Do you eat the tails on shrimp?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Do you eat the tails on shrimp? (Page 1 of 3)

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:32:38 AM EDT

No not the skin and fins silly. The meat inside.

Over Christmas I noticed none of my relatives do, they just bite it off at the base and toss the rest out so I thought I'd post this.

Before you go nuts saying you don't want to dig for a tiny piece of meat, there is no digging involved here and you don't need a fork to do this.

Before you eat the shrimp, take the shrimp by the fins, those are the feather like things at the bottom. Hold it between your index and thumb and give it a focused but tight squeeze with your finger and thumb coming up towards the body. It's kind of like you are squeezing the last bit out of the toothpaste tube. The meat will pop free of the skin and fins. Dip in sauce and eat and it will slide right out and you'll be left with a satisfying empty shell.

Go ahead and try, it's easy and you'll wonder why you wasted so many tails before.

This isn't the best picture but you can see that the top one was bitten off at the base. The second right was done properly. The others not so much, some look like a fork was used or the person gnawed away. Completely unnecessary, just follow the steps above!

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:34:14 AM EDT

[#1]

Leaving meat in the tails is a sin against the seafood world.

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:34:42 AM EDT

[#2]

I don't eat shrimp, it grosses me out to eat sea bugs.

I stick with a very simple rule when it comes to meat "Must have a spine" and it has served me well.

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:35:08 AM EDT

[#3]

I don't eat the tails.

First world issues

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:36:19 AM EDT

[#4]

on fried shrimp the tail is the best part - like potatoe chips

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:36:29 AM EDT

[#5]

Somethimes I do eat the skin and fins

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:37:17 AM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
Leaving meat in the tails is a sin against the seafood world.

First reply and all that.

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:37:20 AM EDT

[#7]

usually not

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:37:45 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:

Leaving meat in the tails is a sin against the seafood world.

I second this!

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:37:51 AM EDT

[#9]

Hell no

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:38:52 AM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:

I don't eat shrimp, it grosses me out to eat sea bugs.

I stick with a very simple rule when it comes to meat "Must have a spine" and it has served me well.

"Come outside and say that"

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:39:02 AM EDT

[#11]

Shrimp = bait.

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:39:10 AM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
on fried shrimp the tail is the best part - like potatoe chips

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:39:14 AM EDT

[#13]

I don't eat the tail.

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:39:58 AM EDT

[#14]

Ever smell your fingers after eating shrimp...

I don't eat any fish, seafood or things that "live" in the water...

It grosses me out and Stinks...

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:40:45 AM EDT

[#15]

Chitin, yum!

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:42:12 AM EDT

[#16]

The real question is, when eating whole, head on, prawns.. Do you suck the head out?

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:43:03 AM EDT

[#17]

Pinching out the meat is a skill learned by people that also eat mud bugs (crawdads, crayfish, yabbies). You will find that most shrimp eaters don't mind a bit of work for their food. same sort of people eat quail.

and yes its a sin to leave good meat to rot.

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:46:32 AM EDT

[#18]

I always eat the tail meat, and if they are deep fried, ill sometimes eat the entire tail. Tastes like a tater chip! Fried fish is the same way.
Then again, I also sometimes eat whole peanuts... Shell and all. The shells are really salty, so I can't eat many, but they are good fiber!

ZA

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:49:06 AM EDT

[#19]

If you need to eat the tail you didn't buy enough shrimp to begin with. When I go to a pizza buffet place I don't eat the crusts either, same same.

But I do pull the meat out best I can by snapping it back and forth before pulling the tail off.

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:51:01 AM EDT

[#20]

I squeeze the tail in an attempt to free the meat. If it comes out, great, if not...no biggie.

If I am harvesting shrimp in raw form to cook as part of a dish, I try to save as much meat as possible.

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:51:27 AM EDT

[#21]

If the tailmeat comes out of the shell with the last piece of the body then yes. If it breaks off, which isn't often, then no. I'm not going to dig for it.

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:51:39 AM EDT

[#22]

When I can.

If someone serves tail-on shrimp in a sauce or pasta or something that I'm eating with utensils, I just cut the tail off and eat the body.

If it's something "neat" that I can pick up and eat, I eat the tail meat as well.

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:53:11 AM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:

Then again, I also sometimes eat whole peanuts... Shell and all. The shells are really salty, so I can't eat many, but they are good fiber!

ZA

I've grossed some people out doing that. Their eyes bugged out, jaws dropped, could not believe what they were seeing.

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:54:58 AM EDT

[#24]

OP, do you suck the heads when you eat crawfish?

And no, I don't eat the tails.

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:55:47 AM EDT

[#25]

It is a pet peeve of mine. When people waste the meat in the tail. Pinch the tail and it will come out, don,t bite it off. Shrimps is too expensive to waste.

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:57:46 AM EDT

[#26]

The tail is just as yummy as the rest of it!

