How to Boil Frozen Unpeeled Shrimp

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   The ingredients you need to cook shrimp. Properly boiled seafood has a rich taste and an appetizing aroma. The smell and color are strongly affected by the amount of salt and spices it's cooked with. You can, of course, boil it without any additions, but the taste will come out rather bland; to enrich the flavor, use bay leaf, various kinds of peppercorns, fresh and dried herbs, and so on.

2. Step 2:

   

   First, set a pot of water on the heat (the ratio of shrimp to water should be at least 1:2), and meanwhile remove the icy glaze. Shrimp are often tossed into the pot with it still on, but that's a common mistake. The quickest way is just to rinse them under warm water — this gets rid of the ice, along with excess grit and broken-off antennae and legs.

3. Step 3:

   

   Seafood doesn't absorb salt well, so you need to add more. The recommended amount of salt is 40–45 g per liter of water; for peeled shrimp, halve the amount of salt.

4. Step 4:

   

   Add sprigs of parsley and dill to the boiling water; you can also use dried herbs — the aroma will be a little different.

5. Step 5:

   

   Add the bay leaf — it nicely rounds out the aroma of the brine.

6. Step 6:

   

   Add the other dry spices — allspice and black peppercorns work very well here. The spice mix is flexible: you can use the ones I've suggested, or add things like cloves, garlic, onion, a special seafood spice blend, or other spices to taste.

7. Step 7:

   

   Add the prepared shrimp to the pot of fragrant brine. The recommended cooking time for regular shrimp is 2–3 minutes after the water returns to a boil. Tiger prawns take 7 minutes, and king prawns need 7–10 minutes.

8. Step 8:

   

   To make the shrimp easier to peel, rinse them under a stream of cold water.

9. Step 9:

   

   Before serving, drizzle the shrimp with lemon juice and serve with your favorite sauce or without one. Enjoy!