peel raw, 20 - 25 count. I peel them and throw the peelings into a small saucepan with a cup or so of water, and a little salt. After simmering for about 20 minutes, you get a great shrimp broth. Simply strain and use for sops and chowders. The shrimp gyt used for shrimp scampi, sauteed very quicly in butter and garlic, served over noodles, or I'll make slices across the belly to straiten them out before dipping in tempura batter and frying. If I'm feeling really energetic, I'll make a crab forcemeat, make a slit in the belly, lengthwise, and stuff them, then into egg wash, flour, egg wash, and bread crumbs, usual panko.

I ha ve found that the species makes a huge difference in flavor. The tiger shrimp, in 35 - 40 oer bag are great for shrimp cocktail as well as eating with a dipping sauce such as honey mustard, or wasabi.

The shrimp are great chopped, added to cream cheese, with a touch of sugar, and made into rangoons.

Just some more ideas.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[CraigC]

There is nothing worse than overcooked seafood. Except for maybe an overcooked steak.

I always call BS when a recipe calls for shrimp to be cooked in the dish for 30 minutes. Might as well just dump the shrimp in the trash from the get go.

 

[Linda0818]

I always call BS when a recipe calls for shrimp to be cooked in the dish for 30 minutes. Might as well just dump the shrimp in the trash from the get go.

Amen to that.

My boss and I went to Outback Steakhouse for our Christmas lunch and I ordered the Great Barrier Combo, which came with a steamed lobster tail, 2 crab cakes and 2 skewers of shrimp. Waaaaaaaaaay over-seasoned on the shrimp, so much so that I couldn't eat it all. The crab cakes tasted frozen. Only ate one of those. But the most disappointing thing was the lobster tail. It was so tough that I literally had to cut it with a steak knife. You should NEVER have to use a knife (let alone a sharp one) to cut lobster. It was very tough and rubbery.

They may be able to do good steaks, but they surely can't cook seafood, at least not at that location.

 

[CraigC]

Amen to that.

My boss and I went to Outback Steakhouse for our Christmas lunch and I ordered the Great Barrier Combo, which came with a steamed lobster tail, 2 crab cakes and 2 skewers of shrimp. Waaaaaaaaaay over-seasoned on the shrimp, so much so that I couldn't eat it all. The crab cakes tasted frozen. Only ate one of those. But the most disappointing thing was the lobster tail. It was so tough that I literally had to cut it with a steak knife. You should NEVER have to use a knife (let alone a sharp one) to cut lobster. It was very tough and rubbery.

They may be able to do good steaks, but they surely can't cook seafood, at least not at that location.

Along with Red Lobster, Outback should never be mentioned in the same sentence as good seafood and as far as steak, just no.

 

[Linda0818]

Along with Red Lobster, Outback should never be mentioned in the same sentence as good seafood and as far as steak, just no.

How Red Lobster stays in business is beyond me. Everything is over-salted, over-sauced and they can't cook seafood properly to save their lives.

 

[Red02]

Thanks for the help with the questions I had a above, I appreciate the feedback and tips. I have another question about shrimp. I have found 2 small rings of shrimp in my freezer. But they are already cooked.



The question I have is what are some really good shrimp dipping sauces, not a plain cocktail sauce that is commonly used. Or does anyone know how to make a homemade sauce that is really good. I am open to ideas.


Thanks again.