The only thing I can think of is that you're boiling them too long or the shrimp are too fresh. At least when peeling raw shrimp that are a few days old (kept cold), they peel easier than shrimp right off the boat.
Into your water pot, squeeze the juice of 2-3 lemons, then drop what's left of the lemons in too. Add your bag of shrimp/crab boil, salt and vinegar. (The vinegar is the secret ingredient. It makes the shrimp easier to peel.)
When they are overcooked, shrimp turn matte white or gray. Another easy way to tell if your shrimp are cooked is if they are curled into a nice C shape. Overcooked shrimp are curled tightly into an O shape.
We'd recommend boiling shrimp with the shell on for the best flavor. It's also helpful to buy shrimp that has already been deveined.
Cook in the shell whenever possible, especially when you grill. The shells add a lot of flavor to the meat, and they protect it from quickly overcooking. Besides, sitting around a table peeling and eating shrimp is a party right there.
After adding your shrimp to the boiling water, keep your eye on the pot and don't move on to another task. Overcooking shrimp causes them to take on a tough, rubbery texture. When your shrimp turn pink and begin to curl, you'll know they're done.
* You can't eat shrimp that hasn't been deveined. If you were to eat the shrimp raw, the thin black “vein” that runs through it could cause harm. That's the shrimp's intestine, which, like any intestine, has a lot of bacteria. But cooking the shrimp kills the germs.
To remove calcium carbonate and protein in the shell, large dosages of hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) are usually used.
Choose shrimp with or without shells.
If you buy shrimp with shells, you will have to peel them yourself. Shrimp can be peeled either before or after cooking. Many find it easier to peel cooked shrimp. Cooking with the shells on also helps preserve the flavor.
If you cook your shrimp too much, they turn to mush and it makes the peeling much more difficult. It's exceedingly difficult to undercook shrimp.
Day Dream Kitchen explains that vinegar helps to loosen the attachment between the shell and the meat of the shrimp. They claim it is not 100 % effective, but it does help. Vinegar also helps to add flavor to the shrimp. Live Strong says that adding vinegar enhances the taste of shrimp, and Black Tail NYC agrees.
This is the trick: You want to keep an eye on the crevice in the back of the shrimp where the vein was removed. Stay locked onto the thickest part of the shrimp (the opposite end as the tail), and when the flesh at the base of that crevice turns from translucent to opaque, the shrimp is done. It's cooked through.
Not that I expect you to eat them, but when left on for the cooking process, shrimp shells contribute a depth of flavor that's somewhere between toasty and briny. Cooking unpeeled shrimp is the thing that will really make that shrimp flavor pop, and to reap the benefits, the only thing you need to do is… nothing.
Shrimp shells do more than just protect the flesh; they also significantly enhance its flavor in three ways: Shrimp shells contain water-soluble flavor compounds that are absorbed by the shrimp flesh during cooking, thereby enhancing its taste.
Alkaline baking soda slightly alters the pH of the shrimp, making them as plump and succulent as lobster and resistant to overcooking. The brine also causes the meat to pull away from the shells while cooking, so you get all the great flavor of shell-on shrimp without the hassle.
The salt helps keep the shrimp moist and juicy as they cook, while baking soda gives them a crisper, snappier texture. You'll notice this improvement in virtually any recipe, whether you're poaching or searing, but you'll get a bonus boost if you're applying direct heat to the shrimp.
Demineralization was performed by adding 5% (w/v) HCl solution to the shrimp shells (30 g). The mixtures were stirred for 1 h at ambient temperature. Afterwards the reacted samples were rinsed with distilled water and gathered by centrifugation.
The vein in shrimp is entirely edible, and removing it or not is a matter of preference. That said, a dark vein can be a bit unsightly in some preparations, like boiled shrimp for shrimp cocktail, and can also add a noticeable grittiness to dishes. For this reason it's usual to devein shrimp, but it's up to you.
The “vein” is the shrimp's digestive tract and is perfectly safe to eat, but some prefer to remove it because it can be gritty and/or for aesthetics. And the shells are packed with flavor, which can infuse whatever dish you're cooking with more crustacean flavor.
Is cleaning shrimp really necessary? Technically, no. The little black line on the bottom of the shrimp, also called a “vein,” is just a digestive tract. Depending on what the shrimp ate before it was caught, it could be darker than the rest of the meat.
Add 8 cups water and bring to a boil over med/high heat. 2. Once water boils, add the peeled and deveined shrimp and simmer until pink, about 2-3 minutes depending on the size of the shrimp. Drain and transfer cooked shrimp to a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process and let cool.
Cooked shrimp should be left out no more than 2 hours, and not for more than one hour if the outside temperature is above 90 degrees. How long is cooked shrimp safe in the refrigerator? Cooked shrimp that is wrapped or sealed tightly will last for a couple of days.
Is It Safe to Cook Shrimp from Frozen? Totally! Unlike chicken or salmon that must be cooked to a correct temperature to ensure their safety, shrimp are so small and so quick to cook that it's hard to undercook them or serve them underdone.