Prawns for Christmas a crustacean sensation
The flavour and texture of prawns reflects their diet (they eat anything) and their environment, fresh or saltwater.
Crocodile Dundee has a lot to answer for.
You remember the late 1980s ad campaign launched in a bid to piggyback on the movie’s outrageous success in mainstream America? The line has become one of Australian advertising’s greatest hits. Cue Paul Hogan, the face of Oz back then, offering to “throw another shrimp on the barbie”.
Shrimp? He might as well have gone on tell us to stuff it in a po’boy, for all that it meant anything to us. Here in Australia we eat prawns, not shrimp, don’t we?
And what’s the difference anyway?
Well, they are at least a bit similar. All prawns and shrimps are crustaceans, which are mostly aquatic animals with a hard skin (an exoskeleton) over a segmented body. Crustaceans are like insects, which also have an exoskeleton, but differ in usually having many pairs of legs, instead of the three pairs of an insect. And crustaceans are way tastier than insects, too.
Internationally, the terms shrimp and prawn are often used interchangeably and although there are quite a few zoological differences between them, here in Australia we tend to refer to prawns as those from saltwater and shrimp as those from freshwater.
We don’t eat a lot of freshwater shrimp but we do eat a mountain of prawns. At least, we do at this time of year: of our tally of 1.4kg of prawns per person a year, about 60 per cent to 70 per cent will be enjoyed during the festive period. Christmas without prawns? Unthinkable for most of us.
Here’s a quick prawn primer.
Wild prawns are caught by trawlers in tropical and subtropical waters in places such as the Gulf of Carpentaria, Shark Bay and Exmouth in Western Australia and off the east coast. Other fisheries exist in estuaries including Lakes Entrance in Victoria and the St Vincent’s and Spencer gulfs in South Australia. In Australia and Asia, prawns also are raised in coastal farms, in seawater ponds. In addition to our own farmed prawn production, we import a load of good value, safe and tasty prawns, mostly from south and east Asia.
There are about 70 species of prawns found in Australia but only 10 are of economic significance: key among these are banana, endeavour, tiger, king, school and coral.
Prawns are the scavengers of the seas, eating pretty much anything they come across; this gives them their amazing flavour and texture, but also partly explains their fragility. The saying “goes off like a prawn” is too true: prawns are arguably one of the most fragile proteins you will handle in your kitchen, so treat them with care.
The flavour and texture of prawns reflects their environment, from the grassy taste and soft texture of the river or lake school prawn to the umami-rich and crisp bite of the mighty tiger prawn from the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Buying
Fresh or frozen? In the case of raw prawns, frozen should be your preference, as the integrity and quality of a raw prawn packed and frozen from live will almost always be superior to one that has endured days of variable handling in a “fresh”, highly fragile state.
Whether you buy raw prawns fresh, frozen or “thawed for your convenience”, their tails should glow with bright colours and the flesh should be translucent through firm shells and, importantly, show no blackening at the base of the head or legs. They should neither look nor feel soggy. Also, avoid any that have been defrosted too long or give off a whiff of ammonia.
With a cooked prawn, use all your senses and inspect it first, see that it has all of its legs, feelers and eyes and that the tail has a firm spring in it. Smell it — it should have a crisp, clean sea spray aroma, with no signs of ammonia, old fish or brackish water. Finally, assuming you’re on first name terms with your favoured fishmonger, ask them to peel it and give you a taste; it should be firm in texture and immediately sweet, with a long clean finish and no strong aftertaste.
Prawns vary in price almost as much as they do in quality. Price is not exclusively an indicator of quality. As a generalisation, however, you can expect to pay more for Australian-produced prawns than imported and more for wild caught than farmed.
In Australia we are spoiled for choice as wild and farmed prawns are readily available, either domestic and imported. And increasingly, we’re preferring to buy those with branded provenance, which provides a guarantee of where they’re from, history and sustainability. Some of these are Skull Island tigers, Spencer Gulf kings and Exmouth wild.
Big or small?
Consider what you are going to use the prawns for. They don’t always have to be the biggest and as a generalisation, the smaller grades are cheaper than the larger ones.
Preparation
If you are buying frozen prawns, defrost only what you are going to cook and consider the “refresh” process.
