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Individually Frozen Shrimp Advice.
Posted on 8/3/10 at 12:59 pm
Posted on 8/3/10 at 12:59 pm
How are they for boiling relative to fresh? Anyone try?
Want to get some shrimp for company visiting this week. Place in Westwego may get some fresh shrimp later this week (and may not) but has individually frozen ones now at a pretty low price.
Posted on 8/3/10 at 1:10 pm to The Wood Pecker
Head off, shell on. You can pick them up individually. I bet they will thaw some on the 60 min ride home then freeze into a 50 lb blob in my freezer. They're in a 50Lb box.
Posted on 8/3/10 at 1:13 pm to Nawlens Gator
quote:
I bet they will thaw some on the 60 min ride home
Heard of an ice chest and ice?
EDIT: oh, 50 pounds (i read it 5 pounds at first )
Can you split them up into ice chest?
This post was edited on 8/3/10 at 1:16 pm
Posted on 8/3/10 at 1:33 pm to ksayetiger
Make sure they are local caught and not forigen, if local they will be great
Posted on 8/3/10 at 1:52 pm to Tigerpaw123
Yeah 10/15 local caught. Need me some dry ice.
Should I freeze in water for longer term? I've always bought fresh.
Posted on 8/3/10 at 2:06 pm to Nawlens Gator
quote:
Should I freeze in water for longer term
no, leave them as is
Posted on 8/3/10 at 2:12 pm to Nawlens Gator
So they are IQF frozen tails and not head on? If they are IQF, are they salt frozen IQF or nitrogen frozen IQF?
It does makes a difference in boiling. Salt frozen IQF will never boil as good as fresh or even nitrogen frozen. Some of the differences:
IQF Salt Water: Frozen on shrimp boats through an IQF machine/tunnel and frozen with salt water. The salt content in the shrimp makes them harder to peel and boil. The best way I could boil them at my old place was to bring the water to a boil (make sure water is very spicy), let it sit for a minute or two and spray down the pot to cool, then put the shrimp in and let them soak with no fire for 15-20 minutes. If you try to boil IQF salt water shrimp you will overcook (Will be very hard to peel) them very quickly or will need to use a lot of ice to cool down. Probably 75% or greater of seafood places sell salt water IQF because they are the most available shrimp. IF you ice or follow my method they will peel ok but will still not peel as good as fresh shrimp.
Nitrogen IQF: Shrimp frozen in tunnel with nitrogen gas or even liquid nitrogen. Peel just like fresh because no salt is used in the process. Usually done by seafood companies that buy from fisherman.
Block frozen tails/headless: Will also peel better than salt water frozen and will usually peel just as well as fresh. It's because most tails are frozen while fresh at shrimp plants and not with salt water or the same process as salt water IQF.
Hope this helps.
It does makes a difference in boiling. Salt frozen IQF will never boil as good as fresh or even nitrogen frozen. Some of the differences:
IQF Salt Water: Frozen on shrimp boats through an IQF machine/tunnel and frozen with salt water. The salt content in the shrimp makes them harder to peel and boil. The best way I could boil them at my old place was to bring the water to a boil (make sure water is very spicy), let it sit for a minute or two and spray down the pot to cool, then put the shrimp in and let them soak with no fire for 15-20 minutes. If you try to boil IQF salt water shrimp you will overcook (Will be very hard to peel) them very quickly or will need to use a lot of ice to cool down. Probably 75% or greater of seafood places sell salt water IQF because they are the most available shrimp. IF you ice or follow my method they will peel ok but will still not peel as good as fresh shrimp.
Nitrogen IQF: Shrimp frozen in tunnel with nitrogen gas or even liquid nitrogen. Peel just like fresh because no salt is used in the process. Usually done by seafood companies that buy from fisherman.
Block frozen tails/headless: Will also peel better than salt water frozen and will usually peel just as well as fresh. It's because most tails are frozen while fresh at shrimp plants and not with salt water or the same process as salt water IQF.
Hope this helps.
Posted on 8/3/10 at 2:17 pm to JasonL79
quote:
JasonL79
Great info, that explains why last week I got boiled shrimp from 2 diffrent places and both were hard to peel, i assuming they were salt IQF
sorry to hear about OTH, hope things work out good for you
Posted on 8/3/10 at 2:26 pm to Tigerpaw123
Thanks Jason! Some great info from the expert. Of course you thaw the shrimp before putting in the hot water? Thanks for posting the OTH accounts. Wish you luck.
Maybe I will wait for fresh.
Maybe I will wait for fresh.
This post was edited on 8/3/10 at 2:32 pm
Posted on 8/3/10 at 2:58 pm to Tigerpaw123
quote:
that explains why last week I got boiled shrimp from 2 diffrent places and both were hard to peel, i assuming they were salt IQF
Most likely they were. But fresh shrimp are really only available a few months out of the year (May-October/November and sometimes until January). That's why most people only handle the IQF's. That and fresh shrimp really only have a retail shelf life of 3-4 days until the heads start to turn orange/red and that is when most retail shoppers won't buy them. While IQF can be kept fresh and looking good in the freezer for weeks by thawing out a small amount at a time. Then their is the transport issue and the distance issue. It will be easier to find fresh shrimp closer to the source such as in westwego at the shrimp lot, houma, chalmette, along the coast, etc. Bottom line is most places (Even coastal places) only offer IQF for a big portion of the year. To me IQF's don't taste any different but are just a little harder to boil but can be boiled well if you are careful. Fresh shrimp are much more forgiving though. If you are just buying them to peel yourself and cook, IQF's are just as good also.
Posted on 8/3/10 at 2:59 pm to Nawlens Gator
quote:
Of course you thaw the shrimp before putting in the hot water?
Yes you would thaw them out in running cool water then boil/soak in hot water while they are thawed.
Thanks.
This post was edited on 8/3/10 at 3:01 pm
Posted on 8/4/10 at 8:41 am to Nawlens Gator
quote:
Head off, shell on
IMO alot of the flavor is lost when you take the heads off before cooking, especially boiling.
This post was edited on 8/4/10 at 8:42 am
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