Topic: Prawn Deveining

[prawnsalad]

I remember reading about this process on here some time ago but the penny didnt drop until very recently and I figured it would be helpful to those new to BIR cooking to understand that just about every TA does this with their prawns.

For years I put the shapes in my king prawn curry down to commercially sourced prawns being of a somewhat different variety, typically frying my supermarket raw pre-shelled king prawns straight out of the bag.

However I now defrost then slice them down the back to remove the thin vein that forms the intestine of the shellfish.

This does two things:

1. Improves the flavour of the prawn (perhaps in other dishes but I really can't tell with curry)

2.Changes the texture of the prawn making it softer and more evenly cooked (a massive improvement in my opinion)

Such a small effort yet it adds a lot of authenticity to your BIR prawn dishes.



 

[Peripatetic Phil]

Such a small effort yet it adds a lot of authenticity to your BIR prawn dishes.

Agreed.  Although for Gambas Pil Pil (Spanish dish), whole (unslit) prawns seem more authentic.
** Phil

[Ghoulie]

While it is generally thought there is no real reason to de-'vein' shrimps / prawns - cooking is said to kill off any 'bacteria', my own personal experience with shellfish in general would make me very reluctant to eat any that had not been sorted out.
I had food poisoning once from a prawn cocktail and gastro-enteritis from eating mussels.  No one else was affected that ate the same food.  I guess we all have different sensitivities.  Cooking will NOT kill off any toxins that may accumulate in shellfish

[Peripatetic Phil]

Cooking will NOT kill off any toxins that may accumulate in shellfish

Or indeed, in most foodstuffs -- toxins and bacteria are very different kiddles of fish.  But as regards eating mussels and food poisoning -- when I was staying in Paris a couple of decades ago, I got food poisoning so badly that I collapsed unconscious on the floor of my hotel bedroom twice in one morning, the second time pulling the telephone table on top of me.  When I came round, I was shaking violently,  Recognising instinctively that I had overdone the fasting r

[Ghoulie]

Then there was the time I caught 'mucous dysentry' from eating soused herrings in Bahrain - '77.  Spent 3 days in the loo - no point in even getting up off the pan !!
Had a medical for a new job when I came back to the UK and explained the symptoms which the quack had to look up.  He exclaimed - only known in WW1 trench warfare conditions.  Shows you how bad some of the hygiene was in the Middle East in those days.

[Peripatetic Phil]

"Soused herrings in Bahrain" ?  That, Sir, is a self-inflicted injury.  In the Services, you'd have been court-martialled !
** Phil.

[Ghoulie]

Blame my wife for that one Phil !