I stopped ordering any dish that involves shrimp on top of, or integrated into anything unless I knew there was not a shell on it. I understand that I can eat the shell, but I don't want to.
My family used to go to captain d’s a lot as a kid. Each and every time I’d eat the tails I’d get violently ill. So I assumed you weren’t supposed to eat them after about my third run with it lol
That might just be you or maybe something to do with how the restaurant handles the shrimp. Sometimes I eat the tails and it has never once made me sick. You might have a mild allergy to chitin or something like that.
I mean, it’s one thing for say shrimp cocktail shrimp that you are supposed to eat with your hands. Makes a nice little handle. But IN dishes you are eating with a fork or spoon, covered in sauces and seasoning, it’s gross to have to stick your fingers in your food.
If you use a knife to press into the shell a centimeter or two away from where the shell meets the meat, you can use a fork to pull the whole shrimp and tail out of the shell. Less waste and less mess.
Eating the shell is common in some cultures. There used to be a Chinese restaurant near me that fried shrimp with the shell on. You could barely tell a difference really
Yep. We had a Japanese exchange student stay with us. My wife noticed he popped the whole shrimp in his mouth and mentioned we remove the tail (shell). He proceeded to continue eating them whole.
For a fun reversal, you should have offered them some grapes that [weren't peeled](https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/6o0neo/til_its_very_common_for_people_in_japan_to_peel/) and popped the whole grape in your mouth.
While visiting China, I found that the head, body and tail was on all “prawns”. They often eat all of it, some do not, some eat some. It’s just the waste not want not ideology I guess. Many of my Chinese colleagues said that the shell/head offers much more flavor - which I do agree, it does add flavor, but it’s not for me. Alternatively, this is also cien breast is not the most sought after cut on a chicken in Asia - there’s very little flavor in the breast. When going to a McDonald’s or KFC in China/HK you’ll find that the chicken sandwich is always constructed with dark meat, it breast meat. I have to say, it tastes so much better. So much flavor!
I went to a fancy French restaurant in New Orleans once and the only words I understood were shrimp, so I ordered a shrimp dish.
Yeah. It came out whole. Eyeballs, feelers, legs. My friend said my face went white and I believe it. I had to ask them to remove the heads. I knew it was horrible etiquette, but I mean....not eating them would've been worse etiquette and if I spent one more second with dead shrimp faces staring at me I seriously might've passed out.
Maybe if I knew ahead of time, I could've steeled myself. But the dish just appeared in front of me (silently efficient wait staff) and my vision narrowed alarmingly.
It took an embarrassingly long time for the food to return and I'm sure the Chef cussed me with every chop. So sorry, I now understand I do not belong in fancy French restaurants.
You can tell you've got an entire shrimp and not just little pieces mushed together by the fact that you've got an entire shrimp on your plate, and not just little pieces mushed together.
I don't feel like I should be eating in any restaurant that the shell is the reason that I know I'm eating an actual shrimp. No one should be eating at a restaurant that they worry about that. Your money is better spent elsewhere
Fake crab is a thing. I have a relative that has a bone fish allergy, but can eat shellfish. On vacation, the restaurant “confirmed” the crab in a dish was real, but after one bite — nope, immediate reaction. The chef came out to apologize and admitted he supplemented the real crab with fake so there was more in the dish. Fortunately, the allergic reaction was minor.
Can’t they just use the shells/tails for stock that is then incorporated into the pasta? I make a pasta dish and cook my pasta in chicken broth. Adds a lot more flavor.
This is where classic French cusine shines.
Yes there is a lot of flavor in the shells of the shrimp, and in the bones of the chicken.
You separate the meat from the inedible in the kitchen and use the skeletons, (along with the flavorful bits of vegetable you can't serve) to make a flavorful stock that is incorporated into the dish for almost nothing in food cost.
It can be a win win win. Food cost goes down, quality and intensity of flavor increases and ease of eating is improved.
It relies though, on hiring folks who 1) understand the concept, 2) can execute it with skill 3) are likely to demand being paid for their skills.
Number three is where a lot of restaurants fail. It's easier to pay extra money for meats that are badly pre-processed, leaving for with a higher food cost that leaves no money for skilled labor.
Professional chefs cook it in the shell for more flavorful shrimp especially when grilling or in SEA cuisine and then peel the shell after cooking. This is to keep as much as possible of the shrimp simmering in its own juices. They don't just leave the tails on.
Most places don't peel after cooking. You just get shrimp shell in your pasta sauce so you have to pick apart your meal with your fingers like a toddler.
If it's shrimp cocktail that's fine, but when the shrimp is hot and covered in sauce so now my fingers are all saucy... like wtf.
This makes sense to me. Anyone who has cooked shrimp themselves knows they cook differently with and without shells. They get more bloated without a shell keeping them in, so I could see them being more flavorful by being kept smaller, too.
As far as I know it adds flavour when cooking it with the shell
Kinda like cooking steak or chicken with the bone in, the parts near the bone are the most delicious by far!
