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With shrimp as with anything else, it’s OK to refreeze if there are still ice crystals, as far as health/safety is concerned. Quality will be more or less diminished depending on how thoroughly thawed they were before re-freezing. Like frozen meat, frozen shrimp tend to weep on thawing no matter what you do; these may simply weep a bit more. BUT, unlike frozen meat, they shouldn’t be slowly thawed in the fridge.

Instead, get a generous amount of flavored water boiling – quite heavily salted, with a few bay leaves, peppercorns etc. but not many, and a slug or two of vermouth or white wine. I use a big saute pan, so the shrimp can spread out. Meanwhile, let the package thaw in fridge just enough for you to bang it gently and separate the shrimp (they may have been separate originally but probably won’t be when you go to use them.) Chill a heavy sheet pan in the fridge.

Separate the shrimp. Put them in the water. Count 30-40 seconds and test one. If it’s at least 2/3 done, the rest finished cooking while you were testing. If it’s still utterly raw, try again. Drain the shrimp, spread on the chilled sheet to stop further cooking, then shell and proceed with whatever. Takes longer to tell than to do.

PS. Frozen shrimp in the shell are not good candidates for either of the broiled-in-shell treatments described here. And I wouldn’t bother to use the shells to make broth, either, though if they’re very fresh-smelling you could re-freeze them ( yet again!) until you accumulate enough to make broth-creation worthwhile. Since all you’re doing is extracting flavor and you’ll be cooking them long enough to kill anything nasty, the multiple refreezings won’t hurt anything.

Thanks for the kind words. I’m glad to be helpful. But sad to hear it’s so hard to get Maine shrimp when you’re so close to the source. And there’s Pam in Vermont with the same problem…

I’m sorry to say it’s starting to sound like the same distribution problem that bedevils local produce: doesn’t matter where the fish market is, might be right next to the docks, and it’s STILL getting all the fish from one wholesale market – probably in New York – rather than directly from the boats. Result: not much choice, not much that’s highly perishable and almost nothing that’s special.

That’s just a guess. I’d be very happy to be wrong.

I was lucky enough today to find some Maine shrimp – have literally been searching for 2 years to find them locally (in Massachusetts!) I bought 2 lbs and ordered 10 more to freeze. I totally overcooked them – about 3 minutes on the advice of another blog. They got mushy, but still tasty and I’ll use them for salad or something.

So I figured some kind soul out there must know how to unlock these little darlin’s secrets and I started to google. So glad I found you to help me understand how to work with these delicate little delights.

This is the shrimp I remember from childhood here – for some reason, they were much more abundant 40 years ago and we had them all the time. For me, this is what shrimp is supposed to taste like and all others pale in comparison.

I must say, though, that they are very poorly marketed down here on Boston’s North Shore. I have been killing myself trying to find them. Everyone I’ve told about them has tried them and loved them. So I think there is definitely a market.

Thanks for sharing your wisdom,

Jacqie

A pleasure to have you aboard. Too bad about the uppity market – maybe they’ve never heard of the shrimp either and would be open to carrying them, if they only knew.

As far as I know, the fishery is reasonably sustainable ecologically but needs a wider market to be able to survive, so if anybody is keeping secrets, shame on them.