Prawn cooking advice

[PNG1M]

Hey Dnej,

Before I launch in I'd better confirm the steps for say, 1kg of regular size schoolies purchased green.

1. Boil in unsalted tap water until reddish/orangy in colour (water pre-boiled before dumping prawns in)

2. Give 'em a squick strain thru and a shake in the colandar

3. Put them into a pre-salted ice slurry and let'em sit there for a while

4. Keep'em in the fridge to eat at your leisure & they should be as tasty as.

Ok, Sounds correct enough to me. I'm gonna try that this weeekend...

[dnej]

PNG1M,
Just watch the boiling part, as soon as they float in the boiling water, lift them out straight away. Dont worry about the colour, its when they float that is important.

When you tip them into the colandar, run them under the cold tap, then straight into the slurry. You need to stop them cooking ASAP.

The longer you leave them in the ice slurry, with the salt, the saltier they get. So its to taste, as to how long you want to leave them.
Regards David

[bennykenny]

the secret to know when they are cooked is if you boil them which ever way you like IE with salt, without salt, ice slurry. if you grab one out about the time they start to float and have a look at the top of the shell near the bend in the tail, if they are cooked you will see a little air pocket between the meat and the shell this id=s when the meat is cooked, then you can cool them down. this was taught to me by a mate that works in a seafood shop, works great, cheers BK

[TheRealAndy]

I dont boil em, I will only bbq em in garlic and olive oil. Cold beer on the side. Yum.

Andrew

Thats more or less the way I do them! I often chuck in a bit of chilli and lemon or lime too. Making me hungry now.

[banksmister]

There is a good prawn cooking video on Nuggets website www.nuggetfishing.com.au/

[PNG1M]

Hey Dnej,

I tried your method and it worked great. The result was that the prawns ended up as close as I've ever got to the ones that are pre-cooked on the trawlers & that you buy at the co-op.

The only things I needed to consider were:

1. Just how salty do you make the ice slurry as I think mine ended up a bit tooo salty.

2. Once you dump the prawns in the slurry, what is the optimum time to leave them in. As I felt like a good salt fix I left mine in for a solid 15-20 mins but then I started to worry that the prawns might get waterlogged as the ice melted.

Anyway, for a maiden run the prawns were delicio and I'm keen to give the method a second burl at some point.

[PNG1M]

After trying the "salted ice slurry" method several times, it is definately the way to go.

You can get the prawns to taste a bit differently each time depending on how salty you make the slurry & how long you leave the prawns in it.

I reckon the method is great!

[Noelm]

a fishmarket owner that I know once told me to never salt prawns untill you are ready to eat them, the salt draws out moisture and will make them tough, now I guess that could well be true, but they usually don't last long enough at my place to find out! OH and someone way back mentioned prawns being cooked when they are curled up, some prawns never curl up, they stay straight regardless of how long you cook them it has something to do with muscle/tendons that makes them curl up, sometimes prawns that are really "dead" will stay straight. Lobster are the same a dead lobster will stay straight, whereas a live one will curl up the second you put it in hot water.

[dnej]

PNG1M.
Sorry I missed your response. Glad it worked well for you .Some leave the prawns as long as 14 hours in the ice slurry, to give you some idea. I have left them as long a 5 hours.
David