Shrimp Facts
Shrimp Facts for Healthy Cooking and Tasty Eating
Knowledge of just a few simple shrimp facts can even make the most inexperienced chef cook like a seasoned professional. Shrimp is the most popular type of shellfish and one of the favorite types of seafood too. It is tasty, not too expensive, easier to cook than you might think and even kids like it.
Here are a few basic shrimp facts for the absolute beginner:
Shrimp is a type of shellfish, like crab and lobster. A good quality fresh shrimp will never have an overwhelming fishy flavor. Shrimp is a relatively mild-tasting seafood and can be eaten by itself or mixed into other dishes. Shrimp is delicious when paired with pasta like in shrimp scampi. An all-time favorite way to eat shrimp is in shrimp cocktail. This is just a serving of 4 or 5 cooked and chilled shrimp – the bigger, the better – along with some cocktail sauce for dipping. Shrimp is also great in kabobs cooked up on the grill.
Shrimp comes in a variety of different sizes. Very tiny and small shrimp are great to use in pasta dishes or sautéed with some vegetables for a delicious stir fry. Medium shrimp are also good with pasta, and they can be eaten like shrimp cocktail as well. Large and extra large shrimp are the best type to munch on chilled with some cocktail sauce. This size also does great on the grill in a delicious kabob mixed with some veggie chunks and a light marinade.
When shrimp is purchased raw, it has a tail and a very thin shell along its back. Raw shrimp is usually gray or grayish blue in color. It is probably not a good idea to eat raw shrimp. Shrimp is cooked in many different ways – from boiling to broiling and baking to grilling. Many people love to eat their shrimp breaded and deep fried.
Shrimp is not difficult to cook. In fact, it takes more time to prepare shrimp for cooking than it does to actually do the cooking. Before it is cooked, the shrimp has to be peeled and de-veined. Many grocery stores sell the shrimp all cleaned and peeled, and this can save on both time and energy. Go ahead and let someone else do the dirty work.
No matter how the shrimp is cooked, it only takes a short amount of time. Small to medium size shrimp will cook up in just 5 minutes. Larger shrimp can take a few more minutes, and the real jumbo shrimp might need 10 or 12 minutes. The key to knowing when a shrimp is cooked is color. The raw shrimp will turn from gray to pink when it is done. As soon as all of the gray is gone, remove it from the heat and it is ready to eat.
Just these few shrimp facts will make even the biggest land lubber seem like a shrimp expert.