Butterflying shrimp?

[TheFied]

After work today I bought 2 pounds of gulf coast unpeeled shrimp to grill. I used a recipe from Tom Perini's cookbook. He says to peel the shrimp and butterfly them. He calls for a recipe of garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. I used that and it came out great.

But I have a couple of questions. First, any advice on how to butterfly shrimp? These shrimp were pretty curled up and it was not easy to butterfly them. The first time I have tried to. Advice to make it easier?

Second, how can you tell when shrimp is done? I grilled it using the "3 second rule" and grilled them probably 10 minutes per side (used a wooden skewer).

 

[Ag with kids]

In reply to:

---

---

 

[TheFied]

Well, they weren't over the hottest part of the coals so maybe they weren't really 3 second rule material (i had them on the sides).... so yeah 20 minutes over ~4-5 second rule. I probably should have said that.

 

[TheFied]

How do you know when shrimp is done?

 

[Tex Pete]

When the meat's white, and/or the outside is pink or red, it's done.

 

[pulque]

Butterfly by cutting down the back and deveining. Shrimp only need a couple of minutes per side, otherwise you end up with rubber..

 

[DallasCowpoke]

This is a good example of an easy way to peel/devein shrimp.

To butterfly, just cut slightly deeper into the flesh, when you make the cut to devein. Doing this under the tap, with just bairly running water, helps speed this process along.

FWIW... Despite what it says in the caption for the last pic, the plural for "shrimp", STILL only requires ONE "S"!

 

[scottsins]

when the shrimp forms the shape of a "c", it is "cooked.

When it forms an "o", it is over-cooked.

 

[flaco]

If de-veining a shrimp use a serrated steak knife to barely cut under the skin.

 

[Steel Shank]

"bairly"?

 

[Mrmyke709]

In reply to:

---

---

 

[Anastasis]

^that's what I use to clean and devein. If grilling I usually leave them in the shell after cleaning.

 

[DallasCowpoke]

<---- still looking for the "skin" part of the shrimp?

 

[LazyEngineer]

The trick to good shrimp is to not over cook them. Shrimp cook amazingly fast. I prefer to cook mine on very hot coals for only 3-4 minutes TOTAL.