Shrimp Heads - to eat or not too eat? I have some fresh head on shrimp I am going to boil up and was wondering if many people "suck the head...

Question

Shrimp Heads - to eat or not too eat?  I have some fresh head on shrimp I am going to boil up and was wondering if many people "suck the head and eat the tail" like with crawfish? I saw fried shrimp heads on "Best thing I ever ate" on FoodNetwork once but can not find out how they were prepared.

innoabrd · Answer

definitely suck!  Depending on the type of prawn and how it's prepared, I often eat the shells too.  The ones we get from Mozambique often have pretty thin shells and if you've sauteed them...yum!

Bombay C. · Answer

Eat, Suck but please don't chuck. Is the most delicious part of the Shrimp. I typically eat it with the rest of the shrimps but also sometimes use it in the dish to impart flavour to the gravy or the sauce and then take it out at the end of cooking. Also to make stock ofcourse.

Hilarybee · Answer

Suck the heads! If you can't stomach it- save the heads in the freezer. and makes stock or use them as a base for gumbo.

RavensFeast · Answer

Definitely suck the heads! One of the best parts.  I love them fried too, as they do with Japanese amaebi.

Kitchen B. · Answer

Definitely to eat. Juicy, tasty with some meat in that head. Some people will cook them, pureé them, sieve the bits and use that in a chowder, soup or as a seafood stock for dishes like paella etc

pierino · Answer

Even if you don't suck on the head there is some delicious fat where the head connects to the body. Cooked on a grill they are great. New Orleans style barbecue shrimp are delicious even if they aren't really barbecued.

Mr_Vittles · Answer

Oh yeah! Suck that head! Cook them whole and when you pull the meat from the head you suck the head and get all the juices and "stuff" from that resides all up in there. Its really good, but may take a few tries to get the technique down.

7 Comments

Popular on Food52