# Buying Shrimp



## CraigC (Sep 9, 2012)

Does it matter to you whether you purchase wild caught or farm raised? IMO, farm raised doesn't have a lot of flavor.


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## powerplantop (Sep 9, 2012)

CraigC said:


> Does it matter to you whether you purchase wild caught or farm raised? IMO, farm raised doesn't have a lot of flavor.



I prefer fresh wild caught gulf shrimp. Of course that is not what I can always get.


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## Steve Kroll (Sep 9, 2012)

I think wild caught is usually the best tasting. If you're having a meal where the shrimp is main focus of the dish, I feel like it's the best choice. If you're just chopping it up to make something like shrimp salad, it probably doesn't matter. I would try to stay away from shrimp imported from Asia or South America, though, as much of it is farm raised in polluted environments or doused with antibiotics.


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## CWS4322 (Sep 9, 2012)

My dad used to have to go to New Orleans every now and again...he'd bring back 20 lb of fresh shrimp. I think it was "wild caught." It was soooooooo good. We'd steam it and eat it cold....best shrimp I've ever had. Or maybe that is like remembering things that were SOOOOO BIG when one was a child. He'd also fly back from Boston with live lobster...probably can't do that anymore...I used to bring live lobster home on the plane from Boston or Maine as well back in the days that I traveled there for work.


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## Hoot (Sep 9, 2012)

IMHO there is all the difference in the world. Wild caught shrimp has much more flavor. There used to be any number of roadside sellers of shrimp between here and the Outer Banks. Last time I went that way, I didn't see but a few. Maybe it was bad timing on my part or maybe the regulations regarding such sales have changed. I reckon I need to find out.


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## taxlady (Sep 9, 2012)

I will have to look at the packaging on frozen shrimp to see if they are wild caught. I just thought frozen shrimp were watery, tasteless, and rubbery, so I never bought them. I admit I got that impression from the shrimp platters that people bring to potlucks or serve at parties (not necessarily this brand):


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## Dawgluver (Sep 9, 2012)

I'm always on the lookout for wild caught, U.S. shrimp.  When we go to Mexico, their wild caught shrimp is also excellent, very sweet.


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## taxlady (Sep 9, 2012)

The best shrimp I ever had were wild caught Danish shrimp. They were a special tiny kind, less than an inch in diameter.


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## jennyema (Sep 9, 2012)

The farmed shrimp usually come fom Thailand, Vietnam or China ... 

They are said to be raised in less than sanitary conditions.

I avoid them if i can.


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## Caslon (Sep 9, 2012)

Asia (and other countries) have gone to farming shrimp because of the polluted waters , it got into the shrimp. Also over fishing along with the polluted waters has greatly reduced their numbers.

These days, it's getting harder to find places selling shrimp that isn't farmed. 

I find farmed shrimp are somewhat mushy, less colorful and less tasteful than wild caught.


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## CWS4322 (Sep 9, 2012)

taxlady said:


> The best shrimp I ever had were wild caught Danish shrimp. They were a special tiny kind, less than an inch in diameter.


You should be able to get Matane shrimp s/place in Montreal--they are the tiny kind and very good.


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## Addie (Sep 9, 2012)

CWS4322 said:


> My dad used to have to go to New Orleans every now and again...he'd bring back 20 lb of fresh shrimp. I think it was "wild caught." It was soooooooo good. We'd steam it and eat it cold....best shrimp I've ever had. Or maybe that is like remembering things that were SOOOOO BIG when one was a child. He'd also fly back from Boston with live lobster...probably can't do that anymore...I used to bring live lobster home on the plane from Boston or Maine as well back in the days that I traveled there for work.


 
Yeah, you can still fly with live lobsters. In fact at Logan Airport, there is a place that sells and packs them for you to take on the plane with you. They have a tank full of live ones. If I were buying any to take with me, I would never buy tham at the airport. Way too expensive. You will be paying $5.99-$6.99 a pound or up. The tourists don't know any better. 

