Shrimp Recipes for the Everyday Menu

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.

Go beyond opening a box and putting it in the microwave. When you try a simple shrimp scampi recipe at home just once, and your family sits in awe, it will be a short step to adding grilled shrimp recipes or a shrimp pasta recipe. A simple grilled shrimp recipe can bring restaurant fare to the suburban kitchen. The main ingredient for shrimp recipes can be easily mastered.

There are a variety of sizes of shrimp including the popcorn or bay shrimp for tacos or salads, small tiger shrimp that can be purchased ready to cook, peel, and serve, medium shrimp which are the favorite for pasta, large shrimp which are the choice for shrimp cocktail, jumbo prawn for grilling, and the colossal tiger shrimp, for when you want to wow your crowd.

Of course, in order to successfully prepare shrimp recipes, it is necessary to know how to buy quality shrimp. Larger shrimp cost more per pound, however, regardless of the size, the shellfish should be firm, moist, smell fresh, and have flesh that is translucent, or semitransparent. If there are any black spots or edges on the shells of the shrimp, and if there is any ammonia aroma, do not purchase them. Calculate 1 pounds of raw, in-the-shell shrimp for every pound of shelled shrimp needed.

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.

To ready the shrimp for the recipe, you will need to peel and devein it, unless it is preprocessed and these steps have been completed for you. The flavor will suffer however if you do purchase deveined and shelled shrimp. To begin preparing the main ingredient of your shrimp recipes, get a sharp paring knife to begin peeling the shell.

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.

Shrimp recipes call for one of five general ways of preparing the shrimp. Boiling, broiling, sauting, steaming, or baking shrimp give results that are tantalizing, tasty, and full of texture. A large spectrum of flavors and visual appeal is available. The main rule to keep in mind for recipes using fresh shrimp, regardless of the method of preparation, is to never over cook the shrimp. Now go enjoy!

Cooking shrimp is easy and the dishes can be really delicious. Professional cook Allan Stearman will guide you through cooking your shrimp pasta recipes to perfection. For more advice you should stop by great shrimp recipes dot com.