While lil' sis's best friend was occupied cooking Chinese Spare Ribs with Coke and Soy Sauce, he put her other friend to work peeling and deveining shrimp.
It was too "eww" and "squicky" a chore for lil' sis's fastidious other friend, he of the Alexander McQueen scarf incident.
So I showed him my ba noi (Vietnamese paternal grandmother)'s trick to devein shrimp quickly with a toothpick. After peeling the shrimp, just slide the point of a toothpick in the middle part of the shrimp (I do it after the third "section") underneath the vein. Then gently pull the vein out.
You might have to tug with your fingers, but it's still faster than making cuts with a knife and deveining.
It helps to also have a bowl of water on hand to get rid of the vein and rinse your fingers. You can also do this with the shells on, just make sure to shove the toothpick between the shell sections where it's soft.
And there you have it, a nice batch of whole shrimp without any gross black veins.
Perfect for a batch of Chinese Tomato Egg Shrimp Stir-Fry, or any other dish you wish to make.
*****
1 year ago today, Donna Darlin' rose.
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I'm definitely going to try this method out. Old world kitchen tricks like this rule!
ReplyDeleteYup either that or bend a paperclip so that you have a straight portion and it lasts much longer than the tooth pick. Especially if you're deveining a couple hundred pounds of shrimp. BTDT.
ReplyDeleteI'll be darned! I have to try this.
ReplyDeleteI wish I'd known this before Costa Rica. I made shrimp one night and did a really bad job de-veining.
ReplyDeletePeter,
ReplyDeleteLeave it to grandmas to know best!
Shirley,
A paper clip is great! The toothpick does get a little stubby but then I just toss it. A couple hundred pounds! Egads!
Mary,
It saves a lot of time.
WeeMo,
Haha! I thought you were gonna stick to easy dishes when having to cook in Costa Rica?