Right now there is such a glut of them on the market. They are only $3.99 a pound for 1-1.5# chickens. That is the supermarket price. The lobstermen are cutting out the middle man and selling them directly from their boats. Be at the dock when the boats come in, and they are almost giving them away. But I would rather pay the supermarket price to them. They are having a really rough year. Some lobstermen have stopped going out in the morning to set their traps.


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## CWS4322 (Sep 9, 2012)

Addie said:


> Yeah, you can still fly with live lobsters. In fact at Logan Airport, there is a place that sells and packs them for you to take on the plane with you. They have a tank full of live ones. If I were buying any to take with me, I would never buy tham at the airport. Way too expensive. You will be paying $5.99-$6.99 a pound or up. The tourists don't know any better.
> 
> Right now there is such a glut of them on the market. They are only $3.99 a pound for 1-1.5# chickens. That is the supermarket price. The lobstermen are cutting out the middle man and selling them directly from their boats. Be at the dock when the boats come in, and they are almost giving them away. But I would rather pay the supermarket price to them. They are having a really rough year. Some lobstermen have stopped going out in the morning to set their traps.


I never bought them at the airport--I used to stop at a fishmonger place on my way to the airport...you have no idea how tempting it is to make a road trip to Boston!


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## Addie (Sep 9, 2012)

CWS4322 said:


> I never bought them at the airport--I used to stop at a fishmonger place on my way to the airport...you have no idea how tempting it is to make a road trip to Boston!


 
Call when you arrive. We can do lunch together. And some other stuff. Son #1 would love to meet you. He has been keeping up the the Chicken Chronicals.


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## GLC (Sep 9, 2012)

We're really fortunate in most of Texas. It's an unusual week when my grocery doesn't have wild brown Gulf shrimp, often fresh. They make an effort and have exclusive contracts with a number of Texas Gulf boats that include painting the boats in the store logo. (I had assumed their commercials touting this were largely hype, but independent stories show they do control the catch of a substantial fleet.)






Talk to your seafood counter staff. One thing I've learned is that "previously frozen" doesn't necessarily mean it's been hard frozen. Apparently, there's some middle ground, short of hard freezing, that still mandates the "previously frozen" label. I suspect it may be where some portion of the catch was on board long enough to freeze, but most of the catch was moved on ice without freezing. This seems to happen most often with those local brown Gulf shrimp. 

The overall impression of these shrimp is that they are in every way superior to farmed. One aspect is texture. The local wild shrimp seem to have a firm texture that's so important, especially for such as ceviche.


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## Andy M. (Sep 9, 2012)

taxlady said:


>




I have tasted the shrimp in this type of package several times at a relative's home and they are consistently tasteless and waterlogged.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Sep 9, 2012)

Andy M. said:


> I have tasted the shrimp in this type of package several times at a relative's home and they are consistently tasteless and waterlogged.



The vacuum packing causes that waterlogged ick.  I get my platter at Costco and don't have that problem.


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## taxlady (Sep 9, 2012)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> The vacuum packing causes that waterlogged ick.  I get my platter at Costco and don't have that problem.


I hadn't noticed that the picture was of a vacuum pack. I have had the tasteless, waterlogged shrimp from platters with a clear, rigid lid.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Sep 9, 2012)

The Costco platters are done each day and the shrimp are on a bed of green leaf lettuce to hold them out of any liquid that drains off.


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## Addie (Sep 9, 2012)

When we lived in Aransas Pass on the Gulf, my husband was a shimper. He often went out of the Southern fleet. When he came in, he would have some shrimp with him. they would be from the last catch.

The eyes of shrimp glow in the dark. When I first lived there, I didn't know this. My husband came in from a trip. A couple of shrimp heads fell out of the cuff of his pants. I didn't see them. That night in the middle of the dark, I got up to go to the bathroom. There were these things glowing on the floor in the kitchen. You had to go through the kitchen to get to the bathroom. I dang near busted a bladder waiting til morning to see what it was. Of course the light switch was on the other side of the kitchen. Stop that laughing! I can hear ya!

Later when I went out on a couple of trips with him, there were a couple of boats that were pulling in their bags of shrimp. It looked so pretty with all the eyes glowing. Like jewels in the night.


