Original article by Denise Clemons for Cape Gazette

A bag of frozen shrimp is one of the best resources for those busy days when you’ve forgotten to plan dinner or you haven’t left yourself enough time to execute the plan you had. I’m not talking about the tiny breaded variety or the kind that has been preserved with sodium tripolyphosphate and sodium bisulfite. Although challenging to find, what you want is a bag of raw, frozen shrimp with one ingredient: shrimp.

But, here comes the tricky part — what kind of shrimp are in that bag? Although there are over 300 different varieties of shrimp in existence, there are only a few that are commercially harvested. White shrimp (also called Pacific white shrimp or white leg shrimp) are the most common variety. When you remove their shells, they appear grayish-white and turn pink around the edges when they cook.

A variety found along the Gulf coast is brown shrimp, which have more mineral flavor and are ideal for dishes like gumbo. Pink shrimp are just that and comparable in flavor to white shrimp. Rock shrimp (sometimes erroneously called prawns, a different species altogether) are much larger with very hard shells. Their sweet flavor is comparable to lobster.

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