Salt-Cooked Shrimp

Already hooked on salt-cooked fish, I was intrigued to discover this ingenious shrimp-cooking method at a restaurant near Valencia. It involves cooking whole shrimp in their shells in a cast-iron skillet on a bed of salt, which heats the crustaceans gently and evenly, leaving them with plenty of savor. (Anyone who truly loves shrimp knows that they are best when cooked in their shells to preserve the flavor and juices.) When the shrimp are of impeccable quality, as they are on coastal Spain