A high-level overview for how to handle and prepare Bayou la Batre style boiled shrimp.
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Thawing
The shrimp I usually deal with come in 5 pound frozen blocks, wrapped in a plastic bag, then enclosed inside a box.
- Take them out of the box and remove the plastic bag.
- Put the whole block into a large strainer, and put the strainer in your kitchen sink.
- Run COLD tap water over the block until it is all broken up.
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Cooking
If you want to boil them, you’ll need a large pot of boiling water, salt, and some Zatarain’s crab boil. Crab boil comes in liquid, powder, and pouch formats. Any of these will work fine. I usually use the powder format, but it is messy.
When you salt the water, add so much salt that you start to wonder if you’ll be able to eat them. Then salt it again. I really don’t have a measurement for this, and it is possible to over-salt… but most people tend to under-salt. Remember, you’re salting in relation to the volume of water you’re using to boil in.
Add the crab boil to the water. I have also been known to use Old Bay seasoning or copious amounts of celery seed. I also usually like to add some minced garlic.
I’ve seen crab boil in nearly every grocery store in north Alabama… Publix, Kroger, Brunos, etc… Look for a yellow box/bottle.
If you want to cook vegetables like corn or potatoes with the shrimp, add them before you add the shrimp, and cook them for about 5-10 minutes. Potatoes in particular take longer than shrimp to cook, and you don’t want to overcook the shrimp.
Once you add the shrimp, bring the pot back up to a boil with the lid on. Once the pot comes back to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer and eat one of the shrimp. If the shrimp is not completely done, put the lid back on for another 3-5 minutes, then try another. Repeat this process until the shrimp are done.
Beer helps this process. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Shiner Bock, or Dos Equis Amber match very well. If you are in an area of the country that has New Belgium Fat Tire, it is a PERFECT match for boiled shrimp.
It is important that once you bring the shrimp to a good rolling boil, you turn the heat down enough that the boiling stops.
There are other options for cooking the shrimp, such as frying (use Zatarain’s Fish Fry for this), and scampi.
For scampi, put the shrimp in a pan, drizzle with olive oil (or just drop a stick of butter in the pan), season with salt, and place under a broiler until they’re done…
Again, you have to taste them to find out if they’re done. That’s the rule. I didn’t make it up, I just follow it. I sometimes add a little minced garlic toward the end of broiling if I’m making scampi… The garlic will burn if you cook it too long…
Shrimp gumbo is a whole essay on its own, but there are many recipes on the net.
Cocktail sauce is easy to make if you like that sort of thing (ketchup + horse radish), or can be bought in bottles if you like.
Put any uncooked shrimp in a ziploc bag in the fridge for up to a day or two. They can also be re-frozen by placing them in a ziploc bag, covering with water, draining the air out of the bag, and put in the freezer.
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Peels
You can boil with peels on or peels off. Peels-on tastes better, and divides up the peeling work amongst the diners. However, peeling them before boiling is fine too. Starting from the head end, peel off two or three segments of shell, usually down to the end of the leg segments, then pinch the tail to remove the tail segment. Once you’ve done a few hundred thousand, it becomes second nature. 
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Making sure your house doesn’t smell like rotting shrimp for days afterwards
This isn’t as hard as it sounds if you follow a few steps.
- All peels MUST go into a ziploc bag before they go into your trash can.
- Tie the original box and plastic bag up inside a Walmart bag or something before you throw it in the trash.
- Take the trash out.
- Any pot, plate, bowl, pan, vessel or conveyance that comes into contact with shrimp must be washed with soap and water or run through the dish washer that day. Do not leave them sitting in the dish washer until you get enough dishes for a full load.
- Seal any cooked leftovers into a ziploc bag and put in the fridge for up to a few days.
- Wash your hands.
