I bought some pre-cooked shrimp in the deli section of one of our most excellent grocery stores. The kind that is under the glass, loose on ice. Beautiful looking 3 or so inch shrimp tails.

Well. I'm licking my chops on the way home, waiting to sink my teeth into that pound of it, as I have not had any for quite a while. Well. I know from past experience that I have to boil it some more. When you get it from the store - even though it is pre-cooked, and pink color - when you closely look at the meat, it is still has that rubbery translucscent look.

So I cook it for about 8 more minutes. Melt some butter. Dig in. Hmmm. It still had that semi-opaque, between clear and white transluscent look. And when I chewed down on it, it wanted to squirt out from under my teeth. Reminds me a little bit when I mistakenly chew into some of that cartlidge in chicken......but not quite that bad.

So I put it back in the kettle, bound and determined to get it white, and more like a say porkchop texture. I boiled it for 15 more minutes! Nope. Same thing. Made no difference! What?!!!!!

I used to get fresh shrimp off the boat. I can never remember that type of texture, after it is cooked. To make it worse, it feels sort of beady in my mouth. Sort of like it is made out of hardened silicone caulk, that is made up of many beads of it all compacted together. It sort of crunches when you eat it (yes -just the meat, not meat and shell. LOL)

Was I dreaming, years ago, that when the shrimp gets cooked, the meat turns from transluscent to a firmer white meat? Or what?

IF I am right about how I used to remember it, does that par-boiling they do to it, then preserve it on ice, do something to permanently retain that texture, or what? Kind of disgusting. Not even interested in shrimp anymore if that is the way it has to be.

Did I make you hungry?

 

If you like em hot, throw them in boiling water for about 3 to 4 minutes. They will turn pinkish and will be firm to the flip with your finger. They are done. Hey, it ain't cow meat, so it will have a different texture. Putting them on ice takes away from the "freshness" IMO.

 

You've overcooked them. They turn pink as soon as they're ready (they're gray raw). The longer you cook them, the tougher they get. From raw to cooked (I saute or grill them) justs takes a few minutes.
The pre-cooked ones are either for eating cold (like in a salad maybe) or to add to something, only at the last minute to heat them up.

 

Yep...even extra large or 8-10 count shouldn't need more than a few minutes.

I haven't boiled shrimp in 35 yrs (thats the way my parents did it) since I found out about steamed and grilled. And I don't remember EVER buying pre-cooked....except the frozen in the bag...and thats just for recipes/salads..not eating by themselves.

I think anytime shrimp are cooked they need to be eaten relatively quickly afterwards, though thats never been a problem in my house....lol.

The stuff from the deli was prob cooked somewhere else, frozen, shipped, possibly thawed then put on the ice. Now..they may have cooked them right in the store...but the question is..how long before you made your purchase? If they actually will steam crab legs and shrimp for you while you shop...then maybe they were cooked in-store...but otherwise..I doubt it.

 

Just want to add that they do have a bit of a chewy texture, not at all like white fish. The longer they're cooked, the chewier and rubberier they get.

 

They WERE cooked, when bought at the store! They already WERE pink. But they are like semi-transluscent rubber silicone grizzle cartlidge, and squirt off my teeth when I chew into them. I don't recall shrimp being like that. Either that - 30 years ago I was so more hungry back then, that I wolfed them down indiscrimenantly.

 

Hmmm. I don't know(with a singing tone). They start out like rubber and stay like rubber. And I know they were not overcooked to begin with. The only way I could possibly hope to mask that texture is to dunk them in that thick cocktail sauce, rather than hot butter.

Not at all like white fish. Well, that is sort of flaky (the fish I mean). Like I said, I thought it had at least somewhat of a denser texture when cooked, like say a porkchop has. Or even the feeling in your mouth when eating meatloaf. These things are more like undercooked elbow macaroni noodles. Kind of annoying.

 

This is what I am wondering.

Maybe I need to find uncooked ones, if I can. Or maybe something happens when they are frozen - that, short of buying it off the shrimp boat, there is no answer for a Yankee.

 

In my whole life, I never tried that. Maybe I will try that with some of the remaining ones I have. Then I wil let you know what I think of THOSE.

And I wonder if that cocktail sauce I have in the fridge is any good, yet?
It might be like 2 years old. Some of this type stuff lasts and lasts, the way pickled stuff does.

 

Hey..yer no worse off than me....I really miss seafood from when I lived in VA.

Theres nothing wrong with frozen. Actually most seafood is frozen and then thawed at the store..depending on your location. Unless you get it at a seafood market and it just came off the boat...frozen is probably a better option. Better to keep it frozen from the processor, until you buy it, than to thaw freeze thaw freeze.

