Cooked shrimp should be firm, pinkish-white, and should not have a strong fishy odor. Some cooked shrimp will have head, legs, carapace, and shell all attached, while others will have some combination of these. Raw shrimp should be firm, translucent, and somewhat shiny, with no noticeable odor. Most of the time, raw shrimp will have the legs and shell, and often the head attached. Frozen shrimp, cooked or raw, should be defrosted in the refrigerator overnight, before attempting to clean or devein them. It’s also possible to remove the number of shrimp you plan to use, and defrost them in cold water, in a bowl, in the sink. It should only take 20-30 minutes. [2] X Research source

Only rinse and defrost shrimp in cold water, no warmer than room temperature. Shrimp cook very quickly, and running them through hot water will result in gummy, rubbery shrimp.

Not all shrimp come head-on, and some people prefer leaving them during cooking, to help flavor the meal. They’re fine to eat, if a little strange. If the thought makes you squeamish, remove them. Discard the heads into a separate bag from your household trash or a plastic storage bag and take out quickly, or it’ll start to smell. You can also save heads for making homemade seafood stock.

Use your fingernail, or a small paring knife to get the carapace started, pull it back and off the shrimp in segments. Chef Ed Kuoha suggests, “cut [the connections] along the spine of the shrimp, [stopping] just before the end—always leave the last one because if you go all the way to the tail, the tail falls off. " If you prefer, you can also start where the head was removed, pulling the shell off down the back ridge of the shrimp. Equally effective. Alternatively, you can use your knife to cut along the curved back ridge of the shrimp, where the vein will be, cutting through the shell to separate and remove it along the sides. Since you’ll need to remove the vein of raw shrimp anyway, it’s common to use this method for raw shrimp.

You don’t need to cut down very far – just until you reach the vein (about halfway through the shrimp). Tease out the vein with the tip of your knife, then grab it with your fingers and pull it back toward the tail of the shrimp. It should come loose easily. Make sure it’s all removed.

Shrimp should be stored in the fridge, between 32 and 38 degrees F, in cling wrap or in an airtight container.