Nick Fisher
LATIN NAME
Coldwater prawn/Northern prawn: Pandalus borealis. Common prawn (in British inshore waters): Palaemon serratus. Tiger prawn: Penaeus monodon. King prawn: Litopenaeus vannamei
SEASONALITY
Coldwater prawns: not applicable (usually pre-frozen).
Common prawns: spawning period is somewhat variable so difficult to avoid.
Farmed prawns: not applicable
HABITAT
Coldwater prawns: widely distributed through the north Atlantic and north Pacific. Common prawns: found in the northeast Atlantic, Black Sea and the Mediterranean; common on the west coast of Scotland and Wales and southwest England; scattered elsewhere around the British Isles
MCS RATING
Coldwater prawn 1–2; common prawn not rated; king and tiger prawns (farmed) 1–5
REC MINIMUM SIZE
Common prawn 8.5cm total shell length
SOURCING
A pint of shell-on sweet, succulent prawns in a sun-kissed beer garden with a glug of local cider is yummy. If anything, prawns are too yummy: too easy to eat, in sandwiches, in sushi, or fork-deep in Thai green curry sauce. It’s not the eating of them that’s the problem. It’s the catching or growing of them. The UK is the world’s largest importer of prawns, opening our arms to over 400,000 tonnes a year – prawns that are either caught by trawlers or grown in farms in far-off warm places like Thailand and Vietnam.
Trawling for prawns is problematic simply because they are so small, and therefore prawn net mesh-size has to be tiny in order to catch them. Small-meshed netting will catch everything else that swims along with prawns, and so the by-catch can be massive. In some warm water tropical prawn fisheries, the ratio of by-catch to prawn can be as much as 20:1. And often by-catch is simply chucked back into the sea, dead.
There are fisheries for coldwater or Northern prawns in the North Atlantic, where fine specimens are caught and where measures to control by-catch – by fitting release panels to trawl nets – means the ratio of waste-to-prawns is much better. These Atlantic cold-water species, particularly those with MSC certification, are a good choice.
There are also some well-run, small-scale inshore prawn pot fisheries around the British Isles targeting the common prawn. These include the south coast of England, where the local prawns are known as Billy Winters, as well as Cardigan Bay in Wales and the southern and western coasts of Ireland. Using prawn pots (baited, like crab pots, with fishmonger waste), they catch nothing but prawns and, even if a small fish enters a pot, they can be easily released alive. It’s a perfectly selective, sustainable method. The prawns are much more tasty and firmer of flesh than imported, trawled prawns. The downside is that they are more expensive.
The big, fat tiger and king prawns we consume so many of are mostly farmed in hot countries, and the farms can have a high impact on the surrounding land and freshwater because of the effluent they release, among other things. Like any farming of carnivorous fish, prawn farming also involves catching, killing and processing wild fish to feed the farmed species. Some would argue that prawn farming is actually the best way forward, if we do it well: the MCS rates organically farmed king and tiger prawns as a responsible choice. We’re even starting to farm king prawns in Britain now, in land-based tank systems, which bypass many of the environmental issues of aquaculture. I guess it’s not all bad, but I still prefer to avoid buying farmed prawns and treat myself to an occasional expensive pint of pot-caught Billy Winters instead.
If possible use sustainably caught live prawns and a mix of salad leaves. If live prawns are not available use MSC-certified cooked peeled prawns (skipping the boiling). Serves 4 as a starter
About 250g live prawns
100g good mayonnaise
30g tomato ketchup
½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tbsp brandy
1 lemon
2–3 handfuls of salad leaves
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive or rapeseed oil
Sea salt and black pepper
Bring a large pan of well-salted water (about 10g salt to a litre) to a rolling boil. Add the prawns and, once the water is boiling again, cook for 1–2 minutes. Drain and allow to cool.
To make the sauce, combine the mayonnaise with the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and brandy. Season to taste with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Dress the leaves with a little more lemon juice and the extra virgin oil. Serve the prawns with the sauce and salad, with a plate of buttered brown bread.
Either peel yourself a big pile of prawn tails, spoon on the sauce and then tuck in with gusto or peel one prawn at a time, dipping and devouring repeatedly.