How to Make Boiled Peel & Eat Shrimp

For shrimp lovers, there's just something wonderful about eating cold, peel & eat shrimp accompanied by an ice-cold beer, while talking with friends. Making them at home is a snap, and so satisfying when the craving hits you. Here's the scoop on cooking great boiled shrimp at home.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A large cooking pot with a cover.
• 3 lbs fresh, jumbo shrimp from the Gulf (none of those tiger shrimp from vietnam!)
• 1 bag of Zatarain's or Old Bay crab boil
• Accompanied By: your favorite kind of beer, in a bottle
• 2-3 fresh limes

1. First, buy your shrimp fresh from a local and reputable seafood market. Look for fresh-caught Gulf Shrimp, with the head and shell still on them. Large to Jumbo shrimp are excellent for peel & eat boiled shrimp cooking.

2. Before preparing to cook, let your shrimp thaw out completely on the counter, while keeping them covered. You may thaw them out by putting them in a large bowl with cool water; if so, then add about 4 Tbls of salt to the water, to simulate their Gulf saltwater environment. This will retain their flavor, plumpness and moisture. Shrimp are very high in water content, so thawing them should not take more than an hour or two at the very most; less, if you use the water bowl method.

3. Fill your cooking pot halfway full with water, and bring to a rolling boil. Then add one bag of crab\shrimp seasoning from Zatarain's or Old Bay. Then let water boil with seasoning for about 20 mins.

4. After your boiling water lookis nice and brownish\soupy from boiling with the shrimp\crab boil, then add in 3 lbs of your shrimp, with the head and shell still on them. (The head and shell retain the flavor of the shrimp)

5. Once the shrimp return to a boil, let them boil for 4 minutes, but no longer. Then remove them from the heat and pass them through a strainer to drain off the boiling water. Now place them in a large bowl with a good, heaping amount of ice on top of them.

6. Serve the iced, peel & eat shrimp at the table with plenty of napkins, ice-cold beer in a bottle, and some Cholula, ketchup, horseradish and tabasco sauce as condiments. Each person can mix his or her own sauce in a little bowl, as they like it. Dip your shrimp, squeeze a little lime juice, and knock back a cold one while enjoying some of the best little shrimp delicacies that ever hit the Texas\Louisiana Gulf Coast waters!

Tips & Warnings

• Buy your shrimp fresh from a reputable seafood dealer whom you know and trust
• Shrimp should still have the shell and head on them, when you purchase them
• Use a kitchen rubber glove when handling the shrimp with the shells still on them; the back of the shrimp head and the shells have tiny little razor-sharp edges that can cut your hands up pretty easily, when handled.

[lilolladystuff]

on 7/13/2009 Sounds delicious. Good advice. Thanks.

[mommyhen42]

on 7/10/2009 I love shrimp with the head on but my family is more picky. Thank you for the great detail. 5*

[4theluvofit]

on 7/9/2009 This sounds good. 5* recc