Mmmmmmm..... Shrimp...... (And crayfish, lobster, crab, etc...)

Good stuff!

Matt

Posted: 12/27/2012 6:58:00 AM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:
It is a pet peeve of mine. When people waste the meat in the tail. Pinch the tail and it will come out, don,t bite it off. Shrimps is too expensive to waste.

Sometimes when I pinch the tail, poop comes out.

That's why I stopped.

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:03:06 AM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:
OP, do you suck the heads when you eat crawfish?

And no, I don't eat the tails.

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:04:18 AM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:

Quoted:
It is a pet peeve of mine. When people waste the meat in the tail. Pinch the tail and it will come out, don,t bite it off. Shrimps is too expensive to waste.

Sometimes when I pinch the tail, poop comes out.

That's why I stopped.

Reread OP,thread is about shrimp.

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:05:03 AM EDT

[#30]

its not hard just pinch the tail...
but lots of people waste the meat in the tail

until i met my wife I have never heard of people eating fried shrimp whole... crunchy tail and all

lol at the "I dont eat shrimp" comments

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:05:52 AM EDT

[#31]

Quoted:

Leaving meat in the tails is a sin against the seafood world.

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:06:18 AM EDT

[#32]

I thought that was the only way you could eat them.

Watching someone bite it off bothers me as much as when people only take one bite off a chicken wing and toss it. There is lots of meat near the ends dammit.

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:06:22 AM EDT

[#33]

Wow a bunch of manly men in this thread all worried about sea bugs and how their fingers smell.

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:07:42 AM EDT

[#34]

That's akin to not eating the skin on a delectable piece of Southern Fried Chicken.

In short - BLASPHEMY!

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:08:46 AM EDT

[#35]

Quoted:
I don't eat shrimp, it grosses me out to eat sea bugs.

I stick with a very simple rule when it comes to meat "Must have a spine" and it has served me well.

Shrimp are good. Crawdads, though, no fucking way I'll eat those dirty things.

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:08:47 AM EDT

[#36]

while we are hear do we really need to discuss the amount of people
who only eat the legs on crabs and never touch the meat in the body?

its more than you think

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:18:09 AM EDT

[#37]

Quoted:

Quoted:
OP, do you suck the heads when you eat crawfish?

And no, I don't eat the tails.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Minnesota_in_United_States.svg/270px-Minnesota_in_United_States.svg.png

You poor bastard.

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:23:40 AM EDT

[#38]

I eat all the meat. I do not eat the chitin.

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:25:53 AM EDT

[#39]

Seafood sucks.

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:26:50 AM EDT

[#40]

I have a friend who eats tails, legs, heads and all. Fuckin redneck. He says "All hell, it's just too much work peelin them skrimps."

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:32:18 AM EDT

[#41]

Quoted:

Somethimes I do eat the skin and fins

Ex-Brother-in-law ate the whole thing.

Ate unshelled pistachios, too.

Turns out his family never told him not to, and then thought it was so funny they didn't mention it.

::shrugg::

I don't miss those people.

On topic:

Been doing it Angel's way the whole time.

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:33:56 AM EDT

[#42]

Quoted:

Hell no

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:34:27 AM EDT

[#43]

Quoted:
Leaving meat in the tails is a sin against the seafood world.

this

J-

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:34:35 AM EDT

[#44]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Hell no

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:38:15 AM EDT

[#45]

Quoted:
Somethimes I do eat the skin and fins

+1

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:39:21 AM EDT

[#46]

Quoted:

on fried shrimp the tail is the best part - like potatoe chips

If its fried and crispy enough, I eat the whole thing

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:40:06 AM EDT

[#47]

Hell. If its fried, I eat the fins and skin too. But not if its boiled.

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:40:07 AM EDT

[#48]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Somethimes I do eat the skin and fins

Ex-Brother-in-law ate the whole thing.
Ate unshelled pistachios, too.

Turns out his family never told him not to, and then thought it was so funny they didn't mention it.

::shrugg::

I don't miss those people.

On topic:
Been doing it Angel's way the whole time.

did he eat unshelled walnuts and almonds too? Some things go without saying.

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:41:18 AM EDT

[#49]

I love shrimp and am not about to leave any go to waste. I honestly thought everyone gave the little squeeze to get the part at the base of the tail out. ::shrug::

On a related note, I was taught to eat the entire frog too. Most just eat "frog legs"--which means the hind legs. There is also a little bit of meat on the front legs and two tiny strips down the back, on either side of the spine. We clean them by skinning the entire frog, removing the guts, cutting the head and feet off, then cooking the whole thing. Frog is the BEST meat there is, so we don't want to waste even the tiniest morsel.

Posted: 12/27/2012 7:44:43 AM EDT

[#50]

Yes, I know how to peal shrimp and cook them.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Do you eat the tails on shrimp? (Page 1 of 3)

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