Frozen shrimp

Help! School is starting soon, and I'll be trying to make dinners in 15 minutes (or less).

What is the best brand of frozen shrimp, and where is it sold?

I like the stuff at Costco.

The Whole Foods at Cicero and Peterson is selling 1lb bags (36-40) of raw, shell-on, frozen "key west" pink shrimp. I think they're around $10/bag.

They're crazy delicious.*

Best,
Michael

*when prepared properly.

Agreed that those Key West shrimp at WF are exceptionally good.

eatchicago wrote:They're crazy delicious.*

Best,
Michael

*when prepared properly.

I'm thinking of picking some of these up, but am curious about what "when prepared properly" means. (Since I want them to be crazy delicious.) If I follow the directions on the bag (I assume there are some), will I be preparing them properly?

riddlemay wrote:

eatchicago wrote:They're crazy delicious.*

Best,
Michael

*when prepared properly.

I'm thinking of picking some of these up, but am curious about what "when prepared properly" means. (Since I want them to be crazy delicious.) If I follow the directions on the bag (I assume there are some), will I be preparing them properly?

I should have been more specific. Sorry.

I believe that there is no greater crime in the seafood world than overcooked shrimp. It's amazing to me how something that is so delicious one second can quickly become nearly inedible to me when mishandled. Overcooking shrimp is astoundingly easy and because of this I rarely order it in restaurants.

Best,
Michael

EDIT: My comments have nothing specific to do with these key west shrimp. This view applies to all shrimp.

Take your standard Costco raw, tail-on shrimp from the freezer. Put them in a brine bath until they're thawed. Heat a non-stick skillet until it's really really hot. Put in some olive oil; when in smokes, drop in a bit of melted butter--it'll sizzle. Precisely when the sizzling stops, pitch in the shrimp, some sliced garlic, and have ready some sliced green onion.

Stir like crazy. When everything is all smoky and the shrimp has just turned uniformly pink, douse the pan with vermouth, dry sherry, or, best of all, a dollop of ouzo or some other anise liqueur. Pitch in the green onions, swirl the mess once or twice and decant onto a platter. It's ready to eat.

As noted, overcooked shrimp is ugly--don't cook it any longer than I mention here...

Geo

Geo, that sounds perfect. I'm hungry.

I'll go with the Costco shrimp. 20-25 count for a fraction of the cost of WF. I always have a bag in my freezer.

I prepare in several ways once thawed in an ice bath:

1) Salt/pepper/olive oil and grill on med-low heat for max 2 minutes per side. Serve with dipping sauce. I use an asian sauce based on Cilantro and Mint.

2) Coat with oil, mix with cajun spices/spicy chile mixture, cook on hot skillet for 1-2 minutes per side. I serve on spinach wilted in a pot with a little olive oil.

3) Make pasta, add shrimp along with a light sauce of olive oil, sauteed vegetables, and parmesan. Works best with spagetti/linguini.

4) Simmer a pot of water for 30 minutes with a halved lemon, onion, Bay Seasoning bag, a few pepper corns, strain, fill a bowl with a few cups of the water and several handfuls of ice. Boil water. Add shrimp and cook for a few minutes until just cooked through. Scoop out shrimp and immediately put in Ice Bath to stop cooking. Great served chilled as an appetizer (with Cocktail sauce of course...)

I read once, somewhere, that you don't really want to cook shrimp, just warm them through. Good advice. They are very sensitive to heat.

wak wrote:I'll go with the Costco shrimp. 20-25 count for a fraction of the cost of WF. I always have a bag in my freezer.

Is it really that much cheaper? I buy Costco shrimp from time to time and I remember it being generally in the $8-$10/lb. range, same as Whole Foods.

regularly, jewel advertises 2 for 1 wild caught american shrimp. they are fantastic. tail on, no head. instead of buying them thawed, which is how they are presented in the fish dept. i ask for a whole (2 lb.) bag still frozen. this way i can have them around for when i want them. i forget the count, but they are large. farm raised shrimp, IMO, haven't got even half the flavor of wild caught. normally they are $19/ lb. so 2/1 is a good price for a delicious shrimp. justjoan

I like the U-10 Texas shrimp at Issacson and Stein. They are about $13 a pound, less if you buy a 5 lb box. These are big shrimp and perfect for the grill.

dukesdad wrote:I like the U-10 Texas shrimp at Issacson and Stein. They are about $13 a pound, less if you buy a 5 lb box. These are big shrimp and perfect for the grill.

I walked by there on my wasy to Kendall College a couple of weeks back. I agree, those shrimp were HUGE and would be ideal for grilling.

eatchicago wrote:Is it really that much cheaper? I buy Costco shrimp from time to time and I remember it being generally in the $8-$10/lb. range, same as Whole Foods.

So I exaggerte slightly... its $16 for a two pound bag, but these are also 21-25 shrimp which are almost twice the size of the 36-40 WF listed above. Not sure what WF charges for the larger shrimp, but I would imagine $12-14 a lb (compared to $8/lb at Costco).

I'd also second the Isaacson and Stein recommendation for any seafood - they have good quality and excellent prices that are could be better than Costco - certainly a better selection. I'd also recommend that anyone really interested in Seafood check out H-Mart in Niles (and soon in Naperville).

In case anyone from this forum would deign to shop there, Dominicks has the 21-24 count gulf shrimp on sale for 7.99/lb. they are excellent, though I have never had the key west shrimp to compare. Much better than the imported ones. I find the u10's to be too big, although i guess you could pretend they are baby lobster tails.

-Will

For quick dinners, the Aldi has pre-cooked frozen shrimp that mostly taste like shrimp in various sizes very cheap. I toss them in the pasta water at the last minute to thaw, and then use pesto sauce: a very good dinner in the time it takes for pasta to cook.

Trader Joe's shrimp is also quite reliable. The frozen, pre-cooked bag is very easy to thaw out -- takes maybe 5 to 10 minutes depending on cool the water is -- and from there you can do whatever you please. I've put them with a cocktail dipping sauce, stirfried them, or tossed them into pasta.

The TJ naan goes really nicely with them, and the masala simmer sauce paired with the shrimp? Mmm.

We just had Trader Joe's 31-40 shrimp ($7.99), pre-cooked and frozen. They were very good, we just thawed and ate them cold with homemade cocktail sauce.

Friends, Aldi has frozen, uncooked, shell-on shrimp, 41-60 ct. for $3.99/lb. (That's an everyday price, not a sale price!)