Yes it is because it adds flavour but also because in asian traditional cooking you often leave part of the animal intact to show freshness. Like leaving the fish head in a fish dish.
That and depending on the sauce it tends to pool in the shell, leading to a little bursts of flavour.
Could be a cost-cutting measure though , since pre-peeled prawns are pricier and paying some member of staff would up the workload as well I suppose ...
THIS THIS THIS. I personally struggle to cook shrimp. Leaving the tail on is my "training wheels" for achieving plump, juicy shrimp every time. I feel like I blink while cooking them without the shell, and they're immediately shriveled and tough.
If shrimp IS the dish, I’m fine with tails on but no shells. It’s a little handle for the shrimp. But if shrimp is IN the dish, please… no tail or shell.
I always forget shrimps are basically sea roaches, but sometimes I get a shrimp dish with complete feet on it and I'd suck on it like a kid sipping on a toothbrush
Interesting. My dad used to tell me that you can eat the tail if you chew good enough. Kind of like the outer parts of a chicken wing (I don't know the English word for it).
"good to clean your bowel", he said.
But then his knowledge comes from a time pre-internet so it might be "word of mouth".
I actually eat the tail of shrimps occasionally and I am not having any problems with it. It's actually pleasantly crunchy. :D
You can eat them but I don't think they have any significant health benefit. I'm guessing that if you eat a shitload of them you might end up with intestinal blockage eventually.
You can digest the shells. There will be no intestinal blockage. It’s fine.
The shells are left on because people like to pick the shrimp out of their dish and eat by hand sometimes. It just makes them easier to grab. Eating the shells definitely provides calcium.
At sushi places you can get tempura shrimp heads and tails. You eat the whole thing, eyeball stalks and everything. Its crunchy and delicious. I also like eating the shrimp tails on shrimp cocktail platters. I love that stuff. Totally safe.
> Kind of like the outer parts of a chicken wing (I don't know the English word for it).
I actually *love* that part! It has to be eaten right off the grill, so that the outer end is nice and crispy, though. I love to gnaw on bones, haha.
Perhaps it's just where I live, but one thing I have noticed from the "younger generation" (and I say that loosely, as I am 27), is that there is little desire to *really* get down and dirty to eat all that can be eaten. There are just some superficial cuts or bites of the leg or wing, or the ribs and that's it.
Japanese friend in college always ate shrimp shell and all. Said his girlfriend made him as it was a good source of calcium. I suggested he drink milk now and again instead.
Any bone in meat, it's either socially acceptable to pick it up and eat it with your hands (like ribs or a chicken leg) or the meat can very easily be separated from the bone with a knife and fork. A dish you are supposed to eat with a fork or spoon, however, I feel very strongly you should be able to eat it without touching it with your hands at all.
Depends on how it is cooked. I wouldn't recommend it for like, blanched cocktail shrimp. But if they are grilled, or fried, or broiled, anything high heat they get crispy.
If you like softshell crab, you probably wouldn't mind shrimp shells.
I peeled 10 pounds of shrimp 2 days ago, leaving the tail on takes longer than removing the entire shell.
Most restaurant supply places sell them tail-on for cheap.
This also isn't true in industrial capacity. The machine that deveins the shrimp also leaves an unappealing incision by the back of the shell. That's handled in 3 ways. Peeling the whole thing (2 extra steps), making the incision on the back uniform and longer (1 extra step called EZ Peel), and removing the bulk of the shell (1 extra step).
It's also faster to buy tail on shrimp and take the tails off than it is to peel full shrimp.
Except sometimes it's buried in the dish where you can't see it. It's for ease and to a lesser extent cost. You can make tail off shrimp beautiful. You can't serve tail off shrimp without either taking off the tail or buying more expensive tail off shrimp.
When you buy shrimp with shells still on, just deveined, it's actually easier and faster to take the whole damn shell off. Tail included. Leaving the tail on is literally harder.
Except they buy the shrimp in bulk peeled with the tail on. Also they don't sell shrimp deveined shell on. They sell EZ Peel which is with a slit on the back. The needle deveiner leaves a sharp tooth on the back of the shell when it deveins shrimp.
If you buy shell on just to shell it you're doing nothing but wasting payroll.
the shell is edible. you can literally eat a whole cooked shrimp head and all. it’s not inedible just unappetizing and not everyone is comfortable eating the shell.
My mom uses chopped up chicken on the bone to make curry.
Most Americans and Europeans are spoiled by just being able to dig into certain types of dishes without having to worry about bones or shells.
I think the idea is that it’s the skinniest part, and so leaving the tail on keeps it from cooking to “done” well before the rest of it does, much the same way cooking other odd-shaped proteins calls for covering the skinny bits with foil partway through. That said, I think most places overcook shrimp anyways, so if that’s the reason, you’re not getting the benefit of it.