 

I have only seen raw shrimp in the deli on ice, not cooked. After years of messing with raw shrimp, I finally switched to cooked. I rinse them off to remove the ice and such. I have not experienced your situation "it wanted to squirt out from under my teeth". I love to grill shrimp, you can season anyway you want. If I don't feel like grilling, I'll will put the shrimp in a frying pan, with Louisiana Hot sauce and butter. Sauté them until they are hot, yum yum. I do the same recipe on the grill also. Like others have stated, shrimp only take a few minutes to heat up. I prefer my shrimp served hot, not cold.

 

ecman, you could be charged with shrimp abuse for cooking them that long . Throw the old sauce away, 2 years is too much. Tiger shrimp are gray when raw, others can be pink/translucent when raw and then pink/white when cooked. Maine shrimp are the pink variety and I believe all coastal US are that way. It is the asian version that are tigers.

Pre-cooked just has to barely thaw out. If you trusted everyone handling them, thaw and eat, but I always blanch them. Bring a large pot to a boil and drop in a cup of shrimp. That way the boil holds and they can come out in one, two minutes max. That's assuming the water holds a boil. Basically you are just sterilizing them, but in just one minute, they are 200 degrees all the way through. Be sure to let them thaw first so that you can hold the cooking time down.

Just finished 5 pounds of fresh shrimp right off the boat.

Bud

 

Bud....as the kids on Southpark say....

"You bustard!" (btw...a bustard are large terrestrial birds mainly associated with dry open country and steppes...)

Fresh off the boat...OMG can it get any better? Cooked on the boat I guess....

I still say...if you plan on eating the shrimp by themselves...buy raw..thaw as needed and steam or grill....though saute is OK too....

 

ecman -

You definitely over cooked the shrimp.

When I buy crab or crab claws they are always cooked immediately (1 minute) after boating and are usually sold frozen in the deli counter or are in the slow process of thawing and draining. - All I do with these is stem them in a covered strainer over boiling water until they are warm.

What kind of shrimp? Most good stores will state if they were steamed at the store or on the boat.

You could have gotten some of the large fresh water shrimp that look good in the store, are larger and they can can be sold cheaper than the "classic" shrimp.

Dick

 

I know, I heard you the first time. That's the point. They were already cooked, and then you cooked them some more for 8 minutes, then another 15 minutes. You pretty much cooked them beyond death, which is why they were so rubbery.
Another thing, I think the medium size ones are better (just my personal taste). Don't care much for the jumbo sized ones.

 

I buy mine frozen in a bag and they look off white. If they get freezer burnt, they get white patches where the're burnt. Shrimp that I've cooked are just like fish, no better, no worse. Maybe a little like over cooked chicken breast, that's my opinion and I'm stickin to it!

 

GG, what makes them taste even better is $0.99 a pound, that's the whole shrimp. They will normally range from $1.75 down, but the 99 is about the lowest I have ever seen, especially recently. I like to support the road side sales, because they get the money more directly to the boat operators. Frequently family members make the run up by me, about an hour north and unload as much as they can.

Then there are the Maine lobsters and fresh scallops .

Bud

 

Aiyeeeee. No. They are clear when bought pre-cooked and even more uncooked feeling-slimy-rubbery. That's WHY I'm cooking them more. I think they minimally cook them.

I bought more last night to experiment with. I microwaved them for 30 seconds, then 1 1/2 minutes. Same thing. No difference. I then fried them in a pan, two lenghts of time. The longest time yielded shrimp that curled to half their size, yet they still had that semi-clear look/silicone rubber feelign in my mouth.

I let my next door neighbor try one, and he has bad teeth like me, and said it almost slid down his throat before he was ready for it. He said I can go ahead and enjoy my shrimp. IOW, he did not want any more.

I then switched from hot butter sauce to cocktails sauce. I drowned them in cocktail sauce, and this somewhat masked the texture, more than butter. I at least enjoyed the taste. I ate all 3/4 pounds.

 

Dick,

Everybody here thinks I am overcooking them. My friend is tired of my bellyaching, and insists I talk to the meatcounter man and tell him what is going on. I keep telling my friend that I know shrimp. I used to live by them. I know what they look like raw. The shrimp I buy, pre-cooked and turned pink, are whitish, yet somewhat clear -a clear white -not a solid meaty white, as I recall them used to being, after cooked. They are even more raw-feeling if I simply eat them that way without further cooking. They feel very similar to eating a raw oyster!

 

Maybe, they're just not fresh. You gotta watch these stores. They'll try and sell people anything. Not sure why they're clear. They should look pink and appetizing and they should smell good, too.
They are not hard to cook. Try buying a bag of frozen (uncooked) shrimp if possible.

 

Ha. Read my lastest posts. I really cooked them, last night, in an attempt to firm them up -even if could get them like solid shoe-leather.

I did not throw it away(yet), as I did not actually check the date......but I DID buy a new bottle last night.

