Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Shrimp Recipes are Practical for Weekday Cooking

By Allan Stearman

When you think of shrimp recipes do pots and pans and measuring cups and spices pile up in your mental kitchen? There are simple ways to incorporate a shrimp recipe into your weekly menu without taking gourmet-cooking lessons.

A shrimp scampi recipe can pop out of your microwave in little time, and a grilled shrimp recipe can bring you praise from an appreciative family. Grilled shrimp recipes can make way for a shrimp pasta recipe the following week, as you get comfortable with the primary ingredient in shrimp recipes, the shellfish know as shrimp.

To visualize what you want to serve, consider the large range of sizes of shrimp that are on the market, each suitable for specific recipes. Bay or popcorn shrimp are used for accents whereas the colossal tiger shrimp is the star of any plate. Shrimp cocktail usually features large shrimp and medium shrimp fit perfectly on top of a bed of pasta.

When shopping for shrimp and price is a consideration, you will find that larger shrimp cost more per pound. Across the spectrum, fresh shrimp should be firm, moist, with clear flesh, and devoid of any ammonia odor or black spots on the shell. If your shrimp recipes call for 1 pound of shrimp, you will need 1 pounds of shrimp in the shell.

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.

A shallow incision from the head end to the tail end requires a small sharp kitchen knife. The shell will then peel away to reveal what is called a sand vein, black in color. Using the sharp point of the knife, the vein can be removed and disposed of. The shrimp can easily be cut in half by placing it face down on a cutting board and slicing down the back. Rinsing the shrimp in cold water and keeping all at the same temperature gives a better result.

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!

About the Author:

No comments: