The "official" poopy shrimp poll

[Jingthing]

At the level of Thai restaurant I usually eat at in Thailand, the shrimp is almost always uncleaned or poopy as it were.

How do you handle shrimp when served poopy?

I remove it. Which is a pain because after cooked it's hard to isolate the poop vein, so lots of waste.

[lovelomsak]

Just eat them. i used to catch them off my boat in Canada throw them in boiling water and eat them. Why should I change eating habits because I am in Thailand.

[Jingthing]

Hmm.

Well I do have a double standard.

When I'm eating dishes like Chinese salt and pepper shrimp in shell, I eat head, shell, and whatever is inside as well. Crunchy! Yes they really are kind of like water cockroaches.

It's more of an aesthetic thing when that brown stuff is staring you in the face.

I will keep doing what I've been doing.

Would you eat a plate of just the "veins" in a salad?

I don't eat in high end Thai restaurants often here, but I think I have noticed the shrimp are less likely to be poopy in such places. Or maybe I'm mistaken.

Edited April 16, 2016 by Jingthing

[zyphodb]

Ive eaten in all sorts of lower end Thai restaurants & cafes, street food etc. & the only places Ive found that they leave the vein in are fairly exclusively tourist places, anywhere that Thais eat they devein them as Thais wouldn't eat there twice if they did not...

[Michaelaway]

Just eat them. i used to catch them off my boat in Canada throw them in boiling water and eat them. Why should I change eating habits because I am in Thailand.

Why? Canada vs. Thai environments...compare water quality: pollution levels, toxins present, etc.

[Michaelaway]

Ive eaten in all sorts of lower end Thai restaurants & cafes, street food etc. & the only places Ive found that they leave the vein in are fairly exclusively tourist places, anywhere that Thais eat they devein them as Thais wouldn't eat there twice if they did not...

This is opposite my experience: most Thai restos leave the vein in.

[bassman]

So much of Thai shrimp is farmed in horrible water conditions and the shrimp taste accordingly. I love shrimp that is ocean caught and tasty. I hardly order any shrimp in Thailand because of the nasty "algae" taste from the farmed shrimp.

[canuckamuck]

I also wish they would pull the heads off.

[ozyjon]

Again with the vertically challenged.

[mulder12345]

I would like the shrimp to come to me looking like the picture in the menu. No shell, legs, head, poop. Nice and clean.

[HooHaa]

couldnt care less

[edwarda909]

Ive eaten in all sorts of lower end Thai restaurants & cafes, street food etc. & the only places Ive found that they leave the vein in are fairly exclusively tourist places, anywhere that Thais eat they devein them as Thais wouldn't eat there twice if they did not...

high-end or low-end, i have never seen shrimp served defined, and everywhere i've been thais accept this as normal.

[MrBanks]

I will not eat it with the vein in, usually we order 2 or 3 different dishes and if the shrimp dish comes with the veins in the shrimp I just don't touch it. My experience with the Thai restraunts is that it is hit and miss as to whether they de-vein them or not. Just down the soi from our house is a little shack stlye place and the lady there, Kuhn Mui, always de-veins them, yet further on in the village is another similar place and they never do!

[Jingthing]

couldnt care less

So poopy shrimp salad for you?

[Fookhaht]

I also wish they would pull the heads off.

And the legs.

The only way I will eat a shrimp...

[mikiea]

I also wish they would pull the heads off.

yea ....dead eye shitty shrimp are da pitt's .

[JAYDOUBLEYOU]

Funny...when I saw the heading for this thread, I actually thought that you were running a Poll on our "Fearless Leader".

Sorry, my mistake, wrong Poopy Shrimp.

[Suradit69]

At the restaurants where I eat I'm pretty sure they're always cleaned with just the tail still attached. If I buy the pre-cooked frozen shrimp from the supermarket or shrimp in the market I usually remove the head, shell, legs when eating. Make a half-as__d attempt to de-poop them if the "vein" is particular large and obvious, but figure if I can't see it, it won't kill me. Can't recall ever experiencing any ill-effects either way.

People eat "chitlins" (pig intestines) and considering what pigs sometimes eat that would bother me more than the intestinal tract of a shrimp ... although I have eaten some variation of them as well ... but not often. I also eat those tiny fried fish that are not gutted or boned. Probably some fish poop contained in them too.

In The California Seafood Cookbook, the authors (Cronin, Harlow & Johnson) state: ``Many cookbooks insist that shrimp should be deveined. Others ridicule this practice as unnecessarily fastidious and a lot of trouble.``

The choice is up to the individual. It is not necessary for health reasons. Since the shrimp feed on plankton, that is what is contained in the vein in various stages of digestion. It is completely edible.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Suradit69

[Jingthing]

Yeah of course it's edible.

So are a lot of things that are gross.

It's still gross to look at and put in your mouth.

Like I said before, it's largely about aesthetics.

I'm likely overly "American" in my tastes.

The idea of ordering up a plate of stir fried pig anuses (Chinese specialty) does not appeal.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Jingthing

[geisha]

All shrimps / prawns should be de veined. No good restaurants or cook worth his/ her salt serve these not cleaned!!!

[Jingthing]

All shrimps / prawns should be de veined. No good restaurants or cook worth his/ her salt serve these not cleaned!!!

Uh oh! Then I must be frequenting some pretty poopy places!

[canuckamuck]

Lol