Are prawns meant to be rubbery?

[multipoodles]

I've never eaten them, but the kids love them at other peoples houses but remark they are rubbery! They've pestered me into making Jamie's 15 minute prawn laguine next week some time and I'm not sure whether to get frozen or fresh uncooked tiger prawns, recipe calls for uncooked but doesn't say which and I don't want them complaining mine were rubbery too, unless of course that's the way they're meant to be!

You can buy frozen uncooked prawns. I hate frozen seafood and have found you can buy quite cheap fresh prawns if you hold off and only buy them when they're on offer (guess they don't keep so every now and then, supermarkets sell off the remainder of a batch cheap).

Sorry, that didn't answer your question. Cook with uncooked prawns. If they are already cooked you just throw them in near the end to heat through really. Agree, over cooked prawns just taste like rubber.

Prawns take very little time to defrost. But if you're cooking with them (especially in a 15 minute recipe!) you definitely want them unfrozen.

They can be rubbery if over-cooked - but most people re-cook cooked prawns - if they're raw when you cook them they probably won't be.

the kids love them at other peoples houses but remark they are rubbery

Sounds like they are perfectly happy to eat "rubbery" prawns.

I don't think they taste like rubber, they're probably just describing the texture, which can be a bit boingy.

Yep, agree that it's overcooking that makes prawns go rubbery - they really take hardly any time to cook. Less of a risk of that if you buy uncooked, definitely. Feel like I should point out that tiger prawns are pretty dodgy, ethically speaking (intensive farming practices etc) but you may be less of a sandal-wearing hippy than me!

Thank you, I will go with fresh. I have never in my life cooked prawns and I may just send the kids back to their friends for a prawn fix.. bloody Jamie Oliver LOL

(No-one else thinking of the Benny Hill sketch where he plays a chinese bloke?)