Deveining Shrimp/Prawns

[liuzhou]

Strictly necessary?

[chefmd]

Vein is a euphemism for GI tract with whatever it is one usually finds in a gut. Not poisonous but something I would rather not eat. It is rather easy to remove the "vein" after cooking so your guests can do it for themselve.

[ChrisTaylor]

If you cook them w/ the poo tube still in doesn't that impact on the flavour in a negative way?

[Shel_B]

I'd suggest that it depends on a couple of factors, the first being how comfortable you are eating the intestine which carries waste products. Then there's the aesthetic consideration: how important is it that the shrimp look nice and clean when served? That may depend, in part, on how the shrimp are prepared and served. Also, the size of the shrimp are a consideration. Larger shrimp have, obviously, larger "veins" which may effect the look and taste of the crustacean. Generally the smallest shrimp are not cleaned, at least from my experience.

Strictly necessary? Not necessarily ...

[liuzhou]

If you cook them w/ the poo tube still in doesn't that impact on the flavour in a negative way?

Not that I've ever noticed.

[Shel_B]

If you cook them w/ the poo tube still in doesn't that impact on the flavour in a negative way?

Not .necessarily, but it can. In some cases taste isn't compromised much, if any, but there can be a noticeable grittiness. It depends on the size of the shrimp and how they are prepared. It's probably best the devein the larger shrimp, but you can get by without doing so with smaller shrimp. Larger and smaller are somewhat subjective and relative.

Edited August 14, 2013 by Shel_B (log)

[ChrisTaylor]

Suspect, still, that Shel_B's onto something w/ the size of the prawn playing a crucial role in all this. Larger prawn = larger poo tube = larger quantity of poo.

EDIT

And, yeah, totally agree. Shelling and cleaning school prawns? Forget this.

Edited August 14, 2013 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[liuzhou]

Tonight, as a totally unscientific experiment, I cooked a batch of prawns with spaghetti. I tried to keep it simple.

The prawns were medium sized I would say, and very fresh to the point that they were alive until they suddenly had their internal organs torn out. Half of them. I got bored The other half remained intact, breathing or whatever prawns do until they hit that wok.

I cooked them shell on, my preferred method. Why throw away 90% of the taste?. Basically fried with garlic in butter and finished off with some white wine, lemon juice, coriander and Chinese chives. Served with spaghetti.

I assembled a world class tasting panel. Myself and my main collaborator in eating. A woman of exceptional talent and wisdom - or so she told me. We couldn't detect any difference between deveined and non-deveined, either visually or in taste.

[Shel_B]

I assembled a world class tasting panel. Myself and my main collaborator in eating. A woman of exceptional talent and wisdom - or so she told me. We couldn't detect any difference between deveined and non-deveined, either visually or in taste.

Wouldn't preparing the shrimp with the shell on mask any visual issues compared with shelled shrimp? Also, the shells may mask any grittiness or taste differences (if you eat the shrimp with the shells).

[liuzhou]

Wouldn't preparing the shrimp with the shell on mask any visual issues compared with shelled shrimp? Also, the shells may mask any grittiness or taste differences (if you eat the shrimp with the shells).

Yes, the 'veins' might be harder to see with shell on shrimp before cooking. After cooking, no.

I think we can tell the difference between grittiness and shell fragments. There was no grittiness.

[dcarch]

Do you eat raw oysters? raw clams?

What do you think you will be eating?

dcarch

[heidih]

I am a shrimp fiend and have prepped and cleaned many many pounds. Some shrimp seem to have a more annoying "vein" than others which I attribute to their diet and living conditions prior to harvest. When the veins are fat and full looking, I de-vein even for myself. In saute preps I also remove the vein for looks. If serving whole shrimp like liuzhou presented above I prefer to keep them intact. I posted about an odd deveining issue in this topic http://forums.egullet.org/topic/141028-issue-with-de-veining-shrimp That I did not want to see or eat.

[Katie Meadow]

Not sure that for most people this is a matter of reason. Clams and oysters I don't think about much, and I do like to eat them raw. But a shrimp? I personally don't want to eat an obviously full "vein." Nor would I serve it to guests in case they are turned off by it like I am. Deveining while keeping the shell on is an annoying procedure at best, so I rarely make recipes that call for cooking in the shell unless I am feeling very ambitious. I agree the shell has a lot of flavor, so I like to make dishes that are a bit soupy and use a little shrimp stock. At least that way I feel like I am getting some use out of those shells.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

For myself, I devein and remove not only the digestive system (dorsal vein) but also the nervous system (ventral vein). It has to do with texture for me - even if the shrimp has been purged, I still detect the vein as a grittiness and off-flavour that I don't like. So for me, to make the dish enjoyable, it's worthwhile to go through the extra work.

[Franci]

Where I grew up, people would never bother deveining a shrimp...now, I really don't care for shrimps, I prefer so much more crabs or langoustines but my husband is crazy about deveining his shrimps, even when I fry them, I keep the shell on but head offs so I can devein from the head. Personally, in terms of grittiness, I find a huge difference among ocean prawns or the smaller fresh caught Mediterranean shrimps.