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## Dawgluver (Sep 9, 2012)

And then we eat them.  Oh, the horror!


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## Addie (Sep 10, 2012)

When shrimp are caught in the wild, they are beheaded and laid on a bed of crushed ice. They are then covered in more ice. They are separted on the deck by size. A lot of the really big ones are left with the heads on. These are for restaurants. The shrimp are placed in bins. As the bins get filled up, more boards are placed in the slots at the front. On a good boat, each bin holds just one size. They get more money for their efforts. The really small ones, the heads are left on. Those are for canning. A bad practice. Less money for them. It all depends on the captain. If the captain owns his own boat, he will make the crew behead the tiny ones. If the captain is on a boat owned by a company, they don't care. 

So there is your lessone on what happens to wild shrimp when they are taken aboard a shrimper boat.


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## buckytom (Sep 11, 2012)

from now on, i propose we call addie "bubba" (as in bubba from "forrest gump").


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## Addie (Sep 11, 2012)

buckytom said:


> from now on, i propose we call addie "bubba" (as in bubba from "forrest gump").


 
 it is 2:30 a.m. thanks for the laugh. you have me roaring!! I will be laughing all night now.


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## buckytom (Sep 11, 2012)

take it easy, bubba. we've got a long night ahead.


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## Chef Maloney (Oct 26, 2012)

Addie, thank you for that information. Very interesting, thank you for sharing


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## CraigC (Oct 27, 2012)

Addie said:


> When shrimp are caught in the wild, they are beheaded and laid on a bed of crushed ice. They are then covered in more ice. They are separted on the deck by size. A lot of the really big ones are left with the heads on. These are for restaurants. The shrimp are placed in bins. As the bins get filled up, more boards are placed in the slots at the front. On a good boat, each bin holds just one size. They get more money for their efforts. The really small ones, the heads are left on. Those are for canning. A bad practice. Less money for them. It all depends on the captain. If the captain owns his own boat, he will make the crew behead the tiny ones. If the captain is on a boat owned by a company, they don't care.
> 
> So there is your lessone on what happens to wild shrimp when they are taken aboard a shrimper boat.


 
This is true of boats that are going to sea for several weeks, but not the case with "day boats"! Nothing beats fresh, wild caught, heads on shrimp!


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## Addie (Oct 27, 2012)

CraigC said:


> This is true of boats that are going to sea for several weeks, but not the case with "day boats"! Nothing beats fresh, wild caught, heads on shrimp!


 
That's true. And those are going straight to a restaurant. So what do you do with the rest of your catch? But places that will buy your shrimp as soon as you dock are far and few between. You have to have an agreement in place for that purchase to take place. You have to tie up early in the day and leave the dock in the wee hours of the morning. So there is not that much fresh shrimp on the market. The purchaser is the middle man. He doesn't want to be paying his workers overtime. And he usually has a contract with a local restaurant for the big ones. Most dayboaters are father/son or two brothers who think they are going to make a quick killing on the shrimp market. They waste more fuel going out and coming back in than they get paid for their catch. They also have to pay for their ice. If you don't find the "sweet spot" in your first hour out, you have wasted a trip. 

Another reason you have dayboaters is because the owner/captain of the boat doesn't have enough experience to go out into deeper waters. Or the license issued by the CG. If you have to call the CG due to your own stupidity, you receive a hefty fine. So it is safer and more prudent to stay in close to shore where another shrimp boat can tow you in on their way back to dock. Those big shrimp got that way because they love the cold deep water. And dayboaters don't go out that far.


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## CraigC (Oct 27, 2012)

Addie said:


> That's true. And those are going straight to a restaurant. So what do you do with the rest of your catch? But places that will buy your shrimp as soon as you dock are far and few between. You have to have an agreement in place for that purchase to take place. You have to tie up early in the day and leave the dock in the wee hours of the morning. So there is not that much fresh shrimp on the market. The purchaser is the middle man. He doesn't want to be paying his workers overtime. And he usually has a contract with a local restaurant for the big ones. Most dayboaters are father/son or two brothers who think they are going to make a quick killing on the shrimp market. They waste more fuel going out and coming back in than they get paid for their catch. They also have to pay for their ice. If you don't find the "sweet spot" in your first hour out, you have wasted a trip.
> 
> Another reason you have dayboaters is because the owner/captain of the boat doesn't have enough experience to go out into deeper waters. Or the license issued by the CG. If you have to call the CG due to your own stupidity, you receive a hefty fine. So it is safer and more prudent to stay in close to shore where another shrimp boat can tow you in on their way back to dock. Those big shrimp got that way because they love the cold deep water. And dayboaters don't go out that far.


