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Original poster

Prawn cocktail for 20! HELP…

40 replies

Dumbledormer · 18/12/2023 21:12

I’ve been a knob. Going to MIL’s for Christmas Day, should be good fun, lots of the in-laws going. I asked MIL a couple of weeks ago what we could bring thinking she’d say Prosecco or the cheeseboard. She’s asked if we can do the starter for 20 people and it has to be cold because obvs the ovens are being used for the main. I’ve spent two weeks panicking and settled on a prawn cocktail because I’ve seen them eating it before and it’s cold.

I’m trying to keep a lid on my stress as DH who is usually very hands on and helpful is dealing with a crisis at work and is basically not going to around until Christmas Eve. Helpfully my car has also decided now is the time for complete engine failure and is being looked after in the garage to (maybe) be released on Friday. So now I’m thinking fuuuck, I’ve got to shop and buy 20 million prawns with a two year old and a baby in a pram within walking distance of my house.

WHY OH WHY did I offer? My two SIL’s who are actually smart have said they won’t have time to prep any food and will just bring alcohol. I’ve been cursing them all day!

So, please help. I need tried and tested recipes, general words of encouragement and reassurance that the toddler will be a helpful sous chef rather than a fucking liability.

OP posts:
BreadInCaptivity · 18/12/2023 22:52

It's a pretty easy starter imho.

My sauce recipe is mayo, ketchup, lemon juice, pepper and a bit of Tabasco.

In your situation I'd buy frozen prawns and on Xmas eve make the sauce, shred lettuce and slice some lemons.

As pp's suggested you can take avocados also.

On the day take the frozen prawns sauce and mix them together (prawns take hardly any time to defrost so about 20 mins before you eat).

Layer the lettuce, avocado if using and the prawn mix. Decorate with black pepper (and or some paprika) and lemon. Just lay the plates out in a production line and build up each layer rather than doing one plate at a time.

Alternatively make a nice soup this week and freeze it - take out on Xmas eve and reheat on the day.

silvertoil · 18/12/2023 22:57

Frozen prawns if you don't want to break the bank

Tr1skel1on · 18/12/2023 23:04

Oh my goodness. This is why M&S are still in business, it's not because their clothes for middle aged women are excellent.

Go to Marksies with the toddlers, get what you need. Job done

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General food
IBegYourBiggestPardon · 18/12/2023 23:19

Don't waste money on pre made prawn Marie Rose sauce. Make your own. I used to use salad cream and tomato ketchup with some smoked paprika mixed in, until I discovered Polish mayonnaise. Absolute game changer! I definitely recommend it

KnowThyself · 18/12/2023 23:43

The only thing is how far are you travelling and can you keep it cold where it’s seafood, I’m always careful with seafood.

KittytheHare · 18/12/2023 23:57

Easiest starter in the world. Buy raw prawns in Aldi/Lidl (for 20 I would get about 1.5 kilo). Cook the day before by bringing to the boil with some lemon and then chilling down instantly. Make Marie Rose with mayonnaise, ketchup, horseradish, Worcestershire sce, a dash of brandy and a splash of cream. Bring everything to venue packed separately, shredded iceberg, lemon wedges, cooked prawns and Marie Rose and assemble there. This is not really a hugely expensive appetiser for 20!

HoppingPavlova · 19/12/2023 00:01

For the love of all thing good, never ever use frozen prawns. Travesty. If you can’t use fresh, don’t use. The taste and texture of frozen is just not on, doesn’t matter where you get them it will be obvious and if anyone is like anyone I know most of the prawn cocktail will be left uneaten. And stuff peeling over 100 fresh prawns in the day for prawn cocktails.

Do smoked salmon Bellini’s instead for that number of people. So much easier, convenient to throw together at the time.

SirenSays · 19/12/2023 00:04

I'd swap to something else. Quality prawns will be expensive and cheap ones taste disgustingly fishy.

KittytheHare · 19/12/2023 00:48

HoppingPavlova · 19/12/2023 00:01

For the love of all thing good, never ever use frozen prawns. Travesty. If you can’t use fresh, don’t use. The taste and texture of frozen is just not on, doesn’t matter where you get them it will be obvious and if anyone is like anyone I know most of the prawn cocktail will be left uneaten. And stuff peeling over 100 fresh prawns in the day for prawn cocktails.

