Can you cook spot shrimp heads?

I was thinking they'd make a great lobster bisque base, but do they

retain toxins or other bad stuff like crab or other shellfish can?

Google it, appears there are lot of recipes on the internet,

Yeah, I know, but the lot here is a bit smarter than the net.

I would be inclined to say "no" inside Puget Sound like you said due to toxin concerns.

That being said, if you lightly batter the head and deep fry it the entire thing is edible, and quite good. Legs, horn, and all.

So I froze mine and I'm going to pulverize them with a mallet to add to my egg cures. I think they may improve the bite quite well... Excited to try.

Did the deep fry thing last time...



Along with some steamed...



The aftermath of sucking out all the goodness within. Gotta be careful about avoiding the stomach sac, lest you suck up some freshly ingested shrimp bait

Hey Paker, this ought to get you to throw up in yer mouth a little I'm guessing?

You CAN, but WAY higher contaminants in the head of prawns suggests not. Then again, when you only have a ONE day season in MA10 the bio-accumulation is likely to be small. Bon appetit!

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01608/

This /\

They were going to shut down shrimp a while back in ps due to toxins in the shrimp. When they looked into how the shrimp were being tested, they found that they were being ground up whole and then sampled. When they sampled tails only; no problem.

"With the exception of a few metals, all contaminant concentrations in the hepatopancreas of Dungeness crab and head tissue of spot prawn were greater (as much as 36 times)"

Holy krap.... I'm fuk'd.

I miss eating prawns. I'm sure I'd be fine if I ate a cleaned/cooked one, but I'm not willing to take that chance.

Pretty much can't eat any shellfish with a gut content, which includes oysters, clams, mussels, shrimp with the veins still in them, etc.

I can eat crab, lobster, and cleaned razor clam meat.

Doc - that's just nasty.

Now I know why Coonasses (Cajuns) are all kinda mental.
Ya ain't finished eatin' a crawfish until you "suck the head".
And all the chemical plants down there...

Yikes !

Hey, let's go huntin' monster snapping turtles with our bare hands !

Ya'll should eat more of that store bought shrimp from Vietnam. It's even cleaner than our local stock.

Hey Doc - on the bright side, once you start glowing in the dark, you won't need an early morning head lamp any longer. Think positive.