When I get such a plate, I pinch all the tail shells off before I start eating. If you use your fingers and squeeze from the tail forward, all the meat usually comes out intact. It’s messy, but if you do it all in one “batch,” you only have to clean your fingers the one time :)
Right it's so funny to throw back a whole shrimp and catch someones eyes as they stare in horror. I was at a buffet that had whole fried shrimp head an all and the whole table got quiet when they heard the crunch and looked over to see a shrimp with a bite taken out and the shell still on
Like a shrimp cocktail? Sure! But for a dish where it's mixed in with pasta? No way, I should be able to eat pasta without touching the food with my hands.
Try living in Asia. They don’t just leave the tail on…they leave the whole head, shell, legs on. Even at higher end places.
I’ll sometimes ask the kitchen remove all that for my dish when I order and I get the “are you crazy?” look…then they have to go check with the kitchen to confirm.
They do this at a Mexican restaurant near me and, well, I like staring my food in the face as a fun novelty. It's an excuse to eat with my hands. Thats what napkins are for, right?
Okay but there's a lot of flavor in the head. It is a bit annoying to pull it off from the rest of the shrimp and suck it out, but it's probably the past that's most worth.
I remember going to a hockey game with my buddy and he ate an entire bag of peanuts with shells and all. He was stone sober. He said it was just easier than picking out the peanuts.
I tried one with the shell just to see if I was missing out on some weird food hack. Nope. Easily in the Top 10-20 worst food experiences of my life.
You shut your mouth about the glorious Cajun boiled peanuts!
And now I am desperate for a soda cup of peanuts. And there ain't a place open for 30 miles.
Yup, develop an appetite for eating the shells. They're a good source of calcium. In many Asian cultures it's a signicant portion of calcium in their diets.
Ate a ton of shell on shrimp tonight - didn't try it until I was 28, now just over 40 and prefer shrimp that way.
A friend of mine growing up always ate the shrimp tails while the rest of us picked them off. One day he had to go to the hospital because his intestines were all clogged up with shells.
I don't eat them because they're unpleasant. But I also don't want to end up like Shrimp Tail Shawn.
The answer is actually two different reasons depending on the place you’re at:
At a fancy restaurant with legitimately good chefs and good food: a lot of flavor is imparted by cooking good quality shrimp with the tails on.
At anywhere else: it’s cheaper and looks like the cuisine the other guys are cooking.
Money.
Either someone has to take the tails off, or the restaurant has to buy de-tailed shrimp which costs more.
Or occasionally for presentation like the end piece of sushi or something
At first I was thinking of fried shrimp, and was going to say "to use as a handle," but leaving the tails on for a pasta dish is just because they don't want to bother
Labor cost and time. That's how the shrimp comes to the restaurant. When it's busy, do you want to waste a cooks time detailing each individual shrimp? If it takes 3 seconds to detail 1 shrimp and a dish has 8 shrimp, you just increased the cook time by 24 seconds on a single dish. If your average cook time is 5 minutes on that dish (300 seconds), you just increased your average cook time by 8%. Now your entire kitchen flow is off.
Additionally, if your kitchen employs 10 cooks and your overall cook time went up 5% because of detailing, you need to hire at least 1 part-time cook to make up the slack. So not only are you slowing down the kitchen, but you're also increasing your labor cost. Slowing down your kitchen means less potential sales. Potential sales decline and labor costs increase.
Or, you can have the customer do it for free.
The shells actually have a lot of flavor. What I like to do at home is take the shells off. Cook just the shells with butter and garlic. Then scoop the shells out and add the shrimps. That way you get the delicious oils from the shells but don't have to take time peeling them for every bite.
Chef here! Usually due to laziness or incompetence. I have served dishes with the shrimp tail on, but never with pasta and if I did I definitely wouldn’t mix it in, I would at least leave it on top so they could take it off. (If I had to)
Shrimp at a typical restaurant usually comes in a bag and it’s up to whoever is running the place to order either tail-on or tail-off shrimp and an incompetent owner could order the wrong one and an incompetent or lazy cook would just leave it on and sautee it.
Side note, the shrimp is usually supposed to be deveined as well but in my experience I will usually still find the vein and have to pick through it myself so any place that’s serving tail-on shrimp in their pasta probably aren’t bothering to check for the vein either so… you’re probably eating shrimp shit.
>Why do restaurants leave the tail shells on shrimp?
Presentation.
>Why am I digging through my pasta dish with my fingers to get the shrimp out of the tail shells????
Because you are choosing to use your fingers instead of utensils.
Slide the fork tine inside the shell, use knife to pull tail off at the seam where the tail joins.
Or just cut the whole tail bit off and sacrifice the last centimetre of tail in there. Like a savage.
I just realised that does seem weird. But technically I would mainly do this if eating seafood pasta with shell considerations. The end justifies the means.
I eat the tails… depending how they are cooked they can be too prickly and hard but I like them, and they are a great source of glucosamine. Wouldn’t eat the heads though like some folk do!!
