Is It Worth It?: Poaching Your Own Shrimp

Precooked shrimp are a tempting shortcut to poaching your own. But does convenience sacrifice flavor and texture?

To find out, we compared shrimp poached in-house to two types of store-bought precooked shrimp—one purchased frozen, the other thawed. For our homemade version, we gently poached thawed raw shrimp, then cooled them quickly to match the temperature of the precooked samples.

In a blind tasting, the outcome was unanimous: Everyone preferred the shrimp we poached ourselves, praising their brininess, tenderness and meaty texture. The precooked shrimp, by contrast, tasted bland and watery.

But not all home-poached shrimp were equal. When we prepared a batch of raw shrimp that had been treated with preservatives (typically labeled as “added salt” or “sodium tripolyphosphate”), the results were rubbery and off-tasting, even less appealing than the precooked shrimp.

Our verdict? As long as you start with high-quality, untreated shrimp, poaching at home is well worth it.

To poach shrimp, in a large saucepan, boil 6 cups water and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Add 1 pound uncooked large (26/30 per pound) or extra-large (21/25 per pound) shrimp (peeled and deveined). Remove from the heat, cover and let stand until the shrimp are opaque and cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes for large shrimp or 4 to 5 minutes for extra-large. Drain, then quickly transfer to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Dry well before using.