the 'vein' in shrimp

[phlawless]

So after poaching, shelling, and deveining 6 pounds of shrimp, I need to know what exactly the 'vein' is: reproductive stuff...poop shoot...or truely a vein...or all of the above? And what about the variance in texture of the goop? Sometimes it's nice and contained in some sort of tube, other times it's sandy and the flesh around the shoot is mealy...

shrimp experts...please respond!!!

[mtigges]

digestive tract I believe.

[foodie52]

Yup. Colon.

[Sugarella]

Poop shoot. Texture/contents I would gather depends on what the little guy ate lately.

Can I ask why you shell & devein after cooking? I never heard of that. Is it better?

[fifi]

I can't imagine deveining after cooking. It is just about impossible. We do shell on shrimp (usually heads on, too) for shrimp boils, obviously not deveined. We just ignore the veins. If we head the shrimp before boiling (to save pot room) there is a way you can pinch at the base of the head and pull out the vein most of the time. But for most other purposes, they are shelled and deviened while raw. a tool like this works pretty well.

[Jmahl]

For the more sensitive among us - I believe it is the alimentary canal.

Good eating,

Jmahl

[Kent Wang]

If we head the shrimp before boiling (to save pot room)

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Room?! The head is where all the flavor comes from!

[fifi]

Yeah . . . But when you are feeding 100 and have limited pot space, you make some compromises. Actually, I can't tell much difference and I do it both ways.

[chef koo]

it's more of an "english speaking world thing". everywhere else they just leave it

[Girl-from-mars]

Poop shoot. Texture/contents I would gather depends on what the little guy ate lately.

Can I ask why you shell & devein after cooking? I never heard of that. Is it better?

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I guess it would depend on how you were planning to eat them. Myself im not much for hot prawns. I like my prawns as they are.. so i would either buy them already cooked with the shells still on or buy them and cook them with the shells on.. then peel, devein and eat =) and no i didnt eat like a kilo of prawns on my own the other day really

*hides all evidence*

And personally i find it easier to deshell and devein a prawn that is cooked than an uncooked...

Kath

[phlawless]

I think they are easier as well to shell/devein after cooking...you get better flavor as well...(they were pickled after being poached)

[Kent Wang]

I devein not so much to remove the vein but to butterfly them and increase the surface-volume ratio so that the shrimp absorbs more of the seasonings. Of course, to take advantage of this you must devein/butterfly before cooking.

[ellencho]

I devein because I don't like the crunch of sandy grit between my teeth whilst eating shrimp. I've also noticed that at the more expensive buffets in Vegas they devein their shrimp, but at the cheaper ones they do not.