Maine Shrimp

I’ve been remiss in posting lately. No excuses, but it’s been an overly busy holiday and travel schedule over the last few weeks. I’m going to try to be better as the year progresses. A quick post on Maine shrimp for the moment; I’ll follow with a longer post on a great Pot Roast recipe later in the week.

Maine Shrimp (Pandalus borealis), a sweet delicacy, have an all too brief season in the middle of winter. These small pink shrimp have a delicate taste and succulent texture that sets them apart from the more commonly found supermarket shrimps (which are mostly farmed elsewhere in the world.) As typical for mankind, Maine shrimp was at one time quite common, but was massively overfished, peaking at over 28 million pounds in 1969 and crashing to just over 85,000 pounds in 1977 before the fishery was closed the next year. Strict conservation methods prevail today, and shrimping season is limited to a few weeks each winter.

These shrimp are found in better fish markets in New England in January and February either whole (head-on) or cleaned (tails only). I tend to see whole shrimp more often than the cleaned variety. Either version is great and it’s easy enough to clean them when cooked. The only warning is that the pointy protuberances on the shrimp’s head can be quite sharp, so be careful!

Cook Maine shrimp by bringing a large pot of water to boil. I throw in some very roughly chopped onion, celery, carrots and parsley. I season the water with salt, pepper, Old Bay seasoning (follow the instructions on the can) and a few tablespoons of vinegar. Add the shrimp to the boiling water, return to a boil and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Pull out and test shrimp periodically for doneness. It’s easy to overcook. I serve the shrimp whole with either homemade mayonnaise (the French Method) or cocktail sauce, but the shrimp are great just plain! Simply twist off the head, peel and eat. The meat comes out of the shell very easily after cooking. Allow a pound or two of whole shrimp per person (you can use less if they’ve been cleaned). Don’t skimp, I guarantee you’ll wish you had more!

My shrimp rarely lasts past being served in this manner, but if you want to use the meat in other recipes, just cook as described above, cool and remove the meat. The shrimp are small in size, so it takes a lot to make a meal. A common European recipe makes a shrimp salad with the shrimp meat and mayonnaise and stuffs the mixture into hollowed out tomatoes. It’s a very tasty appetizer!