Peppi, when the local spot prawn season opens I usually buy about 10 pounds of them and they have their heads on. Just grab the head in one hand and the tail in the other and twist. They come apart very easily.

Actually , if you cook with the heads and shells on they just contribute even more flavour to the dish. Personally I don't like shrimp or prawns cooked with their shells on but only because I don't like peeling hot cooked shrimp.

Cut the heads off.....cook the shrimp...eat.
Linda C

I just can't do it. I can't even peel shrimp without a head - gives me the willies. I buy them already peeled and deveined with the tail still on.

Funny thing is, I dont mind peel n eat shrimp. If it's already cooked, they don't look as creepy.

Ann, thank you. I must have been confusing this with something else then. I will stop tomorrow and get severel pounds.

If I can manicure chicken feet, I can lop off some heads.

Don't forget to castrate them!

rofl, wizrdnm.

Shrimp with the heads on is a *luxury*! Impossible to get here. You must save the heads, tails and shells for shrimp broth. (If you've never made it, it's a no-brainer.) Then you have the base for the most incredible etouffee and jambalaya and all sorts of wonderful Cajun stuff. They're a little gross with heads, but be brave! :)

sm

Here shrimp in the fish markets are always sold with the heads on.
In restaurants grilled shrimp are served with heads and shells still on and in the photo above from a local seafood restaurant, they were served peeled in hot oil but with heads on. I don't mind how they come as long as they're fresh.

SharonCb

And then take all those lovely heads and shells and bury them near your roses. That is one of the best natural fertilizers on the planet!

Alexa

Yup....LOL....been doing that for a long time Alexa! :-) (Along with banana skins for potassium.)

SharonCb

The Chinese family I lived with for a while when I was a teenager taught me to suck the heads of the crispy salt & pepper shrimp that was a family favorite before discarding them. They wouldn't think of just throwing them away. They were right, of course, there is so much flavor in them.

Of course, they got me eating the green mushy stuff that one finds in the dungeness crab on hot rice, too.

I wish I could buy shrimp around here with the heads. I need them to make shrimp bisque, and they're very hard to find in the Central Valley. I save all my shells in the freezer when I shuck shrimp for stir fries but it just isn't the same without the heads. When I lived in the Bay Area, there were plenty of little Asian markets that had them...I didn't even have to go to Chinatown if I didn't want to.

There's absolutely nothing better than boiling shrimp with the heads on and sitting down to a table lined with newspaper and eating them. Living on the Gulf Coast my entire life has spoiled me!

we were served heads-on shrimp at a local Chinese restaurant.

My son looked at me, horrifed, and said "Mama! I can't eat those! They're looking at me!"

Reminds me of the time I bought colossal shrimp, which were about 8 to a pound. I was so turned off about taking off their heads that I had to wrap the head in about 15 paper towels so I wouldn't feel what was happening.

I barely enjoyed the finished dish.

I will never buy them again.

Sue

Yum! The heads do have a lot of flavour.

Certain recipes I leave the heads and shells on other recipes I peel the whole shrimp and clean out the vein that runs down the back. I guess it depends on what I'm cooking...but I've never sucked a shrimp head. I have sucked crawfish heads. LOL!

Yessss! Salt and pepper shrimp! First time we ordered it we didn't know how to eat it. Fortunately, the Chinese family next to us also ordered it. They ate the shrimp, head, shell and all, showed us how, so we did, too. Absolutely delicious. No idea how they make the shell edible (I don't want to know, either!) but now it's on the top of our list. I guess we waste an awful lot in our society.

Also, Peppi, everyone is right about using the whole shrimp for cooking. It can be a nuisance, though.

Sherry (who didn't meet you March 1 (Boo hoo)

Alexa; I agree, those heads and shells will make great fertilizer, but not if you have a dog. The smell is too much for them to resist.

I made the mistake of fertilizing some houseplants with fish emulsion and came home later in the day to dirt all over the floor.

Personally, I have no problem deheading and peeling shrimp prior to cooking, but I don't like the idea of being served shrimp at a nice restaurant, usually in a messy sauce, and then having to use my fingers to extract the tail. Guess I need to hone my table knife skills.

The heads gross me out....yuck. Bought some whole shrimp one time...thought I would make a stock, but the thought of it turned my stomach. I threw out the stock...

All those little antenna and legs gave me the willies...

Salt and pepper shrimp is one of my favorites! I don't eat the heads and I eat just a little shell or I get a stomach ache. I made it at home a couple times - it's an easy recipe - but deep-frying stinks up the house unfortunately for me. My dog LOVES cooked shrimp shells and tails, so I freeze them for him and also to make shrimp bisque - I think it was Sol who had a good recipe. Funny thing is, I feed a raw diet to the dog, and once when he was a pup I gave him a whole raw shrimp. He was scared of it, LOL!

Shrimp with heads don't bother me. What great memories of getting fresh shrimp off the dock in NC/SC and bringing back and cooking up and dumping on the table and goin' at um! YUM.

Ok, what is/are salt and pepper shrimp? Never heard of it but it sounds good. Recipe please.

Karen, would they work for your BBQ shrimp recipe?