Do smoked salmon Bellini’s instead for that number of people. So much easier, convenient to throw together at the time.

Nonsense. There are some really decent quality frozen prawns out there. Are you seriously telling me that you and everyone else you know can tell a frozen prawn and reject it absolutely?? What utter tosh

stepintochristmas1 · 19/12/2023 00:58

Bugger that I'd be giving them home made Tomato soup or Pea and Ham re heated .

HoppingPavlova · 19/12/2023 01:03

@KittytheHare Nonsense. There are some really decent quality frozen prawns out there. Are you seriously telling me that you and everyone else you know can tell a frozen prawn and reject it absolutely?? What utter tosh

Yep, can guarantee you could blindfold me (as you can also generally tell by looking at them), and I could tell what is fresh versus frozen. Extreme confidence. Most people i know who have grown up eating fresh prawns as a staple could also. Achievable in prawns in cooked dishes but really obvious if not in a cooked dish but by itself in something like a prawn cocktail.

BreadInCaptivity · 19/12/2023 01:05

HoppingPavlova · 19/12/2023 00:01

For the love of all thing good, never ever use frozen prawns. Travesty. If you can’t use fresh, don’t use. The taste and texture of frozen is just not on, doesn’t matter where you get them it will be obvious and if anyone is like anyone I know most of the prawn cocktail will be left uneaten. And stuff peeling over 100 fresh prawns in the day for prawn cocktails.

Do smoked salmon Bellini’s instead for that number of people. So much easier, convenient to throw together at the time.

Absolute codswallop!

Most seafood is actually flash frozen at sea to keep it fresh.

Your "fresh" prawns (unless you've bought them from a live tank) are simply defrosted from the boat.

The concept that frozen food is inferior is totally outdated given current commercial flash freeze technology.

I always buy quality frozen prawns - why wouldn't I?

The problem people often encounter is when they freeze "fresh" seafood and yes it's awful as they don't realise they are re-freezing it and that absolutely ruins the texture and flavour.

KittytheHare · 19/12/2023 01:08

HoppingPavlova · 19/12/2023 01:03

@KittytheHare Nonsense. There are some really decent quality frozen prawns out there. Are you seriously telling me that you and everyone else you know can tell a frozen prawn and reject it absolutely?? What utter tosh

Yep, can guarantee you could blindfold me (as you can also generally tell by looking at them), and I could tell what is fresh versus frozen. Extreme confidence. Most people i know who have grown up eating fresh prawns as a staple could also. Achievable in prawns in cooked dishes but really obvious if not in a cooked dish but by itself in something like a prawn cocktail.

lol at “eating fresh prawns as a staple”. Peak Mumsnet 😂.
@Breadincaptivity I couldn’t agree more with you

sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea · 19/12/2023 01:51

Oh just say bollocks to it! Co-op do a really nice smoked salmon pate. Provide some nice bread, slices of lemon, and perhaps some lettuce and/or avocado & stick it on a nice plate. I get my cake stand out for things like this, because it makes me look like I've made more effort than I have. Depending on where you are, deliveroo might be able to deliver it to you, saving the hassle of dragging the kids around the shop just before Christmas.

HoppingPavlova · 19/12/2023 01:56

@BreadInCaptivity Not codswallop at all. The boats here are for domestic consumption and do not freeze. I know this as we have all on occasion gone down to find the boats running late in and you are given a choice to take home and cook yourself, or come back in an hour when first batch on site is cooked and on ice. They don’t come frozen off those boats! I know places do this as in our shops they do offer defrosted prawns in our off-season from adjacent warmer countries (they need a sign to state country of origin if not local), and they are frozen on boat as you describe but it’s a small market, no one is desperate for defrosted prawns in off-season.

Many of the boats for fish snap freeze on board, but that’s because it’s mainly export product. The boats that supply local only definitely don’t do this. By local, I don’t just mean immediate towns/city but they will also truck overnight or fly (refrigerated units obviously) generally up to 1500 miles.

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