Remember I mentioned in my "meals for snow-sports champions" post that I went with medium shrimp instead of true langostino because I don't know if I can find them pre-decapitated (and also didn't want to spend the money for a test drive)? I was doing some research for my co-worker's "man-shower" catering today in Big 8 supermarket (yelp review) on 16th and Washington, I found these babies in the freezer chest:
I put a penny in the photo to give you a relative comparison on how big these are.
4-6 count large shrimp (that's 4-6 shrimps/lb!). Each box is 2 lb, so it has about 10/box. All for $19.99! I saw another brand with the same shrimp count for $1 less in the freezer. The 6-8 count was $17.99. This is the biggest I can find in the freezer section which usually carries the biggest shrimps. Look at them giant "craniums" on the shrimps! They make up 50% of the shrimp's entire body! These heads would make great crustacean stocks... Terrible yield for flesh eater though! If you just want to eat the meat, it may be worth buying the decapitated ones-- definitely less work and maybe cost less as well.
As I mentioned in my paella post, the hardest part is not to find large shrimp, it's to find them with their heads and claws still intact so I can stage them fighting on the paella. This is what I imagine the dialogue would look like during a fight:
Shrimp A: my powerful pincher will take you out!
Shrimp B: Oh yeah? Sweeping tail attack! *bend tail, and send flying rice to Shrimp A* Shrimp A: Aaahhh!!!!! My eyes!
Chorizo chunk: Looks like I'm dead meat.... (ha.. get it? Dead meat...)
(You can tell I'm really bored, and may have watched 1 too many episodes of pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh during my teenage years....)
I also mentioned that if there's any place that would sell these big guys, it'll be in the freezer section of an Asian supermarket. Just as I predicted, I found these in the freezer section of an Asian supermarket. (Ok, I said Chinatown supermarkets in the original post, and those who's familiar with Philly terrain would consider 16th and Washington South Philly or "Little Saigon*" if you're being really generous, considering east of Broad on Washington would always be more like "Little Saigon" than west of Broad. In my defense, I have always envisioned East Asian supermarkets much like Big 8 would sell them. So I back paddled a bit... you have a problem with that?).
One of these days I'll make paella again with giant head-on shrimps like this now that I know where to get them. Is there any other odd items that an Asian supermarket don't sell?
I wish I can find their bigger siblings though... in the freezer of course (and no, I'm not talking about lobsters here)! I think I'll lose a fight to them if they're not already dead and frozen...
*Disclaimer: obviously, I don't mean to use "Little Saigon" in a derogatory way. I use it in a way much like I use "Chinatown" to describe Chinese stores congregation. There's a high concentration of vietnamese stores in the described area, so I call it "Little Saigon." To be safe, maybe I should use "International District" much like Seattle uses it to describe the Pan-East-Asian congregation just northwest of Qwest Field...
UPDATE: As it turns out, these shrimps do have a bigger-than-normal craniums. I was at a different store today and found some normal head size shrimps. Those big-headed shrimps are called "big head shrimps" in Chinese, but I'm sure they're actually a different breed within the "shrimp" category. The more you know... (3/11)
4-6 count large shrimp (that's 4-6 shrimps/lb!). Each box is 2 lb, so it has about 10/box. All for $19.99! I saw another brand with the same shrimp count for $1 less in the freezer. The 6-8 count was $17.99. This is the biggest I can find in the freezer section which usually carries the biggest shrimps. Look at them giant "craniums" on the shrimps! They make up 50% of the shrimp's entire body! These heads would make great crustacean stocks... Terrible yield for flesh eater though! If you just want to eat the meat, it may be worth buying the decapitated ones-- definitely less work and maybe cost less as well.
As I mentioned in my paella post, the hardest part is not to find large shrimp, it's to find them with their heads and claws still intact so I can stage them fighting on the paella. This is what I imagine the dialogue would look like during a fight:
Shrimp A: my powerful pincher will take you out!
Shrimp B: Oh yeah? Sweeping tail attack! *bend tail, and send flying rice to Shrimp A* Shrimp A: Aaahhh!!!!! My eyes!
Chorizo chunk: Looks like I'm dead meat.... (ha.. get it? Dead meat...)
(You can tell I'm really bored, and may have watched 1 too many episodes of pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh during my teenage years....)
I also mentioned that if there's any place that would sell these big guys, it'll be in the freezer section of an Asian supermarket. Just as I predicted, I found these in the freezer section of an Asian supermarket. (Ok, I said Chinatown supermarkets in the original post, and those who's familiar with Philly terrain would consider 16th and Washington South Philly or "Little Saigon*" if you're being really generous, considering east of Broad on Washington would always be more like "Little Saigon" than west of Broad. In my defense, I have always envisioned East Asian supermarkets much like Big 8 would sell them. So I back paddled a bit... you have a problem with that?).
One of these days I'll make paella again with giant head-on shrimps like this now that I know where to get them. Is there any other odd items that an Asian supermarket don't sell?
I wish I can find their bigger siblings though... in the freezer of course (and no, I'm not talking about lobsters here)! I think I'll lose a fight to them if they're not already dead and frozen...
*Disclaimer: obviously, I don't mean to use "Little Saigon" in a derogatory way. I use it in a way much like I use "Chinatown" to describe Chinese stores congregation. There's a high concentration of vietnamese stores in the described area, so I call it "Little Saigon." To be safe, maybe I should use "International District" much like Seattle uses it to describe the Pan-East-Asian congregation just northwest of Qwest Field...
UPDATE: As it turns out, these shrimps do have a bigger-than-normal craniums. I was at a different store today and found some normal head size shrimps. Those big-headed shrimps are called "big head shrimps" in Chinese, but I'm sure they're actually a different breed within the "shrimp" category. The more you know... (3/11)
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