 
Have you ever watched "Swamp People"? I don't think Joe would waste his time shrimping if he wasn't going to make money. There are fish markets that depend on day boaters to get heads on shrimp for public sale, so I doubt all of the catch goes to restaurants.


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## Addie (Oct 27, 2012)

CraigC said:


> Have you ever watched "Swamp People"? I don't think Joe would waste his time shrimping if he wasn't going to make money. There are fish markets that depend on day boaters to get heads on shrimp for public sale, so I doubt all of the catch goes to restaurants.


 
The only reality show I watch with any regularity is Top Chef. They just don't hold my interest. I have enough trouble trying to keep track of my own daily activities. I used to watch the Most Dangerous Catch. But when they started to show bodies floating in the waters, I had to stop. It brought back memories to when my second husband was brought home by the CG when the boat he was on went down in the Atlantic. I couldn't deal with it. That is when I learned what "flashback" really menat. 

I have never been a movie person. But with the selection of quality shows on TV these past years since reality shows have taken over, I have discovered some very good movies that I had no interest in the first time around. The Hallmark Movie channel has become my favorite. No violence, no course language, no stupidity. I know, what a dull life I lead. Thank goodness for the "Bleep" button. I can get all of that language I don't care for out on the street. 

So to get back on subject. Cajuns are very proud folks. They really do scratch a living from their surroundings. Earning any kind of a living in the swamps is difficult enough. I am not familiar with dayboats in the swamps. Only in the Gulf. And if they can catch large heads-on shrimp, and sell them for a profit, then I wish them all the best in the world. It is a hard life.


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## Snip 13 (Oct 27, 2012)

I always put the farmed shrimp in ice cold well salted water for an hour or so. Then they taste better and don't go as rubbery.


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## Addie (Oct 27, 2012)

All shellfish should be cooked at a gentle heat. And for the shortest time possible while still cooking the product completely. It is the prolonged high heat that will cause shellfish to become rubbery and tough to eat.


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## CDavis504 (Nov 25, 2012)

There is no comparison, wild caught shrimp is much better than farm raised.  If possible always get fresh Louisiana shrimp, it's some of the best and most flavorful in the world.  And do not even waste your time getting the shrimp that is imported from China.  In my opinion those have no taste whatsoever.


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## CraigC (Dec 31, 2012)

I give up! Now when I ask for WC shrimp locally, I get directed to the frozen food section. Guess I'm gonna have to start ordering from LA, just like I do for live crawfish!

I don't eat at Red Lobster, but those who do should ask where they get their garbage, err I mean "shrimp" from. Or tell them that you want WC shrimp and see if they lie to you.


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## Addie (Dec 31, 2012)

All shrimp are frozen right on the boat. They are placed in the hold on a large bed of ice, then covered over with more ice that is a few inches thick.


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## GotGarlic (Dec 31, 2012)

Fresh shrimp is highly perishable - I prefer to buy it frozen. If I'm going to splurge on expensive seafood, I'm getting scallops 

I bought a two-pound bag of frozen wild-caught Texas shrimp for dinner tonight. Will give a report later on


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## CraigC (Dec 31, 2012)

Addie said:


> All shrimp are frozen right on the boat. They are placed in the hold on a large bed of ice, then covered over with more ice that is a few inches thick.


 
You are wrong when it comes to day boats. My SIL has an uncle in LA that supplements his income shrimping. It gets iced down on the boat and delivered to a seller that does some online business. I can get it shipped overnight, heads on and never frozen. I have no idea why you keep making this generalized statement when it is only true of boats that are away from port for long periods of time.


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