Ingredient: Shrimp
Category: Seafood
Season: All
True shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water.
Together with prawns, they are widely caught and farmed for human consumption.
Shrimp are distinguished from the superficially similar prawns, by the structure of the gills,
There is lot of confusion between the two, especially among non-specialists, and many shrimp are called "prawns" and many prawns are called "shrimp". This is particularly widespread in culinary contexts.
In Southeast Asia, the difference between shrimp and prawns is based on size, with larger shrimp being called prawns
Recipes using shrimp form part of the cuisine of many cultures: examples include shrimp kebabs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo, pan fried, deep fried, stir fried.
Strictly speaking, dishes containing scampi should be made from the Norway lobster, a shrimp-like crustacean more closely related to the lobster than shrimp, but in some places it is quite common for large shrimp to be used instead
In Asian cuisines, wet shrimp is commonly used as flavouring and as a soup base.
In North America fried shrimp is popular.
In Europe, shrimp is very popular, forming a necessary ingredient in Spanish paella de marisco, French bouillabaisse, Italian cacciucco, Portuguese caldeirada and many other seafood dishes.
In South Asia and Southeast Asia shrimp curry is very popular.
They are also found in Latin and Caribbean dishes, such as enchiladas.
Shrimp can be cooked by: frying, grilling, barbequed, steamed, broiledor as an ingredient in many recipes, see list of dishes for shrimp:
Almond Fried Shrimp
Asian Grilled Shrimp
Asparagus and Shrimp Risotto
Asparagus Shrimp Salad
Barbecue Shrimp
Calypso Shrimp
Champagne Shrimp and Pasta
Chilled Shrimp Fettuccine
Coconut Shrimp
Crab-Stuffed Shrimp
Garlic Shrimp
Hot and Sour Shrimp Lo Mein
Jumbo Shrimps With Herb Butter Sauce
Kung Pao Shrimp |
Popcorn Shrimp
Shrimp Alfredo
Shrimp Bisque
Shrimp Canapés
Shrimp Creole
Shrimp Curry
Shrimp Dijon
Shrimp Fried Rice
Shrimp Pasta
Shrimp Sushi
Shrimp Toast
Shrimp with Shallots and Mustard
Sichuan Shrimp with Chili Sauce |
Preparation:
Preparing shrimp for consumption usually involves removing the shell, tail, and "sand vein".
To deshell a shrimp, the tail is held while gently removing the shell around the body. The tail can be detached completely at this point, or left attached for presentation purposes.
Removing the "vein" (a euphemism for the digestive tract) can be referred to as "deveining", though in fact shrimp do not have any real veins; they have an open circulatory system.
The "vein" can be removed by making a shallow cut lengthwise down the outer curve of the shrimp's body, allowing the dark ribbon-like digestive tract to be removed with a pointed utensil.
Alternatively, if the tail has been detached, the vein can be pinched at the tail end and pulled out completely with the fingers.
The shrimp is then rinsed under cold running water . |