Cooking prawns - whole or tail only?

[Clipper]

I'm new at this whole prawning business so have been reading everything I can find on cooking and freezing the tasty little critters and my question is - whole prawns in the pot or tails only? It would seem to me that keeping them whole would preserve more of the flavour but a lot of folks seem to de-head them before cooking.

All advice is welcome!

 

[Bassblaster]

Both ways work from what I know. The heads are left on a lot of times more for presentation on the plate rather than anything to do with the taste. I do mine tails only but that's just me.

 

[Pippen]

I do just tails as well....unless sometimes if I grill them. As mentioned above, the head is left on more for presentation...ie cooking for company.

For me....when eating them with the head still on......I find it to be a pain in the arse.

I also keep the prawn heads "uncooked" if I know I am going to be crabbing as they can make good crab bait.

My girlfriend always asks for a bag of the prawn heads to be saved now and then so she can make a stock as well.

 

[trophywife]

to serve cold... no heads,, place tails in hard boil for 1.5 mins... STOP THEM FROM COOKING by throwing them all into a sink of cold running water, rinse a little, throw in the fridge, cocktail sauce= four tablespoons of hot horseradish/1/2 cup ketchup, four tblspn lemon juice, 1tbsp of habenaro hot sauce...mmmmmmmm. peel off 1/4 of shell (thick end) grab meat, squeeze tail, and pop.. yummy.

serve hot= 1/4 stick a butter, some garlic, a lil green currie if ya like or old bay seasoning.. get it really hot and flash em for about 1 min.

prawns peel way better also if they have been frozen or even partially frozen.

freeze them tail off or whole in water. i use recycled milk jugs, can fit a hundred almost in a 4 ltr jug with the head off.

 

[Dogbreath]

The goop in the heads is best eaten raw-just slurped down-but it's very rich and doesn't cook all that well.

 

[Copper Moon]

Try the poaching recipe from the videos from this site. The best I ever had was a 30 sec poach on same day prawns

http://www.wildbcspotprawns.com/videos

 

[Clipper]

Great info! Thanks! Now if the wind would just die down for a while I'll get out and catch a bunch.

 

[Dogbreath]

Better do it soon commercial season opens the first week of May and then numbers drop precipitously.

 

[Islandgirl]

The goop in the heads is best eaten raw-just slurped down-but it's very rich and doesn't cook all that well.

I have never been able to bring myself to use that!

 

[MILLERTIME]

The goop in the heads is best eaten raw-just slurped down-but it's very rich and doesn't cook all that well.

Do you mean everything infront of the tail or just the head?

 

[Fish Assassin]

Tail only..........

 

[salmonkiller01]

when we are out prawnin after the first set I'll cook up a pot of whole fresh prawns, but what goes home is tails.

 

[Osama Bin Hopper]

when we are out prawnin after the first set I'll cook up a pot of whole fresh prawns, but what goes home is tails.

Absolutely.

Fresh boiled without heads is ******* sacriledge around here.

Gotta freeze, tails only.

 

[tubber]

I saw a chef on tv the other day put his headed, peeled prawns in a big bowl, salt them well, pour boling water over them, then fish them out after 30 seconds. Looked good and so easy.

 

[Copper Moon]

After seeing that video, that is the method we use. Excellent results

 

[Clipper]

I saw a chef on tv the other day put his headed, peeled prawns in a big bowl, salt them well, pour boling water over them, then fish them out after 30 seconds. Looked good and so easy.

That sounds interesting. Gonna try that next time. Tx.

 

[kronic_fisherguy]

Tail always is better with head.
kronic