cooking raw prawns

[freddies]

Has anyone got a recipe for cooking raw prawns .T he last lot i cooked turned out really pale .How do you cook them and get a good colour to them
K.S

[Panda]

River prawns dont colour up like Tiger prawns. So long as they taste good, thats all you should worry about.

[Dug]

I just fry them up in Butter and olive oil, bit of garlic and a squeeze of lime or lemon.

Some spice if you like but not too much!

Dam you fish eaters dam you all to hell!

[land-lubber]

The best way that i do raw prawns, like the bought ones, is to take ur prawns home with a bucket of water from where u got the prawns (as long as its relatively clean). boil the water and add prawns for 3-5min, then have the remaining water as an ice slurry and take them out of the boiling water and add them to the slurry.

If u cant get water where the prawns are (youve bought raw prawns or the water is too dirty), add a good amount of salt to the water ur boiling them in and chill them in a salty slurry
cheers

BTW, as panda said, not all prawns get the same colour

[Huggy_B]

shell them, throw em in the pan with chili, garlic, olive oil and a touch of cumin for colour. 1 - 2 minutes per side and then you eat, preferably with crusty fresh bread.

[MIKOS]

Cook em on the barbie or in the pan with garlic and sweet chilli sauce.

Dont overcook

Keep the tails on and you can eat them as well.They are lovely when crispy.

Eat and enjoy with avocado and cheese

And drink beer ;)

MIKOS

[Fishinmishin]

Just make sure the pan is HOT and cook till JUST cooked. Too much seafood is killed by overcooking.
Cheers, Jay

[aussiefool]

Everyone above is on the right track except that the best way to deal with them is to put them into a large icy comtainer and deliever them to MY place as soon as you can...... from there I'll look after them for you and will even than you for your trouble till the next delievery ;) ;D ::)
P.M/ me for my home addie when you have my/your next bucket load

[Custaro]

I cooked up some greasies last weekend using a new method recommended by a Chinese chef. Got a rapid boil going with salt water and only threw a small amount of prawns into the pot so as to not have the water go off the boil. Stir them around and pull them out. 20 seconds tops. Drop them straight into a salty ice slurry to stop them cooking any more. They were by far the best prawns I have ever cooked up myself. Very crisp and the shells didn’t go soft which made peeling much easier. They didn’t have a dark red colour but didn't seem to bother me when filling my guts with them.

Definately wash them down with a cold beer.

[DICER]

You could always use the following to colour up your prawns ....

E123
Amaranth, FD&C Red 2 - prawns pretty pink

E127
Erythrosine, FD&C Red 3 - fake crab colour

Sudan I
(an illegal carcinogen, that is sometimes used; although there are a few others!)

Quite often you'll find prawns are cooked in another food colour, that I can not recall. You'll quite often find your fingers go red after eating them, that's if they have been cooked in this colouring additive. Lobster as well. I can tell you it's not my favorite.

Salmon is quite often fed astaxanthin, which comes naturally like in waste from prawns, crustaceans etc. Alternatively salmon is fed synthetically produced canthaxanthin. This makes the fish flesh go red/pink, otherwise it would white or grey. The EU has specifically instructed to cut down on the use of canthaxanthin because it has been known to build up pigments in the back of peoples retinas, affecting eyesight :o

Colouration is purely cosmetic.

Tastes better, looks better - right?

BTW canthaxanthin is also used in poultry, to make your eggs go a funny colour, or in body taning supplements like "Bronze EZ".

[fish2eat]

I believe that the final cooked colour is related to the species, not to the method of preparation.

I know the bright orange/pink one look better, but I don;t think the colour adds to the flavour

However, prawns can be ruined by too much salt

[MIKOS]

Dicer,

Very interesting.
I saw in one of your other posts in relation to you name (dicer) its is a substance of some sort (an additive) i cant remember what for.

MIKOS ;)

[Volvo]

Custaro, assuming we are talking about cooked n not barbied, stewed or otherwise Prawns your chinese mate was kinda right :)..That is depending on size and quantity of Prawns best way IS to cook em in their own water if possible otherwise add your own salt.
Most important is to make sure you bring the water to the boil first then drop in the Prawns and as soon as they start floatin to the top is time to remove them and YES!! into an ice slurry if possible to stop them from cooking further.
Depending on amount of Prawns again a handfull of sugar dont go astray to help with shell removal ey ;)..
Cheers

[masterdusky]

U can put them in fresh water when u get home,this makes em "clean out" there sytems,throw into boiling salted water,as soon as they float get em out and **** heres the thing throw em into iced cold water as soon as u get em out...otherwise they hold heat and keep cooking :D;)

[rando]

Bob The Netmaker at Victoria Point, (now I reacon he must have cooked a prawn or two) told me he cooks them in fresh water then lays them on a tray in the fridge to chill and spinkles them with seasalt. He reacons they peel easier like this