Although sea shrimp are small in size, their tiny bodies are not only rich in nutrients but also contain some impurities. Therefore, before cooking, we must first know how to properly prepare sea shrimp to enjoy them safely.
The cleaning of sea shrimp mainly involves removing the shrimp head, deveining, and trimming the tail. Let's go over the specific steps together:
1. Cut off the shrimp head at a 45-degree angle, starting from the brain area and cutting downwards.
2. Use scissors to pick out the shrimp brain. The dark brain and red blood will come out.
3. Right in front of the shrimp brain is the roe, which is a delicacy. If there is roe, be careful to preserve it as much as possible when removing the head.
4. Gently pull out the shrimp head, and part of the intestinal tract will come out with it.
5. Trim the shrimp tail. If you don't care about the appearance, you can cut it off. When cutting, take a little bit of the tail meat with it, as this area might contain a sphincter. If you don't cut enough, you won't be able to squeeze out the contents, and you might end up crushing the shrimp instead.
6. Squeeze out the intestinal tract. Pinch the back of the shrimp with your index finger and thumb, and apply pressure towards the tail. The intestine will come out. Continue until the muddy tract is expelled.
Friendly Reminder:
1. Depending on where you start squeezing, you might not be able to remove the entire intestine. As long as you squeeze out the muddy contents, it's considered a success. Give it a final rinse, and then you can start cooking the shrimp.
2. If you are braising or making salt and pepper shrimp, you can simply cut open the entire back of the shrimp with scissors to remove the impurities. This method is not only easy but also allows the shrimp to absorb more flavor.