Weight of raw shrimp v. frozen

[ewatkins]

I buy uncooked shrimp, frozen in the shell. When a recipe calls for 3/4 lb. shrimp, do I have to adjust for the weight of the shells and the frozen ice? Or do I just weigh the frozen shrimp and go ahead? It's so expensive that I don't want to waste any.

[SusanT]

I'd just weigh the frozen shrimp and press on. The weight unfrozen unless they're really heavily glazed with ice won't be that much difference. The shells weigh next to nothing.

[Beth]

The shells weight very little, and I don't think that would make any difference. If you had shrimp with heads on versus heads off, then it would be a different story. You could wind up with about 2/3 the amount after taking the heads off.

[Gail]

I would be inclined to assume that unless your recipe specifically states that the shrimp is precooked, the assumption is that the shells are on at weighing. As for the difference in weight between frozen and thawed... hmmm... that's an interesting question. Wish my scale weighed things over 10 ounces, I could check that one out.

As a general rule, I'm fairly lax about the amount of shrimp I throw in a recipe. Unless there's a huge differential, I don't find that it usually matters. Sometimes I'll use more, sometimes less-- it doesn't seem to affect my recipes much. I agree with the concensus here; just weigh 'em frozen and I'm sure you'll do fine. If you throw in a few extra or you're a few under, it really isn't going to matter in the long run.