49
votes
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Why do shrimp / lobster / crab turn pink or red when cooking?
Crustaceans like shrimp, lobsters, crabs and crayfish have a pigment called astaxanthin in their shells.
Astaxanthin belongs to the terpines class of chemicals of which the carotenoid ¹ class is a ...
- 5,827
21
votes
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How do you properly and consistently pan-sear shrimp?
There are a few things you can do to help your shrimp get a nice sear.
First, make sure they're as dry as possible before adding them to the pan. Use paper towels and pat dry. Especially if you're ...
- 774
12
votes
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Why is it recommended to leave the last segment of shell on a shrimp?
The shells do have strong shrimp flavor that can contribute to a sauce, and are also left on for visual reasons. But personally, the choice of whether to leave it on depends on how I'm planning on ...
- 8,392
12
votes
Please help me understand shrimp varieties
From your photos, the "disgusting grey" shrimp are raw and should be cooked before using in shrimp cocktail. I assume that the shrimp you used to buy were pre-cooked, peeled, tail-on.
- 4,081
9
votes
Accepted
Why does water always boil over when steaming shrimp?
Foaming is the result of proteins. For example, urine (sorry) foams when protein levels are high (persons with kidney failure can judge their urinary protein levels by how much foaming occurs). ...
- 176
8
votes
Why do shrimp / lobster / crab turn pink or red when cooking?
This is most probably due to the occurrence of a specific carotenoid (Astaxanthin) in their body. This carotenoid (like many others) is
susceptible to enzymatic or nonenzymatic oxidation, which ...
- 181
8
votes
How do you properly and consistently pan-sear shrimp?
Supplementary answer:
It does depend on the type of shrimp somewhat. Inexpensive shrimp are often treated with sodium triphosphate or similar chemicals. This makes the shrimp plumper and better-...
- 61.4k
7
votes
Why wine _before_ butter in shrimp scampi?
Because you want to cook (reduce) the wine down (or any other liquid).
Also, adding butter, usually cold butter chunks in the pan at the end will help emulsify the sauce.
in the grand scheme of ...
- 20.5k
7
votes
How do you properly and consistently pan-sear shrimp?
You are fairly close on technique. I would recommend beginning the process by using a paper or cloth towel to dry your shrimp as much as possible. Use the heaviest pan you can, cast iron is good, ...
- 73.8k
6
votes
How to deal with foul fishy odor of frozen shrimp
Shrimp, but also seafood in general, should not have a strong smell. You should be able to smell a faint salt water scent from them when not frozen, and basically nothing while they're frozen. If they'...
- 10.6k
6
votes
Accepted
Can I eat shrimp veins in sushi?
Shrimp "veins" are actually the shrimp intestines. They are unattractive and sometimes taste bad, but they are harmless to eat.
However, if I was eating in a sushi restaurant that failed to ...
- 61.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Why wine _before_ butter in shrimp scampi?
When adding wine for such a sauce, you want to reduce it down quite a bit (not to complete drynesss, though). The butter is there to give the sauce body by thickening it. But as there's not much that ...
- 1,157
4
votes
Can I re-freeze shrimp?
For safety reasons, it's strongly discouraged to re-freeze thawed products without cooking them first, as you don't know how long they have been waiting to be sold. Repeated freezing won't do anything ...
- 1,157
4
votes
Why does the shrimp stick to the shells?
This is most likely caused by the sugar in the brine you used. There must have some sugar left on the shrimp (especially between the shrimp and the shell), even if just a bit.
When you grilled your ...
- 3,045
4
votes
Accepted
How to tell if shrimp is already cooked and what to do with it?
If you look at the label, you see "CKD SHRIMP..." which I read as "cooked shrimp".
Even without the label, you have two indicators for cooked:
the colour: raw shrimp are greyish-green, they turn ...
- 58.7k
4
votes
Accepted
Why did my shrimp bisque turn out so broth like?
I believe the answer to the question lies in the last paragraph of your question. If you had close to 4 cups of broth, 1 1/2 cups of half-and-half, plus onion purée (which would be mostly water); you'...
- 58.5k
4
votes
Why is shrimp rubbery after reheating? How can I prevent this?
As it seems my comment was deleted ...
To figure out if it's an issue with overheating:
Remove the shrimp from the dish (these are U20, so they're decent sized), and heat up the rest of it, then add ...
- 80.1k
4
votes
Accepted
Why is shrimp rubbery after reheating? How can I prevent this?
I agree with @Joe. It sounds like you are heating too much and overcooking the shrimp. Once things like shrimp are overcooked I am not sure that there is a way to make them tender other than to cook ...
- 14k
3
votes
Accepted
3
votes
Accepted
Can I reduce a prawn/shrimp broth
Remove anything you suspect might affect flavour negatively (or, more simply, strain the whole caboodle), then reduce to concentrate flavour.
For fish broth, you shouldn't simmer the fish bones / ...
- 58.7k
3
votes
What variety of shrimp paste should I use for Brazilian Vatapa?
While Asian shrimp paste might not be an ideal substitute for the reasons @Henry Jackson mentioned, dried shrimp can be often found in Korean shops since it is often used in Kimchee preparation. These ...
- 2,155
3
votes
What is the difference between a prawn and a shrimp?
This is what I came across. These two differ in their:
Physical structure: Prawn has three pairs of legs while shrimp has only two (easy way to differentiate)
As far as nutrition goes, they are ...
- 41
3
votes
Accepted
In large prawns are there 2 veins, which are to be deveined?
The thick gray/black "vein" that is removed from shrimps and prawns is actually the digestive canal. The thin thread you sometimes see is an artery that runs down the length of the body (...
- 26.9k
2
votes
Can I reduce a prawn/shrimp broth
After reducing the liquid to 50% at a low temp, I noticed no off flavours.
- 662
2
votes
Why wine _before_ butter in shrimp scampi?
Fat and liquid don't mix well. If you add the better first you risk the wine splattering all over the place. It will be difficult and messy to reduce the wine down with the butter already in. Also as ...
- 181
2
votes
What's the best way to reheat grilled shrimp
Since grilled shrimp only require 2-3 minutes per side to throughly cook on a preheated medium-high grill, skip the reheating steps and all that time and extral effort all together. Just cook them ...
- 2,281
1
vote
Why does water always boil over when steaming shrimp?
Some Oil will keep it down but won't alleviate it completely.
Another trick is to just season the shrimp as you normally do and put them in a ziptop bag or vacuum bag with as much of the air out as ...
1
vote
Shrimp/Fish Paste with rice
What you are describing sounds a lot like Belacan which is a very strong, very salty shrimp paste, that can be crunchy, as you describe, if you were to eat it by the spoonful.
Around where I am (...
- 949
1
vote
How to differentiate sea prawns from farmed ones?
"Farm Raised" vs "Wild Caught"? There's a difference, just not a visual one. Because wild caught seafood is dependant on their ecosystem, they are ultimately going to have an, ever so slightly, ...
- 1,391
1
vote
Help with raw shrimp color
No, blue legs in and of itself is not an indicator of bad shrimp. Many, if not most (or all), shrimp, lobster, and crayfish are coloured various blues, aquas, and greens before cooking at which point ...
- 4,081
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