Shrimp is touted as America's favorite shellfish and it may well be since it is the most valuable commercial crustacean harvested from the waters of the Texas Gulf. While many varieties are found around the world, only brown, white and pink shrimp are taken from the Gulf. Used for both food and bait, most shrimp are captured by boats towing a trawl. The state of Texas issues three separate commercial shrimp licenses (for Gulf, bay, and bait shrimp) and one specialty license for recreational shrimpers.

Besides their succulent flavor, culinary versatility also plays a big role in shrimp's popularity, right along with its nationwide and largely year-round availability. Maybe that's why Americans put away more than 1 billion pounds of shrimp every year, fresh and frozen, from the most diminutive scampi to their gargantuan cousins known as prawns.  

Fresh shrimp are highly perishable

Unless you are lucky enough to live next-door to a shrimper or within shouting distance of the docks, you can be certain that any shrimp purchased from a grocery or fishmonger has been frozen. The reason is simple. Fresh shrimp are highly perishable and freeze perfectly, better than most other shellfish. Usually thawed for retail sale, the defrosted shrimp are displayed on ice. While it should be marked 'previously frozen,' it seldom is, and only savvy shoppers are aware that it has been in the freezer. It's best to purchase shrimp on the day it's to be served, and avoid any efforts at re-freezing. Have the shrimp wrapped with ice at the market and keep it on ice until cooking time.

Shrimp are graded by how many are in a pound and priced accordingly. The grades range from colossal (10 or less per pound) to miniature (about 100). If you buy jumbo shrimp, there will be 11 to 15 shrimp in a pound and extra-large will yield 16 to 20. The larger shrimp are the most expensive, but you should be guided by who's doing the peeling. Since the biggest are easier to peel, splurge on jumbo or extra-large if cooked, peeled shrimp are required for a recipe. If a boiled shrimp and beer party for your friends is in the works, however, large shrimp are perfectly adequate and will keep your guests entertained. No matter what size shrimp are selected, figure on a minimum of one-half pound per person if shrimp is the main course. And although most cookbooks will advise that one pound should provide enough for four appetizer size servings, don't bet on it. Allow a bit more if the guests are big shrimp fans.

International Affair We Americans are hardly by ourselves in our love affair with shrimp, though. In China, shrimp are stir-fried with vegetables. In Greece, they're served bubbling with tomato, lemon juice, and feta. Along the coasts of South America and Australia, they're grilled over flame on the sand. Shrimp themselves don't suffer from sameness, either. Pink shrimp are hauled in along the Atlantic from Maryland to the Florida Keys and into the Gulf of Mexico; brown shrimp hail from the same waters and also as far north as Massachusetts. White shrimp come from the Atlantic up to North Carolina, but mostly from the Gulf as far west as Texas. Shrimp from the Pacific (Washington and Alaska primarily) are usually smaller, averaging 3 to 6 inches, than those from warm Southern waters, where Gulf shrimp grow as large as 10 inches.

 

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Or, check out some of the links in our massive shrimp information directory.  

This directory is created by shrimp lovers around the world. How? Well we have listed the top most searched for shrimp terms and here you will find over 1000 pages with links to shrimp sites and information. Each of the main sections below will take you to an listings page with all the most popular search terms listed in alphabetical order, and you will find information on each one of those pages related to that exact search.  

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