I agree. There's a level of cooking to soften them which is definitely preferred, but I just love eating the tails; especially in a really creamy pasta dish.
I have eaten full jumbo tiger prawns before. They've gotta be carefully prepared and cooked to be edible unpeeled, but they were pretty good. I haven't made a habit of it, though.
Why do they not remove the intestines from shrimp? It has all the trash in there but some places don't bother. That's why I prefer to eat homemade shrimp from locations I know.
The tail is left on for 2 main reasons :
It gives you something to pick it up with for finger food, and if you are a chef you can use it for a variety of dishes when a quick squeeze removes the shell.
If you have actually fresh ones off ice, ( as opposed to frozen then thawed ) you can eat the shell complete. I was peeling mine in Asia on holidays, and they thought I was wasting good flavour and texture. You can tell it is fresh and not frozen when the shell isn’t soggy.
But of course, it is a good feed when your dinner is still moving in a lot of places over there.
i dont know but i hate it
I stopped ordering any dish that involves shrimp on top of, or integrated into anything unless I knew there was not a shell on it. I understand that I can eat the shell, but I don't want to.
My family used to go to captain d’s a lot as a kid. Each and every time I’d eat the tails I’d get violently ill. So I assumed you weren’t supposed to eat them after about my third run with it lol
That might just be you or maybe something to do with how the restaurant handles the shrimp. Sometimes I eat the tails and it has never once made me sick. You might have a mild allergy to chitin or something like that.
Well ain't that some chit
Hahaha zing!
Could you be allergic? It is entirely possible to be allergic to the shell of shellfish without being allergic to the meat.
I’ve never even thought about that tbh. I just avoid the tails completely and I’m fine, I won’t try and find out lol
You might get allergy testing done so you could know for sure.
If I ever come across health insurance, I might lol
Huh. I eat the tails all the time, never had an issue.
It was definitely something else. The shell isn’t toxic. I eat it many times.
Plot twist: it was just the grease
You don't eat the shell.
A good friend of mine does every time, she likes the crunch. I don’t even eat seafood so no judgment from me.
Yeah, sometimes I eat the tails because I like the taste and texture. But it depends on my mood.
I mean, it’s one thing for say shrimp cocktail shrimp that you are supposed to eat with your hands. Makes a nice little handle. But IN dishes you are eating with a fork or spoon, covered in sauces and seasoning, it’s gross to have to stick your fingers in your food.
You can chop it off with the side of your fork, but you lose a bit of the precious meat when you do that.
If you use a knife to press into the shell a centimeter or two away from where the shell meets the meat, you can use a fork to pull the whole shrimp and tail out of the shell. Less waste and less mess.
You can.
Eating the shell is common in some cultures. There used to be a Chinese restaurant near me that fried shrimp with the shell on. You could barely tell a difference really
Yep. We had a Japanese exchange student stay with us. My wife noticed he popped the whole shrimp in his mouth and mentioned we remove the tail (shell). He proceeded to continue eating them whole.
For a fun reversal, you should have offered them some grapes that [weren't peeled](https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/6o0neo/til_its_very_common_for_people_in_japan_to_peel/) and popped the whole grape in your mouth.
While visiting China, I found that the head, body and tail was on all “prawns”. They often eat all of it, some do not, some eat some. It’s just the waste not want not ideology I guess. Many of my Chinese colleagues said that the shell/head offers much more flavor - which I do agree, it does add flavor, but it’s not for me. Alternatively, this is also cien breast is not the most sought after cut on a chicken in Asia - there’s very little flavor in the breast. When going to a McDonald’s or KFC in China/HK you’ll find that the chicken sandwich is always constructed with dark meat, it breast meat. I have to say, it tastes so much better. So much flavor!
I went to a fancy French restaurant in New Orleans once and the only words I understood were shrimp, so I ordered a shrimp dish. Yeah. It came out whole. Eyeballs, feelers, legs. My friend said my face went white and I believe it. I had to ask them to remove the heads. I knew it was horrible etiquette, but I mean....not eating them would've been worse etiquette and if I spent one more second with dead shrimp faces staring at me I seriously might've passed out. Maybe if I knew ahead of time, I could've steeled myself. But the dish just appeared in front of me (silently efficient wait staff) and my vision narrowed alarmingly. It took an embarrassingly long time for the food to return and I'm sure the Chef cussed me with every chop. So sorry, I now understand I do not belong in fancy French restaurants.
And here I am in Houston looking for restaurants that serve the whole shrimp. Thank goodness for Vietnamese and Mexican places
I won't even hesitate to eat the whole shrimp if it's fried. I love the crunch of the shell
Happy cake day!
YOU CAN EAT THE SHELL???????????
i mean i love shrimp especially when its blackened
Blackened with the shell still on?
no the shells off
It’s so you know you get an entire shrimp and not just little pieces mushed together like a Chicken McNugget.
