World Cup 2010 England, Battered Dublin Bay Prawns

Some of the recipes I am posting now are really my suggestions for quick and easy dishes you can make to eat while watching the world cup, all of them will be great to share with family and friends, todays recipe is great traditional British dish perfect for a snack or starter, our version of deep frying succulent Dublin bay prawns coated with a light beer batter deep fried to a golden colour, serve with a garlic mayonnaise to dip.

Its another of Maureen’s favourite shellfish either in breadcrumbs, batter or as scampi Provencal, we have served this superb lobster like shellfish to many of the rich and famous here and in America. We like to serve these with a garlic mayonnaise or a homemade Tartare sauce.

Now for the recipe, you will need for 4 servings;

• 12, Dublin bay prawns, King Prawns can also be used for this recipe
• ¼ cup milk
• 2 tablespoons, seasoned flour
• 1 cup, plain flour
• ¼ to ½ cup, light beer
• 1, whole egg
• Oil, for deep-frying
• Lemon wedge and parsley, for garnish

The method is all quite easy;

1. Remove heads and shell from prawns, leaving tail intact. Slit down the back of the prawn and remove the centre vein.
2. Sift the flour into a bowl, beat the egg and milk together, blend, and stir the flour to form a smooth paste. Add enough beer to form a batter consistency and leave to stand for 30 minutes.
3. Heat the oil for frying in a deep, heavy based pan. Toss the prawns in seasoned flour to season the flour add a sprinkling of salt and white pepper to plain flour.and dip into the batter one at a time. Lower six prawns carefully into the oil and cook for 2 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the prawns with strainer, drain well on absorbent paper, and keep warm. Cook the remaining prawns, drain well.
4. Serve on a warm serving plate and garnished with parsley sprigs and lemon wedges.
5.  Do not cook more than six prawns at once as this will lower the oil temperature and cause prawns to absorb excess oil.

We like this to deep-fry our fried dishes;


Langoustine, Scampi Or Dublin Bay Prawn, According to the Larousse Gastronomique, the Dublin Bay prawn is known in French as "langoustine”, while in Britain the shelled tail meat is generally referred to as "scampi”. The term "prawn" can be confusing since it is used to describe several varieties of shellfish: the first group includes members of the lobster family such as the Dublin Bay prawn (langoustine in French and langostino in Spanish), Danish lobster, Italian scampi, etc., while the second takes in large shrimp, particularly those that live in fresh water.


An edible crustacean, Nephrops Norvegicus, of the order Decapoda, which is commercially sold as scampi, similar to a large prawn, it has a slender pinkish body, up to 7.87 in long, with long claws. It is widespread in the Mediterranean and NE Atlantic, living in sandy burrows at a depth of 10 to 12 ft. Dublin Bay prawns are usually fished by trawling and are marketed fresh, frozen, or cooked, shelled or unshelled, whole or as tails.

Can be cooked whole as a lobster and served cold with mayonnaise or the peeled, uncooked tail meat. They are delicate and need to be poached only for a few seconds in court bouillon. Unlike the rock lobster or spiny lobster (called "langouste" in French), or even shrimp, the Dublin Bay prawn changes colour little during cooking. It is better to undercook it rather than overcook it, so that it does not become tough and dry. When very fresh, Dublin Bay prawns have an outstanding slightly sweet flavour that is lost when they are frozen. They can be eaten plain, accompanied by melted butter. In North America, it is common to coat Dublin Bay prawns with breadcrumbs and butter and cook them briefly under a very hot broiler.