For defrosting raw prawns, mix up a salt, water and ice slurry and thaw the prawns in the slurry for about 60 minutes. Use immediately or store in a marinade or saltwater slurry to avoid oxidisation and blackening.
Frozen cooked prawns can be placed in a Tupperware container with a drip insert: cover the prawns with a moist cloth, seal the container tightly and place it at the bottom of your fridge in the coldest spot to thaw overnight.
The following day, give the thawed, cooked prawns a quick dip in a salt water and ice slurry with a splash of white vinegar, drain and sprinkle with salt flakes. They’ll be perfect.
Cooking
As a general rule, if you are going to use a prawn for a hot dish (barbecue, pan fry, roast or grill), buy them raw (known as “green”) and cook them once only. If you are planning to use them for a salad or eat them as they are, buy them pre-cooked. Pre-cooked prawns are mostly cooked from live on the boat or at the farm, then refreshed in brine ice.
Handled this way, the prawns will always be firmer, crisper and sweeter than a dead, raw prawn put through the same process.
Some of the more common varieties found in Australia:
Tiger Prawn - farmed,
Most prawns farmed in Australia and the majority of the imported farmed prawns are of the Black Tiger variety. The domestic farmed prawns are available fresh during the run into Christmas and the New Year. The Black Tiger is a good looking prawn, pale brown to blue green with distinct grey, blue or black stripes in its raw state. Once cooked, the Black Tiger has a deep coral colour, with a distinct clean, light flavour and firm texture which retains the natural juiciness of the prawn. Good flavour carriers, they are especially good for salads or cooked in the shell on the Barbie.
Tiger Prawn – wild
The wild tiger prawn is predominantly fished in Northern Australia. Brown in colour with distinctive tiger “stripes” evident both in raw and cooked forms. They are caught year round, and are mainly found frozen raw. Characterized by a rpbust, meaty and sweet flavour and firm texture, wild tigers are perfect for cooking and are highly sought after by the Japanese for tempura preparations. The hero Skull Island Tiger Prawn is probably the most famous of this lot and is held in high esteem by chefs throughout the world.
King Prawn
The most famous of all prawns, the mighty King Prawn has an intensely sweet, iodine flavour with a lingering savoury character and when in best condition has a crisp, firm bite like no other prawn in the world. Highly versatile in both cooked and cold preparations, it’s regarded by many as the true king of prawns.
Banana Prawn
One of the largest domestic Australian prawn fisheries and one of the cheaper prawns on the market. Raw, the Banana Prawn is translucent green to yellow in colour with tiny dark spots. It is a very sweet, softer textured prawn, best used in hot, wet preparations such as curries, risottos and pasta. If BBQ’ing be sure to marinate before cooking.
School Prawns
Typically found fresh during the summer months on the East Coast of Australia, the school prawn is caught in the estuaries and open ocean adjacent to river mouths, lake entrances and bays. Small and sweet, the meat requires considerable time and dexterity to remove from the shell, however the intense burst of flavour is significant reward. Raw whole Schoolies dusted in flour and fried are delicious eaten shell on. Inexpensive and readily available, the school prawn is a classic taste of the Australian summer.
Vannamei Prawns, are a small, cheap farmed prawn imported frozen from South East Asia. While light in flavour and often softish in texture, they are perfectly suitable for preparations requiring a low cost, consistent quality prawn. They’re especially good in a classic prawn sandwich with a cocktail sauce. Try to buy those “cooked from live” and remember that the more expensive Vannemai from Thailand is generally the best.
Endeavor Prawn – The blue endeavor prawn is similar in appearance to the King prawn but lacks a spine, making it much more fragile. The texture is generally softer and the flavour more savory but the Endeavor is a good value, wild harvest prawn. It oxidizes quickly when thawed, so be careful to only defrost what you require for immediate use.
Red spot (King) Prawn
Closely related to the King Prawn, though often smaller, and coming mainly from the trawl fisheries in South East Queensland. With its distinctive red spot on each side of the body shell, the Red spot prawn is typically lighter in flavour and softer in texture than the King. Great value for either cold or cooked preparations.
Royal Red Prawn
A deep water prawn trawled mostly off the east coast of NSW, the royal red is usually sold as frozen meat, as it spoils quickly. An inexpensive option, it’s best suited to stir-frying or crumbing or in chopped or minced preparations. Doesn’t work for salads and don’t even think about throwing it on the barbie.