You can tell you've got an entire shrimp and not just little pieces mushed together by the fact that you've got an entire shrimp on your plate, and not just little pieces mushed together.
I don't feel like I should be eating in any restaurant that the shell is the reason that I know I'm eating an actual shrimp. No one should be eating at a restaurant that they worry about that. Your money is better spent elsewhere
Fake crab is a thing. I have a relative that has a bone fish allergy, but can eat shellfish. On vacation, the restaurant “confirmed” the crab in a dish was real, but after one bite — nope, immediate reaction. The chef came out to apologize and admitted he supplemented the real crab with fake so there was more in the dish. Fortunately, the allergic reaction was minor.
Oh, lying about adulterating food - when someone specifically asks. Needs big red arrows pointing at his head forever.
You should not look up imitation calamari then...that stuff is used everywhere. If there are no tentacles, send it back...
If the salad is on top, I send it back.
I'll have the gabbagool
If they call fake crab "krab" then fake shrimp should have a different name, too. How about "skrimp?"
That's such a dumb excuse. It's obviously because the restaurant is too lazy to peel the skin off.
I've been wondering about this forever too. Not getting many responses here though ☹️
I've been told by professional chefs before that it adds flavor cooking with them on.
Can’t they just use the shells/tails for stock that is then incorporated into the pasta? I make a pasta dish and cook my pasta in chicken broth. Adds a lot more flavor.
Have you tried leaving the feathers on for a more flavorful chicken broth?
It's the best way to lighten a meal
Take your upvote and go, lol
Especially if you need a meal on the fly.
No, but I throw a lot of bones in it. Shells are like shrimp bones.
No, but I do use chicken feet for this.
This reads like a /r/KenM comment
This is where classic French cusine shines. Yes there is a lot of flavor in the shells of the shrimp, and in the bones of the chicken. You separate the meat from the inedible in the kitchen and use the skeletons, (along with the flavorful bits of vegetable you can't serve) to make a flavorful stock that is incorporated into the dish for almost nothing in food cost. It can be a win win win. Food cost goes down, quality and intensity of flavor increases and ease of eating is improved. It relies though, on hiring folks who 1) understand the concept, 2) can execute it with skill 3) are likely to demand being paid for their skills. Number three is where a lot of restaurants fail. It's easier to pay extra money for meats that are badly pre-processed, leaving for with a higher food cost that leaves no money for skilled labor.
Professional chefs cook it in the shell for more flavorful shrimp especially when grilling or in SEA cuisine and then peel the shell after cooking. This is to keep as much as possible of the shrimp simmering in its own juices. They don't just leave the tails on.
Most places don't peel after cooking. You just get shrimp shell in your pasta sauce so you have to pick apart your meal with your fingers like a toddler. If it's shrimp cocktail that's fine, but when the shrimp is hot and covered in sauce so now my fingers are all saucy... like wtf.
This makes sense to me. Anyone who has cooked shrimp themselves knows they cook differently with and without shells. They get more bloated without a shell keeping them in, so I could see them being more flavorful by being kept smaller, too.
Whether it’s shrimp, crab, oysters, etc, It ain’t an authentic seafood experience if you don’t get a few fragments of something unpleasant.
As far as I know it adds flavour when cooking it with the shell Kinda like cooking steak or chicken with the bone in, the parts near the bone are the most delicious by far!
Yes it is because it adds flavour but also because in asian traditional cooking you often leave part of the animal intact to show freshness. Like leaving the fish head in a fish dish.
That and depending on the sauce it tends to pool in the shell, leading to a little bursts of flavour. Could be a cost-cutting measure though , since pre-peeled prawns are pricier and paying some member of staff would up the workload as well I suppose ...
Surprised we haven't bred chickens to have exoskeletons, instead.
Not only does it add flavor, it also protects the meat from being overcooked :)
I was about to say, my memory tells me that my experience with shrimp with the tail shell is better than without it.
THIS THIS THIS. I personally struggle to cook shrimp. Leaving the tail on is my "training wheels" for achieving plump, juicy shrimp every time. I feel like I blink while cooking them without the shell, and they're immediately shriveled and tough.
If shrimp IS the dish, I’m fine with tails on but no shells. It’s a little handle for the shrimp. But if shrimp is IN the dish, please… no tail or shell.
This is the way.
Because shrimps have ugly little feet.
Well that's just mean.
They got little hands, little eyes, and they walk around tellin great big lies
Shrimp people got nobody
I always forget shrimps are basically sea roaches, but sometimes I get a shrimp dish with complete feet on it and I'd suck on it like a kid sipping on a toothbrush
Sounds like a verse in a Randy Newman song lol
As a cook this has always bothered me. I'm of the school of thought that there should never be anything inedible on your plate.
