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1
Put the shrimp in a saucepan with water to cover and a large pinch of salt.
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2
Bring to a boil and turn off the heat; let the shrimp cool in the water for about 5 minutes, then rinse in cold water until cool.
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3
Peel and devein if you like.
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4
Serve with sauce or chill until ready to serve.
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5
Almost all Shrimp are frozen before sale.
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6
So unless youre in a hurry, you might as well buy them frozen and defrost them yourself; this will guarantee you that they are defrosted just before you cook them, therefore retaining peak quality.
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7
There are no universal standards for shrimp size; large and medium dont mean much.
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8
Therefore, it pays to learn to judge shrimp size by the number per pound, as retailers do.
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9
Shrimp labeled 16/20, for example, contain sixteen to twenty per pound; those labeled U-20 require fewer (under) twenty to make a pound.
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10
Shrimp from fifteen to about thirty per pound usually give the best combination of flavor, ease (peeling tiny shrimp is a nuisance), and value (really big shrimp usually cost more than $15 a pound).
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11
On deveining: I dont.
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12
You can, if you like, but its a thankless task, and there isnt one person in a hundred who could blind-taste the difference between shrimp that have and have not been deveined.
