Shrimp Peel and Devein
How to expertly do it in no time
Shrimp dishes are a staple of my kitchen. Since I’m watching my cholesterol, I use shrimp as my protein about every 8–10 days, not more. For a variety of reasons, I prefer red Argentinian shrimp. They come frozen in 2lb packages for anywhere between $15 and $18.
Not only are they known as the sweetest shrimps but they are also reproducing faster and, along with good stock management they can be actively sourced without significantly depleting stock levels. They are also nice and big which makes handling them much easier.
Peeling and deveining red Argentinian shrimp is really easy. I start out by taking a handful of shrimp from the package in the freezer and thaw them under running cold water.
It takes only a minute or two to devein them, ready to be peeled. My preparations: a bowl for the shells, a paring knife for cutting the back, and a layer of paper towels to lay the peeled and deveined shrimp on. Frozen shrimp tend to retain a lot of water you not always want in your pan, so dry them a while before cooking.
Here’s what you do next with each shrimp: Squish the tail with thumb and forefinger and gently shimmy it right off the shrimp. Now that the tail is gone it’s easy to just peel the rest of the shell off.
Once the shell is gone, you can grab your paring knife and make a nice, thin cut along the back of the shrimp, just deep enough the expose the vein, the shrimp’s intestinal tract. Slip the knife underneath, lift it up and pull it out.
I’ve peeled and deveined a few shrimp for you in this 1-minute video. Note the paper towels on the side.
At the end of the video, before discarding the shells, I’m putting them into a plastic bag because I don’t want the trash to stink for days. That’s the main reason why I never throw the plastic produce bags away.
You see? Piece of cake. Dry them a little and they are ready to be cooked. And they taste really wonderful. In one of the coming posts, I’ll be talking about some of my favorite shrimp recipes.
