It's not hard. It doesn't even take very long. The only real trick is to keep the shrimp cold while you work and to not shred the delicate shrimp while you work. Get to it.
Course Technique
Keyword Culinary 3, Shellfish, Shrimp
Instructions
First pull off the legs: This isn’t strictly necessary and you can pull off the shell without removing the legs, but it's best to get them out of the way
Break open the shell along the underside and peel off: Work your thumbs underneath the shell and crack it open. As the shell cracks, you’ll be able to peel it away from the shrimp.
The tail can often be left on for cooking, if you like.
If you’d like to take off the tail now, pinch the tail where it meets the body of the shrimp and gently pull. The rest of the shrimp should pull cleanly out of the tail.
To devein the shrimp, first score the shrimp along its back with a paring knife: Gently run your paring knife along the back of the shrimp. DO NOT cut very deeply — a shallow cut is fine.
Look for the vein: The vein will look like a long gritty string. You may not find a vein in every shrimp — that’s ok. The size of the vein depends on the diet of the shrimp.
Pull out the vein with your paring knife: Gently pull up the vein with the tip of your paring knife, starting near the top and continuing to the bottom. It’s fairly elastic, so it usually doesn’t break. If it does, try rinsing it out with cool water.