Chef Todd Mohr will boil shrimp heads and tails to create a shrimp boil, shrimp soup, or shrimp sauce from the cooking shrimp he got at the Koloa Fish Market. The flavorful shrimp stock he creates can be used to cook shrimp for shrimp cocktail.
The best way to buy fresh shrimp is with the heads still on. Having the heads on the shrimp assures it’s never been frozen. Frozen shrimp with the heads on will be obvious to the eye that they’ve been frozen, as the innards turn into a white goop.
Creating shrimp stock from the heads and shells of fresh shrimp is the other benefit to buying fresh shrimp with the heads on. Similar to making a chicken or beef stock where the collagen in the bones gives flavor and structure, the shells and heads of fresh shrimp give all the flavor to the resulting stock.
Normally, you’d throw away the heads and shells of the shrimp you just cleaned. Now, what you considered garbage can be the basis for a shrimp soup, shrimp sauce, or even as a poaching or steaming liquid to cook fresh fish or add another layer of shrimp flavor to your shrimp cocktail.
Get the most flavor from all the occasions that you cook shrimp by purchasing fresh shrimp with the head on and creating a flavorful shrimp broth to use in your next creation.
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Goat Farm on Hawaii
Hawaii Fish Market
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