About How Much Shrimp Should You Cook Per Guest At A Dinner Party?

Provided no one has a shellfish allergy, shrimp is an amazing and luxurious protein to serve at your next dinner party. It's a great way to really wow your guests with your culinary skills (and your deep pockets). But, to really impress, you don't want to skimp on the shrimp. This means providing enough per person so that no one is left wanting more, but not so much that they lose their taste for it. So, how much shrimp should you cook for each guest?

A simple guide is to buy 1 pound per person for raw, unpeeled shrimp, and about ½ pound per person for cooked, peeled shrimp for an entree serving. The reason you'll want more raw shrimp per pound is that when it cooks, it tends to shrivel (beautifully, but it'll shrivel nonetheless, as it loses moisture), so to compensate for the smaller size, you'll need to buy more. The weight also accounts for the shells and the heads if you buy whole shrimp, so you'll ultimately be left with less meat. Of course, this isn't a hard and fast rule: If you know the crowd you're serving loves shrimp, then by all means, increase the amount per person.

If you go for frozen shrimp, you might notice that in addition to the size indicator ("medium," "colossal," etc.) there are numbers, or a capital U followed by a number, on the bags. The U stands for "under," and the number is indicative of how many shrimp there are per pound. So, for example, U/12 means that there are under 12 shrimp per pound (those are really big shrimp if you don't mind the oxymoron). If there are just numbers on the packet, like 20/25, that means that you can expect between 20-25 shrimp per pound.

It also means that if you're buying a 2-pound bag of 20/25 shrimp, there will be between 40-50 shrimp inside. This is useful to know if you're gauging your shrimp quantities by number rather than by the pound. For example, if you're serving a shrimp cocktail or grilling shrimp skewers and you know how many shrimp you want to give each guest, you can shop based on the number of shrimp written on the bag.

You can purchase shrimp fresh or frozen shrimp from the grocery store. However, even the "fresh" shrimp is flash-frozen when caught and thawed out for display. Your choice might come down to timing — depending on when you're shopping, you may not have time to wait for frozen shrimp to defrost properly (though it can be cooked from frozen if you like it broiled). In that case, best to go with the fresh shrimp, if your budget allows for it (frozen shrimp can be significantly cheaper).

Once you're ready to get cooking, you may want to remove the shells, as well as take out the vein (called the dorsal tract or sand vein) down the back. Yup, that's its intestine and, yes, that is technically where the shrimp's poop is stored. It's edible and won't harm you when cooked, but it can also add an unwanted gritty texture to your bite. If you're going to the trouble of serving shrimp at your dinner party, you'll want it all to get eaten. Luckily, rather than fiddle with a fork or a paring knife, brands like Luvan make special shrimp deveining tools that help you quickly and easily remove that unsavory black line.