Interesting. My dad used to tell me that you can eat the tail if you chew good enough. Kind of like the outer parts of a chicken wing (I don't know the English word for it). "good to clean your bowel", he said. But then his knowledge comes from a time pre-internet so it might be "word of mouth". I actually eat the tail of shrimps occasionally and I am not having any problems with it. It's actually pleasantly crunchy. :D
You can eat them but I don't think they have any significant health benefit. I'm guessing that if you eat a shitload of them you might end up with intestinal blockage eventually.
You can digest the shells. There will be no intestinal blockage. It’s fine. The shells are left on because people like to pick the shrimp out of their dish and eat by hand sometimes. It just makes them easier to grab. Eating the shells definitely provides calcium. At sushi places you can get tempura shrimp heads and tails. You eat the whole thing, eyeball stalks and everything. Its crunchy and delicious. I also like eating the shrimp tails on shrimp cocktail platters. I love that stuff. Totally safe.
Scrolled too far to find this. Tail shells are pretty tasty when fried, and provide a nice handhold otherwise. I see no problem.
What I was scrolling to say also. If it's fried eat the whole thing, otherwise just eat it out of the tail. Easy.
does he eat eggs like the worst ravioli too?
> Kind of like the outer parts of a chicken wing (I don't know the English word for it). I actually *love* that part! It has to be eaten right off the grill, so that the outer end is nice and crispy, though. I love to gnaw on bones, haha. Perhaps it's just where I live, but one thing I have noticed from the "younger generation" (and I say that loosely, as I am 27), is that there is little desire to *really* get down and dirty to eat all that can be eaten. There are just some superficial cuts or bites of the leg or wing, or the ribs and that's it.
Japanese friend in college always ate shrimp shell and all. Said his girlfriend made him as it was a good source of calcium. I suggested he drink milk now and again instead.
I had a coworker who would eat shrimp and prawn shell because he was too lazy to peel it lol I only eat the tail when it's deep fried though.
Tbf shrimp tails are edible
I know someone who eats the shells if the shrimp are shelled. It's not for me, but they're technically edible.
How do you serve spare ribs then?
Honestly, great point. I guess I draw the line at bone-in meats.
Corn on the cob.
It's the same idea with shrimps tho, better flavour (like cooking meat with the bone-in vs no bone)
But it's easy to remove shrimp casings without really altering the end product too much, ribs just aren't the same
Any bone in meat, it's either socially acceptable to pick it up and eat it with your hands (like ribs or a chicken leg) or the meat can very easily be separated from the bone with a knife and fork. A dish you are supposed to eat with a fork or spoon, however, I feel very strongly you should be able to eat it without touching it with your hands at all.
You don’t chew bone?
Do you serve berries with the stems on?
Crab legs, oysters, mussels, skewers for kabobs, fruit rind, toothpicks in sandwiches
But they are 100% edible.
You're not wrong, but the typical palette where I'm from doesn't like the texture
You can eat shrimp shells?? That must feel disgusting in your mouth though
Depends on how it is cooked. I wouldn't recommend it for like, blanched cocktail shrimp. But if they are grilled, or fried, or broiled, anything high heat they get crispy. If you like softshell crab, you probably wouldn't mind shrimp shells.
It's crunchy but there really isn't any bad texture to them.
There not inedible. I eat them, lots of people do in lots of places. I actually like the crunch.
I eat that tho...
Always hated this. I don't want shell crunch with my pasta
You take the shell off, babe!
No thanks babe
I always assumed it was to annoy me
Time.
I peeled 10 pounds of shrimp 2 days ago, leaving the tail on takes longer than removing the entire shell. Most restaurant supply places sell them tail-on for cheap.
This also isn't true in industrial capacity. The machine that deveins the shrimp also leaves an unappealing incision by the back of the shell. That's handled in 3 ways. Peeling the whole thing (2 extra steps), making the incision on the back uniform and longer (1 extra step called EZ Peel), and removing the bulk of the shell (1 extra step). It's also faster to buy tail on shrimp and take the tails off than it is to peel full shrimp.
Peeling the tail first usually takes the whole shell with it. So it's the easiest in my opinion.
Agreed. I had to do half of them full peel and half tail-on, and the tail-on always takes about 20% longer.
For presentation.
Except sometimes it's buried in the dish where you can't see it. It's for ease and to a lesser extent cost. You can make tail off shrimp beautiful. You can't serve tail off shrimp without either taking off the tail or buying more expensive tail off shrimp.
When you buy shrimp with shells still on, just deveined, it's actually easier and faster to take the whole damn shell off. Tail included. Leaving the tail on is literally harder.
Except they buy the shrimp in bulk peeled with the tail on. Also they don't sell shrimp deveined shell on. They sell EZ Peel which is with a slit on the back. The needle deveiner leaves a sharp tooth on the back of the shell when it deveins shrimp. If you buy shell on just to shell it you're doing nothing but wasting payroll.
