Prawn Cocktail.

[Lickey]

Yes, i love a good Prawn cocktail, we can buy all the sauces here and some good salad packs from Tesco Lotus, but as for finding nice tender prawns, not possible! sorry, but i dont like chewy tough prawns...

My plan is to chop the salad items, mix in the tartar/mayonaise/1000island dressing, put in some tender prawns, cool for 30 mins in fridge, add a slice or 2 of lemon and enjoy the overall consistency of the meal, not to start chewing tough prawns!

So, have any of you good chefs any ideas how to tenderize prawns please,

TIA for your comments and advice, Cheers, Lickey & Pan..

[dotcom]

drive to Chon Buri & buy some.

[Ulysses G.]

I have a feeling that any prawns that needed to be "tendorized" would not be suitable for prawn cocktails.

[Cuban]

The issue might be the use of large prawns?

Needing to cook them for too long a time for them to be 'done' inside?

Consider some experiment, either cook shell on and then peel or remove shell and cut in half - then cook.

I suggest that cooking halved prawns might make them watery ?

From the BBC food web site.

Once the shell is off, check to see if there is a black line running down the back of the prawn. This is the intestinal tract - if it's black, it's full. It's not harmful to eat, but the prawn looks better without it, and it can be a bit gritty. Removing it is called 'deveining'. Using a small, sharp knife, make a shallow cut along the length of the black line, then lift it out using the tip of the knife.

To butterfly a prawn, peel and devein as above, leaving the tail on. Then make a deep cut along the belly of the prawn, open it out and press it down so that it's flat. If you want the prawns to be straight, peel (leaving the very end of the tail on) and devein, then insert a wooden skewer along its length

[Lickey]

Quite right posters, these are large prawns well, when straightened out, about 2in in lenght, just cant seem to find the smaller ones up here, 50k south of the mekong and 100 nw of udon thani, Ive tried boiling them close to oblivion and still they retain a tough texture, I had a thought today, and i have used this before for a beef tenderizer, Papaya, cut the top off, scoop out the seeds, stuff with peeled prawns and leave for 24 hours in the fridge..

Will let you know the results soon, Thanks, Lickey.

[Bagwan]

I find the taste improves if you boil them in salted water. I assume that you boil the water before introducing the prawns.

[Lickey]

Hi Bagwan, the taste gets lost in the sauces anyway, well, near enough! its the texture im thinking about, perhaps the salt water boil will tenderize the prawns, will give it a go, Thanks Lickey.

[SnakeBite]

I find that the quicker the cook the more tender it will be. I make a shrimp/prawn sandwich by cutting them in half and a quick fry in the pan with butter and garlic. Only cook until they turn white or the clear color goes away, any longer and they get tough.

[JohnBKKK]

Hi,

buy medium sized prawns (sea caught preferably) at a good outlet - peal and de-vaine them before marinating them in some lemon juice for about 20 minutes maximum ... in the meatime boil the shells in a cup of water for 10 minutes, take off the heat and remove the shells - place the marinated shrimps into the hot stock until pink - remove them and set to cool cover with film - place the remaining water back onto the heat and reduce until you have about 1/3 cup left remove from heat and add 2 table spoons of ketchup, a splash of lemon juice and a table spoon of majonaise to the stock - add a dash of tabasco, salt and fresly ground black pepper to taste - stirr and set to cool - once cool take a ripe avocado that has been cut into small cubes - mix in with the sauce - add the cold prawns, mix briefly and serve over rocket leaves - if using large/tiger prawns use the sauce as a "dip" and place the prawns around the rim of the glass

The marinating in lemon juice will tenderize and partially cook the prawns - if possible one should use real sea prawns and not farmed once - if using farmed prawns, poor some boiling water over them prior to peeling - but whatever you do, do not boil the prawns

John

[sceadugenga]

Have you tried the 250gm packs of frozen shrimp meat in the supermarkets? They're all marked export quality and I've found them quite satisfactory. Watch out, some are cooked and some raw.

A tip on cooking fresh ones, the longer you boil them the tougher they will get.

3 to 6 minutes, depending on the size is plenty.

[Bagwan]

Hi,

buy medium sized prawns (sea caught preferably) at a good outlet - peal and de-vaine them before marinating them in some lemon juice for about 20 minutes maximum ... in the meatime boil the shells in a cup of water for 10 minutes, take off the heat and remove the shells - place the marinated shrimps into the hot stock until pink - remove them and set to cool cover with film - place the remaining water back onto the heat and reduce until you have about 1/3 cup left remove from heat and add 2 table spoons of ketchup, a splash of lemon juice and a table spoon of majonaise to the stock - add a dash of tabasco, salt and fresly ground black pepper to taste - stirr and set to cool - once cool take a ripe avocado that has been cut into small cubes - mix in with the sauce - add the cold prawns, mix briefly and serve over rocket leaves - if using large/tiger prawns use the sauce as a "dip" and place the prawns around the rim of the glass

The marinating in lemon juice will tenderize and partially cook the prawns - if possible one should use real sea prawns and not farmed once - if using farmed prawns, poor some boiling water over them prior to peeling - but whatever you do, do not boil the prawns

John

Wow! Thanks a bunch. Will have a try at this. BTW do you have your own TV programme? It would be compulsive viewing and far better than that of a certain porcine featured politician.

It does amaze me however that practically anybody that can fry an egg, goes on TV to demonstrate such rare skills and suddenly becomes 'a celebrity'.

[Boater]

got me hungry now!

Beefeater in the UK did an excellent Prawn Cocktail, also in Sandwich form as well

[pumpuiman]

I agree, you are overcooking your prawns. 2 or 3 minutes is all it takes.

[dotcom]

Will try your suggestion John. Get the water hot, take off the fire & add shrimp. Loverly. I use Louisana crab boil - available at Villa.

[Chantal]

Sounds like an excellent recipe John. Will definitely give it a try.

[Vato]

use saltwater shrimp, they are lighter grey and dont have the 'stripes'.... eg; as in a 'tiger' prawn...

for 100 baht you can get a pretty good sized bag of frozen pre cooked shrimp from 'Prantalay'...last time i got it was at carrefour...well enough for 3 people, and theyre peeled completely, none of that tail still on business.

heat some water up until it just starts to steam, drop in the shrimp , for about 1-2 minutes then remove...nice tender, but crispy snap shrimp bite...

[edgarfriendly]

whats wrong with river prawns/shrimp?

i just got a kilo for 110 bt from a lady who drives into the soi.

nice n fresh, good flavour. dint think of using the boiled carcass as stock...good one

pad graPOW!!! gung.

ef

e2a - all the frozen/peeled ones are tasteless.

Edited June 15, 2010 by edgarfriendly

[Backwoods]

Overcooking just toughens the shrimp or prawns! Try seasoning the water and boiling first, adding shrimp with shells on, and when they turn pink and float to top, remove and drain in a bowl, shell when cooled enough to handle, and should be better! I like the sauce using ketchup, horseradish and touch of lemon, keep in sauce overnight and pig out the next day!!