Why is it more trouble to clean than any other shrimp?

Carolina Coastal shrimp can come from very brackish water. They can be dark brown and have a bit more vein and sometimes the shell wants to adhere to the flesh a bit more than other Shrimp. They are very tasty though but Key West Pinks are just as good in their own way as well as Gulf shrimp when they are at their best.

The shell removes easily but 2 veins to remove. So tedious. They are the only wild shrimp available here on a regular basis. Although I do buy bags of frozen gulf shrimp that is cleaned and deveined but it never seemed great.

Royal Reds are by far the best tasting shrimp I've eaten! They taste like lobster. Not always available and a bit pricey, but so worth it when you want something special!

Royal Red shrimp

Local spot prawns are the only "shrimp" I buy. Unfortunately, they have a very short season here in the spring.

Oh dear......I live in Iowa! The best shrimp I can buy is frozen!! But when vacationing on the gulf, I have gone to the dock and bought whatever they brought in that day. As far as I was concerned, it was all a bit of a PIA to clean.....but it all tasted wonderful!

Maine shrimp, very tiny but oh so sweet! No season last year due to a strange decline in population. The season is usually very short anyway. When I can get them fresh off the boat I will buy 20 lbs., steam, shell, de-vein, vacuum seal and freeze. When I was a kid no one wanted those tiny shrimp so we could buy a bushel for $5. Mom & I spent days steaming, cleaning and freezing them.

I don't know what kinds they were, but the best shrimp I've had were in Vera Cruz, Mexico and Jaco, Costa Rica. The ones in Vera Cruz were bigger than the ones in CR, I think, although decades passed between the two trips. At the fish market here, I generally try to buy Mexican shrimp. I ate a lot of shrimp when I lived in Houston, but what I had in Vera Cruz was better, and it was also better than what I've had in New Orleans. I've never had East Coast shrimp or Royal Red (that I know of).

Shrimp is common on the menus throughout Costa Rica, but the best shrimp was at the beach.

Lars, everything is good in Costa Rica!

I only buy shrimp where it is cleaned and deveined for me. I made a stir fry tonight. Not sure what kind they sell.

North Carolina shrimp are as tasty as they come. They taste like lobster, used to live in Maine. Maine shrimp are sweet too, they call them rock shrimp, but they are tiny and a pain to clean, so I would just steam them whole.

I have seen a cooking show where they used a pair of scissors to cut the back of the shrimp along the vein. Then they just pulled the shell apart and rinsed to wash out the vein which had also been cut.

Nerdyshopper. That is how I do it. Very simple and quick way to shell prawns/shrimp.

I have a "sea-sheller"...

Chilling shrimp in ice water makes them easier to peel. I don't remove the vein from the bottom...only the vein down the back. My favorite shrimp are white shrimp. My husband has been a commercial shrimper for over 50 years. I like shrimp sauteed in butter with a little Tony's seasoning and a squeeze of lemon just as they finish. I like to grill them....cut down the back with scissors and baste with Italian dressing and chopped garlic and Tony's. Leave the shell on to keep them from drying out. Love shrimp. Have never got tired of them. It is funny....one of the boys I went to school with made a crack at me a few years after graduating...I guess because I had married a "lowly" shrimper. He said, "I bet you get tired of eating shrimp." I said, "No. We don't have to eat them all. You can sell them."

MMMMmmm the mere mention of Tony Chachere's makes me crave shrimp and grits!