Yes, they were next to the pink ones. Maybe I am not drawn to them because Tiger sharks, in the area I lived, used to eat people.

Looking for ones that can turn white and meaty feeling.

They are not frozen, really. They are on ice, but not frozen like a rock or anything.

Then you must know the texture! Describe in as many adjectives as you can, please.

Besides talking to the guy in the meat/fish dept. I am seriously thinking about going to that well advertised national seafood restaurant and having them give me one to try. Seriously. I am not your everyday normal person.

 

They are displayed, spread out on ice, look and taste wonderful. Nice shrimpy aroma. But it is that whitish semi-clear look and raw oyster feel in my mouth that I cannot recollect from 30 years ago. I thought they turned real white and a more solid meat texture - so I thought.

 

The texture you are looking for IMO is more of a snap. These little maine shrimp are so tender I have to cook them with the shell on, tails only. Here is a good description of the variety of shrimp and cooking details. Shrimp, How To Cook Shrimp, How To Purchase Shrimp, How To Devein Shrimp, How To Brine Shrimp, Shrimp Sizes, Shrimp Etiquette

Bud

 

after all this talk about shrimp, I'm going to grill some this week!

 

i like shrimp bread,battered and deep fried then dip them in ketchup YUM YUM

 

The jury is in. Last night I bought a 4 oz. can of cooked tiny shrimp. I ate it straight out of the can last night. It was a totally opaque white, more fluffy meaty texture.

COMPLETELY different from the rawish, wormy, rubber, semi-transluscent shrimp I had bought and have been describing. On a scale of 0-10.......10 being rubbery, the tiny canned shrimp were a 0.

I went to the meat/fish counter and told 2 guys my story. They thought I was nuts. The one guy said in 5 years selling them, he has not heard one complaint. I could have guessed that is what he would say. He also asked if I cooked them at all, as he said they are already cooked, and that is maybe what I did wrong. I said that is not it. I said they are rubbery when eaten as is. HE said he eats them, and loves them and dunks them in cocktail sauce. I told him EVERYTHING tastes good in cocktail sauce! (The ketchup with french fries effect). I also told him/them that they likely have not boiled shrimp, fresh straight off a shrimp boat. And I said that as far as all the other customers perhaps thinking they are good(no complaints, but that might not prove anything) like that? I said they too probably do not know the difference!

 

I bought about 6 shrimp so I could take to my experienced friend whose dad used to buy about 10#'s, now and then, off the shrimp boat -like I did. The sticker the store put on the bag says "Med-cooked shrimp" Hmmm. Medium-cooked....shrimp? or, Medium....cooked-shrimp?

I had friend try one as is. He put an end of one in his mouth and spit it out and said, "Yuck!!!...it's raw! I said it ain't.

It says under cooking instructions on the bag..."Cooking: Serve cold, or boil for 6-10 minutes." If you notice, it says "or"- Not "You must". And the meat/fish guy said they are fully cooked.

My friend calls the store to complain and the guy says they are fully cooked and he likes them. Huh.


So I am boiling some up and will let my friend try them after they have been dropped in water brought to a boil and boiled for 7 minutes. This ought to be a hoot.

He said he will not even stick another one in his mouth till they get chilled. LOL. I'll let you know after what he thinks. But I already think I know the answer. I boiled them for 7 minutes and I said," (chuckle, chuckle)..."Get ready to eat(in a singing tone), dinner is served!". And he asked me if they turned white yet(inside). And I said, "Not really". They still look clear, when you look into the end of it. These shrimp are from Thailand. But they look JUST like Gulf shrimp to me, in every way. Except that clear uncooked shrimp look remains uncooked looking, even after boiling...even after frying!, when you look into the meat, even though the outside of the body looks orange and white mixed, just the way cooked Gulf shrimp do.

Okay, he tried it after I chilled it in the freezer. He took one little nibble, spit it out, and said, "I see what you mean!" So then I told him no matter HOW long I were to boil it or fry it, it STILL look and feel like that!

 

You don't like cocktail or shrimp sauce? It has a little more pizazz....... a little spicy kick to it.

I will eat those remaining 4 shrimp tonight with my new cocktail sauce. They taste good. It's the texture that is annoying. But as I said, the cocktail sauce kind of helps mask that texture, some.

 

Let me know what kind of shrimp you eat, and what it looks like inside, after you grill it up. Don't go by the color of the outside 'skin'. Go by what it looks like inside as you look at it on end. And what it feels like as you chew it.

 

got it covered, will send you a report.

 

For the fun of it, I am going to look up and see what they say about "cocktail shrimp". The label on the bag said that is what they are, even though the fish counter sign only said pre-cooked medium-sized shrimp. I am wondering if cocktail shrimp are expected to have a more snappy rawer-type consistency.

 

Cocktail shrimp are simply cooked and chilled shrimp. To me they taste the same as cooked shrimp, only cold.