That’s it I’m sure. I even found myself at a restaurant questioning the quality of the dish when there was tailless shrimp, as stupid as that sounds
A lot of the flavor comes from cooking it with the tail on. Like cooking meat on the bone 👍
I pull them off and make shrimp stock out of them. I don't like food that has inedible bits in it.
the shell is edible. you can literally eat a whole cooked shrimp head and all. it’s not inedible just unappetizing and not everyone is comfortable eating the shell.
Eating shrimp with the shell on is like chewing a handful of finger nails.
tbh it’s fine if it’s fried but when it’s just a bare shell it has an unpleasant texture
yeah i’ve eaten the tail on fried shrimp before it’s not bad just weird texture to chew on
I wouldn't want pieces of chicken with chicken bone in a pasta dish.
It’s actually not that uncommon, just not what we’re used to in the US.
My mom uses chopped up chicken on the bone to make curry. Most Americans and Europeans are spoiled by just being able to dig into certain types of dishes without having to worry about bones or shells.
My family buys shrimp with the head on still because there’s so much flavour in there
Came here to say this was a possibility, though I’m not sure if it’s true or not. Absolutely true when it counts to steaks.
Yep! If you buy it often always keep the shells - they help make a great stock for bisque or a soup.
I think the idea is that it’s the skinniest part, and so leaving the tail on keeps it from cooking to “done” well before the rest of it does, much the same way cooking other odd-shaped proteins calls for covering the skinny bits with foil partway through. That said, I think most places overcook shrimp anyways, so if that’s the reason, you’re not getting the benefit of it. When I get such a plate, I pinch all the tail shells off before I start eating. If you use your fingers and squeeze from the tail forward, all the meat usually comes out intact. It’s messy, but if you do it all in one “batch,” you only have to clean your fingers the one time :)
I just eat them
Baffled why people don't, it's like a little shrimpy crouton
Damn, you eat the wrappers on the starburst too?
you'd be surprised how much flavor they pick up
I collect them and make stock out of them.
Same, so crispy!
Yeah. I don't need an obstacle between me and shrimp. If the shell's off, great. If it's on, no biggie. Either way, I'm eating some shrimp.
I find it weird when others leave the tails uneaten 🤷
Yes I’m with you💪
Same; freaks out my family every time.
Right it's so funny to throw back a whole shrimp and catch someones eyes as they stare in horror. I was at a buffet that had whole fried shrimp head an all and the whole table got quiet when they heard the crunch and looked over to see a shrimp with a bite taken out and the shell still on
It’s the handle
Like a shrimp cocktail? Sure! But for a dish where it's mixed in with pasta? No way, I should be able to eat pasta without touching the food with my hands.
Try living in Asia. They don’t just leave the tail on…they leave the whole head, shell, legs on. Even at higher end places. I’ll sometimes ask the kitchen remove all that for my dish when I order and I get the “are you crazy?” look…then they have to go check with the kitchen to confirm.
They do this at a Mexican restaurant near me and, well, I like staring my food in the face as a fun novelty. It's an excuse to eat with my hands. Thats what napkins are for, right?
Okay but there's a lot of flavor in the head. It is a bit annoying to pull it off from the rest of the shrimp and suck it out, but it's probably the past that's most worth.
Kind of like asking a steak house to cut your steak into bite-sized pieces like your mommy used to do.
unpopular opinion, but I love shell on shrimps. I cant stand naked shrimps, they dont have any taste especially when they are industrially stripped.
I thought they dried out if you cook them without the tails?
The tails are edible.
Peanut shells are "edible" but I would never put peanuts with the shell on in trail mix.
I remember going to a hockey game with my buddy and he ate an entire bag of peanuts with shells and all. He was stone sober. He said it was just easier than picking out the peanuts. I tried one with the shell just to see if I was missing out on some weird food hack. Nope. Easily in the Top 10-20 worst food experiences of my life.
Try boiled peanuts. Mushy, nasty stuff. Bad texture. Bad taste. Bleah.
You shut your mouth about the glorious Cajun boiled peanuts! And now I am desperate for a soda cup of peanuts. And there ain't a place open for 30 miles.
I love boiled peanuts.
That just gave me a whole-body shudder. Ick. Like chewing on a wooden ice cream paddle.
So are my fingernails but I don’t want them in my pasta.
Yup, develop an appetite for eating the shells. They're a good source of calcium. In many Asian cultures it's a signicant portion of calcium in their diets. Ate a ton of shell on shrimp tonight - didn't try it until I was 28, now just over 40 and prefer shrimp that way.
A friend of mine growing up always ate the shrimp tails while the rest of us picked them off. One day he had to go to the hospital because his intestines were all clogged up with shells. I don't eat them because they're unpleasant. But I also don't want to end up like Shrimp Tail Shawn.
Better than the guy on The Island who had to dig it out himself on national television.
The answer is actually two different reasons depending on the place you’re at: At a fancy restaurant with legitimately good chefs and good food: a lot of flavor is imparted by cooking good quality shrimp with the tails on. At anywhere else: it’s cheaper and looks like the cuisine the other guys are cooking.
