Prawns/king prawns - help me understand please?

[minutesturntohours]

Hi all

I'm a vegetarian but eat fish fillets (pescatarian?) I like to know what exactly I'm eating when it comes to meat.

I was always put off prawns because I thought they came with legs and whatnot but recently I had king prawns and loved them.

Can someone explain to me what a prawn is and what parts of it we are eating? I can't make head nor tail (excuse the pun) of it.

It's a shellfish. We eat the body. They have legs I'm afraid..... And eyes which are plucked out of farmed ones....

A prawn is something you would never eat of it walked on land

Disclaimer: I have never actually eaten one but I've watched too many cookery shows where they snap off the head, de-shell them and the legs come off .
Then the black 'vein' up the back (which I think is the intestine) and any eggs .
So you're left with the 'meaty' body

(I haven't sold them to myself here )

if it walked , not of <sigh>

What's the difference between a king and normal?

and am I eating its..insides?

its a "poo track" according to my cousin.

I only eat them in battered parcels, or prawn cocktails, so they're wee things.

HOwever a while ago I was in a Brazilian bar and my pal ordered a shellfish parcel. I watched as she pulled one hairy thing with legs and eyes out after the other.

I remember being abotu 12 and watching my dad eat flesh from an upside down crab that was looking at me.

A prawn has an exoskelaton- like a crab and other crustaceans. So instead of having an internal skelaton to provide support to the body like a mammal (spine, ribs, pelvis etc), the 'skelaton' is on the outside in the form of a shell. Therefore the inside muscle or body of the prawn is what is eaten.

Their is a dark vein down the back of the prawn which is an intestinal tract and usually removed as can be gritty with sand. The head too is removed (although fried and eaten in some countries or added as a flavouring for soups). Also the shell along with the legs is removed. I therefore think the part we generally eat is the main, muscular body of the prawn.

A king prawn is probably a slightly different, larger species than the North Atlantic prawns which we traditionally eat in the Uk.
After you've removed the head, shell and legs what you're left with is essentially the muscle meat of the prawn. (It is the 'inside' in one way because the prawn shell is an exoskeleton, that is, on the outside of its body rather than inside as ours is. But not
the 'insides' IYSWIM. )
The black thread along the back is the gastro-intestinal tract and can be easily rinsed off.

King is a larger prawn. The term 'King' in the UK is considerably smaller than what is considered a King in some other countries though . I dont think its a breed/type of prawn but just a larger size.

Jesus, too slow! Again.

So when you get prawns, or king prawns, what's the red line running through them?

King prawn is just a species of prawn. It's bigger than 'normal' prawns.

And yes, you're a pescetarian not a vegetarian.

I don’t really understand your question! Obviously all prawns have legs and heads….

A prepared one is shelled and has the legs and head pulled off and is de-veined (intestine removed). They can be cooked shell on in which case they should have been kept in plain water(I.e. without food) for however long it takes for their intestines to be empty. There is a lot of flavour in the shells!

A prawn is a prawn? They are delicious pan fried with garlic lemon and parsley and sometimes you have to peel them ... so what?

I'm asking exactly what they are, because I genuinely dont know.

I've moved recently and prawns isn't a thing where I'm from (I assume they exist, but you take my point).

that's what I didn't know! See above response to PP.

I re,member an advert years ago for Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup served with a whole shell-on cooked prawn dangling on the side of the bowl
It's beady litte black eyes and all its leggy bits , dipping its arse into the bowl of soup.
Eurgh <not envy
Black pepper in tomato soup , nothing else (certainly not prawn bottoms)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prawn

leiths.com/how-tos/how-to-prepare-and-peel-raw-prawns

What country did you live in that doesn't have prawns? Genuinely interested?

I lived in a (very) small town in Scotland.

I was 30 before I had my first one!

I'm a vegetarian but eat fish fillets (pescatarian?) I like to know what exactly I'm eating when it comes to meat

You're NOT a vegetarian.

I knew the vegetarian/not vegetarian thing would be raised .
Ive beeb vegetarian since I was 14 ( so 42 years now ) I decided back then I wouldn't eat fish either .
Even now in the enlightened 2020s I still get people asking if I eat fish .
I get asked if I'm vegan then ?

My DD has been vegetarian for 6 years (DH and I didn;t bring our DC up vegetarian)
At her School Prom dinner one of the teachers said "vegetarians eat fish" and tried to give her the fish starter .

My DD said "Oh yes , that well known vegetable , fish "

What you enjoy is this this with the head, tail and shell taken off.

King prawn, prawn, shrimp is a reference to size.

@minutesturntohours @MarmiteCoriander

Just for the record, we definitely have prawns in Scotland.

Not in the small town I'm from. Or maybe I was a deprived child, who knows. What a strange conversation.