The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 848

Head-on Versus Headless Normally I like to buy my products in an as-close-tonatural state as possible, but shrimp are a major exception Shrimp heads contain enzymes that are held in check while the shrimp is alive As soon as they die, however, those enzymes will slowly work their way into the shrimp’s body, breaking down tissues and causing them to turn mushy Even within a day or two the difference can be striking Deheading the shrimp at sea before they are frozen prevents this mushiness For this reason, unless I’m buying shrimp that I can verify were caught within half a day or so (and are preferably still alive and kicking), I’ll opt for headless shrimp IQF Versus Block-Frozen IQF stands for Individually Quick Frozen, and the term means that each shrimp was frozen on its own before being bagged Block shrimp come frozen together in a large block of ice As a general rule, the faster you freeze something, the smaller the loss in textural quality, so go with the IQF They also have the advantage that they are much quicker to defrost Size Forget labels like “medium,” “large,” or “jumbo”: these are unregulated terms that are decided on by the packager or the supermarket Instead, look for a set of two numbers, such as 26–30 or 16–20 These numbers indicate the number of individual shrimp that it takes up to make a pound So a package labeled 16–20 will contain shrimp that weigh in at a little less than an ounce each The smaller the number, the larger the shrimp For superlarge shrimp, you may see a number like U–15, which means that it takes under 15 pieces to make up a pound As far as flavor goes, there’s not much difference among the sizes—look to individual recipes to specify the right size of shrimp for the job Additional Ingredients Shrimp, like scallops, are often treated with STP (sodium tripolyphosphate), a chemical intended to help them retain moisture More than anything, this is a ploy to bulk up their weight and sell them at a higher profit Check the ingredients list on packages of frozen shrimp They should list shrimp, possibly salt, and nothing else  ... or “jumbo”: these are unregulated terms that are decided on by the packager or the supermarket Instead, look for a set of two numbers, such as 26–30 or 16–20 These numbers indicate the number... each The smaller the number, the larger the shrimp For superlarge shrimp, you may see a number like U–15, which means that it takes under 15 pieces to make up a pound As far as flavor goes, there’s... intended to help them retain moisture More than anything, this is a ploy to bulk up their weight and sell them at a higher profit Check the ingredients list on packages of frozen shrimp They should