I just eat it, lil crunch and it normally holds a lot more flavor.
Just eat them. They are food.
Money. Either someone has to take the tails off, or the restaurant has to buy de-tailed shrimp which costs more. Or occasionally for presentation like the end piece of sushi or something
They are crunchy and delightful. You guys are weird for not liking them. I will die on this hill.
Heads on is even worse!
At first I was thinking of fried shrimp, and was going to say "to use as a handle," but leaving the tails on for a pasta dish is just because they don't want to bother
For me, this is r/extremelyinfuriating
I feel this way about the crowns of strawberries on desserts or cake.
Labor cost and time. That's how the shrimp comes to the restaurant. When it's busy, do you want to waste a cooks time detailing each individual shrimp? If it takes 3 seconds to detail 1 shrimp and a dish has 8 shrimp, you just increased the cook time by 24 seconds on a single dish. If your average cook time is 5 minutes on that dish (300 seconds), you just increased your average cook time by 8%. Now your entire kitchen flow is off. Additionally, if your kitchen employs 10 cooks and your overall cook time went up 5% because of detailing, you need to hire at least 1 part-time cook to make up the slack. So not only are you slowing down the kitchen, but you're also increasing your labor cost. Slowing down your kitchen means less potential sales. Potential sales decline and labor costs increase. Or, you can have the customer do it for free.
It is to let you know that it is not imitation shrimp.
Nothing better than fried shrimp tail
The shells actually have a lot of flavor. What I like to do at home is take the shells off. Cook just the shells with butter and garlic. Then scoop the shells out and add the shrimps. That way you get the delicious oils from the shells but don't have to take time peeling them for every bite.
Chef here! Usually due to laziness or incompetence. I have served dishes with the shrimp tail on, but never with pasta and if I did I definitely wouldn’t mix it in, I would at least leave it on top so they could take it off. (If I had to) Shrimp at a typical restaurant usually comes in a bag and it’s up to whoever is running the place to order either tail-on or tail-off shrimp and an incompetent owner could order the wrong one and an incompetent or lazy cook would just leave it on and sautee it. Side note, the shrimp is usually supposed to be deveined as well but in my experience I will usually still find the vein and have to pick through it myself so any place that’s serving tail-on shrimp in their pasta probably aren’t bothering to check for the vein either so… you’re probably eating shrimp shit.
Why do so many people just throw the tails away. I love eating them and crunching them up. The best is when they are grilled and charred
Cause they’re delicious
I eat the tail.
I love eating the tails!! Crunchy - yummy & I read somewhere it’s good for your eye sight.
You eat the tail shell! They're crunchy.
you can eat the tail shell
I gotta be one of the only people who eat the tail...
I eat them
Honestly, it's usually how they come shipped to us. Have you ever tried to remove 2000 prawn tails every day?
>Why do restaurants leave the tail shells on shrimp? Presentation. >Why am I digging through my pasta dish with my fingers to get the shrimp out of the tail shells???? Because you are choosing to use your fingers instead of utensils.
I've never seen anyone successfully peel a sauce-covered shrimp using utensils.
Slide the fork tine inside the shell, use knife to pull tail off at the seam where the tail joins. Or just cut the whole tail bit off and sacrifice the last centimetre of tail in there. Like a savage.
Am I weird for asking if you normally eat pasta with a knife?
I just realised that does seem weird. But technically I would mainly do this if eating seafood pasta with shell considerations. The end justifies the means.
Just eat them!
No!
Well... alright.
I eat the tails… depending how they are cooked they can be too prickly and hard but I like them, and they are a great source of glucosamine. Wouldn’t eat the heads though like some folk do!!
I agree. There's a level of cooking to soften them which is definitely preferred, but I just love eating the tails; especially in a really creamy pasta dish. I have eaten full jumbo tiger prawns before. They've gotta be carefully prepared and cooked to be edible unpeeled, but they were pretty good. I haven't made a habit of it, though.
My Japanese neighbors always eat them and now my daughter and I have picked up the habit.
Because fully peeled shrimp are more expensive
The chef is lazy
I think because it adds more flavor.
Why do they not remove the intestines from shrimp? It has all the trash in there but some places don't bother. That's why I prefer to eat homemade shrimp from locations I know.
maybe that dish isnt for you then. god forbid you eat indian food, let me guess you try to cut a roti with a knife and fork
The tail is left on for 2 main reasons : It gives you something to pick it up with for finger food, and if you are a chef you can use it for a variety of dishes when a quick squeeze removes the shell. If you have actually fresh ones off ice, ( as opposed to frozen then thawed ) you can eat the shell complete. I was peeling mine in Asia on holidays, and they thought I was wasting good flavour and texture. You can tell it is fresh and not frozen when the shell isn’t soggy. But of course, it is a good feed when your dinner is still moving in a lot of places over there.
Fried shrimp = tails have texture like chips and are edible Any other cooked shrimp = shells are too hard and are unpleasant to chew