Grilling some 'yuuuuge' shrimp tonight.

[trof]

Got 'em off the boat yesterday.
5 bucks a pound, heads on.
After the shrimper weighed 'em out he said "Want me to head 'em?"
Well...yeah?!

He and his wife (and first mate) had 10 pounds of shrimp headed in about three minutes.
It would have taken me about half an hour.

Marinate in Italian salad dressing for an hour.
No longer.

Grill in a flat basket.

3 minutes on a side.
Serve over a Caesar salad.
yum

[GentryDixon]

1. Sounds yummy.

Land locked Utah does not afford me the opportunity of such a treat.

[Lunabell]

2. Five bucks a pound?

Wow, you got a majorly good deal. MMMMMM

[trof]

3. The smaller ones were as low as $3.50/lb.

It helps to buy direct from the shrimper and eliminate the middlemen.

[flamin lib]

4. What?! You had them headed???

Two words, shrimp stock.

[trof]

6. Already have 2 one quart bags of shrimp heads in the freezer.

The shrimper uses them to bait his crab traps.
Sometime this year he'll drop off a bucket of blue crabs.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. Sounds very yummy, but very sad that

you had them headed.

The heads are good eating, too. Especially after grilling or deep frying. Or just to use for making stock.

[trof]

7. Grilled or fried heads?

Never tried that.
Don't think I'd like the shell.
How does that work?

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. If you grill or fry the shrimp with the head still on,

then when you tear the shell off to eat the meat, you can also tear off the head and suck out the stuff inside.

Or if the shrimp is small enough, the whole head can be eaten, as well the shell that surrounds the meat in the fish. The grilling gives the shell a nice flavor.

I also think that grilling/cooking shrimp with the shells on makes them tastier, and with the heads on, even tastier-er.

(when I grill shrimp, I always leave the shell on because then they don't stick to the grill; or in the rare cases when they do, a little tug frees it and only the shell stays stuck to the grill, so one loses no meat to the damnable grill surface).

[trof]

9. So you eat shell and all?

That just don't sound right.
Like chewing up chicken bones.

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. Yep! Though I wouldn't do so with an extra large or jumbo shrimp - thick shells,

too much of it.

Smaller shrimp it's great.

But any size is awesome to suck the stuff out of the head. Like eating crawfish.

[trof]

11. Well, I suck the heads on mudbugs.

I might try deep frying or grilling what we call 'gumbo shrimp'.
Small ones.

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. Give it a shot! Let me know how it goes.

mmm... mudbugs. Sadly, all we get here in the middle of the country are frozen ones, and the taste is just not right.

[trof]

13. OK.