Dublin Bay Prawns
Also known as langoustines or scampi, they deserve more than the usual pub grub scampi treatment
Dublin Bay Prawns are one of the under-celebrated stars of British produce. Also known as langoustines or Norway Lobster, they are perhaps best known as that pub lunch standard, scampi. In this guise they are coated in breadcrumbs, and (usually) frozen before being deep fried (usually straight from frozen) and served with chips and a slice of soggy lemon.
Coating and frying is a fine tradition for cooking seafood, from classic British fish and chips to Italian fritto misto to Japanese tempura, but with pub grub scampi the result is all too often average at the very best, with overcooking usually leading to something that resembles salty rubber encased in sandpaper.
In the right hands, however, these creatures can be something very special. They do not hold much meat, mainly in their tails, but what there is is sweet and heading towards lobster rather than a simple prawn.
Try them roasted whole on a bed of sea salt, or halved lengthways and grilled, simply served with some lemon butter and parsley.
They also suit being treated in a more Asian way, maybe stir fried with a chilli, ginger and basil sauce - they would make a good substitute for white crab meat or even scallops in any recipe.
Comments from our visitors:
Harvey Levene, 2007-10-17 07:01:24:I really like the look of these and want to try them, but there is littlem information about shelling and preparation.
Click here to add a comment to this entryMore on 'Shellfish':
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Cromer Crab
Langoustines
Oysters
Razor Clams
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Related Recipes
Dublin Bay Prawns with Sesame Dressing
A simple Asian-style treatment for one of our best British crustaceans
Read full recipe published at Waitrose