 

I just watched a video of a guy cooking up a batch of shrimp cocktail, from a site I brought up on search engine called "cooking cocktail shrimp". When he was done, and used a collander to get them out of the water into a bowl, the camera did a close up enough that I could tell the shrimp meat looks firm and white, just like how I remember. Not those semi-transluscent seedy looking parts to it like grapefruit sections have.

BTW, those rubbery shrimp TASTED just great, with lots of great shrimpy aroma. It is the texture in your mouth that is annoying. They are somewhat like crunching into raw oysters.

 

I've been a shrimp lover for most of my life. I've concluded that there are only two ways to cook them properly. Either boil them shell on for a couple of minutes or sear them in a pan.

If you boil them make sure the water is boiling when you add the shrimp. Use enough water so that you don't lose the boil when the shrimp are added. Boil for no more than 2-3 minutes.

If you sear them remove the shells, heat oil in a saute pan until it's smoking and add the shrimp. After 1 minute reemove the pan from the heat, flip the shrimp and cook for another minute.

Never buy precooked shrimp. They are always overcooked. Buy frozen, raw shrimp shell on if you can't get fresh.

 

hey wayne, I have to agree w/u about precooked, but I dislike de vaining....... So I do other

 

We used to seine shrimp in the tidal creeks in South Carolina. A big fire on the bank with a huge pot of boiling water. We would toss the shrimp in heads and all. We never deveined them just shucked the shells and washed them down with a cold beer. Those were probably the best shrimp I've ever eaten.

Now, I wouldn't eat shrimp that had not been deveined. If I get fresh I devein them (a PITA) if frozen I buy the flash frozen, shell on but already deveined.

 

ecman51 - I'm interested in knowing if you found an answer to what ever happened with your shrimp? I just ran across this site. I just had the same trouble tonight with my shrimp.

I bought a bag of medium shrimp about 3 months ago.
Pulled it out tonight and boiled it
Within about 2-3 min it turned slightely pink-ish on the outside (shell on) but it was like CLEAR JELLY on the inside.

It was not cooked.

I boiled it more - thinknig these were stubborn shrimp. NOTHING. It remained a slimy, slippery, clear, see-through jelly-like "meat". Tasted it: very fishy and slimy and jelly-rubber like.

I grew up on the coast of Baja California where you get the world's best shrimp. I have cooked/boiled shrimp all my life. I know the meat is supposed to be opaque white and tender, not rubbery, not see-through.

But this bag of shrimp just did not cook.

It stayed see-through, jelly-rubber like.

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?? HELP PLEASE!

 

Welcome to the forums! It has been 2 years since this thread was run, and the poster you mention was banned, so he won't answer you. You may have gotten a bag of spoiled shrimp. Having them frozen would have solidified the internal stuff, but boiling them would reconstitute them to their spoiled state. Generally boiled shrimp only take a few minutes and will be pinkish and firm if picked up and flipped with your finger.

 

I completely agree with your observation that prawns / shrimps seem translucent and kind of 'pop' in your mouth when you bite them. It seems to me that somewhere along the line after they are caught that they are immersed in brine or salty water and frozen. I am looking for pure white fleshy meat that has softness and meatiness to it rather than salty popping translucent version which seem to be the vogue in anything bigger than the tiny ones ... I think uncooked ones are likely to be less translucent but I fear the problem is in the freezing in brine or salty-water process on the boats so it will still be a problem in uncooked (frozen) ones. If you want to try prawns/shrimps that meet our expectations try the very very small little shrimps that come all pink in their shells -- they are pure white, sweet and meaty but so small !!

Tim

 

I live in Japan and I had that same question recently. I'm surprised with all the answers above (and several years) no one has answered as follows:

Some sellers of shrimp add what is called Tri-Poly Phosphate (in Japanese they call it ポリリン酸塩), a chemical which causes the shrimp (and other seafoods, when added) to retain water, and therefore weigh more. This can ratchet up the price of catches significantly when one buys by the pound, particularly for bulk items like shrimp.

The result is the shrimp does retain more water when it is moved from place to place, but it also tends to have a rubbery texture when cooked, and doesn't turn white--almost at all--producing the texture and strangeness described in the original post.

Not all shrimp is treated in this way. As far as I know it's completely legal in the U.S. I don't know of any health issues or anything else regarding this process.

Basically I think the OP got a batch of shrimp which had been treated with this chemical, and voila, when he cooked his shrimp that's what he got. I personally threw out the batch I tried to cook for cilantro lime tacos--they were rubbery and practically inedible, at least to me.

Note: In Japan at least, typically these treated shrimp are pre-peeled. So buy your shrimp in the shell to lessen the chances of getting such a batch.

Happy shrimping, too bad I see the OP has been banned. Hope he reads this.