Cooking For Engineers

0 cm · Joined: 15 Sep 2006 Posts: 1

Hello,

I searched the forum and scanned through the site but couldn't find any info on this. Any tips on cooking shrimp?

Restaurant shrimp always looks red/pink and the flesh is crisp, firm and doesn't stick to the shell. MY shrimp always tastes a little rubbery, looks yellowish and sticks to the shell.

Am I overcooking it? (I suppose I might be...) Or should I be steaming the shrimp or cooking it in a pressure cooker? Should I add onion skins to it?

Thanks a lot for any tips!

kgb1001001 · Joined: 21 Dec 2005 Posts: 108

Shrimp cooks VERY quickly -- when it turns pink it's done -- take it out immediately. High heat for short periods of time work best -- I've found that grilling and sauteing (e.g. as in Shrimp Scampi) work best.

socal_chris · Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 49 Location: Southern CA

Jules · Joined: 12 May 2005 Posts: 4

If you want to boil shrimp, I would suggest using medium sized ones (26-35). If you can find easy-peel frozen shrimp get those.

As for the cooking:

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add salt so that the salinity resembles that of seawater. Add shrimp to water. Allow water to come back to the boil. Boil shrimp for one minute. (I know this does not seem very long, but trust me.) Remove shrimp from water and shock in an ice water bath. Peel, and refrigerate until needed.

This works for shrimp salad, shrimp cocktail, etc.