Shrimp which vein

It took me about 3 or 4 minutes tops. I used these shrimp in my new Shrimp Alfredo recipe with broccoli. You can view the recipe here. For more cooking tips, please visit my Facebook page, The Gardening Cook.

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Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser. What I see is a black line on the bottom. I've got some already deveined shrimp and the back is clear and opened as expected. Though there is still another 'vein' on the inside and it's definitely black on these, too.

There are two types of vein lines in shrimp. The one most people notice is the black one which should be removed. Fortunately for us, cleaning this is easy.

It's white, rather than red, because the blood of shrimp is clear. There's no food-safety reason to remove this one, but you can if it seems more appetizing to you. To devein your peeled shrimp, first start by keeping them in a bowl of ice water. It will keep them fresh while you work on the other shrimp. Remove the "vein" with the tip of your knife, then rinse the shrimp in cold water.

Tags: Seafood. Check out our recommendations for the necessary equipment and ingredients to make this recipe. Should you devein the shrimp, and if there is no dark thread visible, is it necessary to do so?

The decision to devein shrimp is basically a matter of personal preference and aesthetics, not hygiene, and the vein is not harmful to the human body if eaten. If the vein is visible through the shell and meat, and if you find the digestive tract unappealing and unattractive, then it makes sense to remove it.

In some countries, like Japan, they serve the shrimp with the visible vein. With large shrimp , it is fairly easy to devein them: Use a sharp paring knife to make a slit along the back and lift out the vein with the tip of the knife. Most cooks will not bother deveining medium-sized or smaller shrimp unless they look particularly dirty. Small shrimp are more challenging; it could take hours to go through the deveining process for numerous shrimp.

To make cooks' lives easier, many suppliers offer deveined shrimp, which is sometimes done without splitting the flesh or even removing the shell. So if deveining is not for you, try to find pre-packed frozen deveined shrimp. Whether you devein or not, it's a good idea to wash your hands—and any utensils that came into contact with the shrimp—in hot, soapy water. Shrimp harbor bacteria that could, if spread, cause food poisoning.

In some instances, it's OK to leave the shell on during cooking. For example, when grilling shrimp it's wise to leave the shell on because it protects the meat from the intense heat of the grill. Peel-and-eat shrimp, as the name suggests, is another example of when you would leave the shell on. But for other dishes, such as a stir-fry or shrimp scampi, or a shrimp cocktail appetizer, you should go the extra step of removing the shell so you can dig in right away and enjoy the food.