Shrimp vs Prawns vs Lobster Tails

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Speaking as someone who's only tried the lobster tails and is unsure of whether she likes them....

I'm looking forward to trying my first prawn, perhaps soon. A little one. Disguised in chilli batter. I've been told that the prawns are kinda like lobster tails, and shrimps are almost identical to prawns.

And crayfish - I'll add that to the debate as well.

― Rumpie, Wednesday, 7 September 2005 12:59 (twenty years ago)

I'm most familiar with SHRIMP. Either fry 'em or boil them in butter and hot sauce and you can't go wrong.

I love crawfish too, but I've only really had them in New Orleans (again, boiled in hot sauce).

I can't remember, what's the difference between prawns and shrimp?

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:06 (twenty years ago)

They taste different, and generally one is much bigger than the other. But neither taste like lobster!

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:07 (twenty years ago)

prawns are bigger than shrimps.

lobsters are a lot more meaty than both prawns and shrimps. mmmm and are yummy. but they are all yummy anyway

i have never had crawfish but they sound fantastic

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:09 (twenty years ago)

shrimp = mmmmm
prawns = mmmmm
lobster = ok.

― not-goodwin (not-goodwin), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:09 (twenty years ago)

DON'T BE SO SHELLFISH

― Stone Monkey (Stone Monkey), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:11 (twenty years ago)

crab is way tastier than lobster

― Matt (Matt), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:12 (twenty years ago)

Crayfish and rocket = essential.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:16 (twenty years ago)

The lobster tails did look like big prawns, I had a lobster cocktail. I was expecting it to be flaked like prepared crab meat and if I'd seen it before I ordered it I would probably have gone for the hot salmon sandwich instead.

We watched the lobstermen cracking them on the harbourside - they were tiddlers.

― Rumpie, Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:17 (twenty years ago)

Crab looks really appealing, I've only ever tried the John West straight out the can effort and it was pretty vile.

One day I'll try dressed crab, but only if I have someone who'll eat the remains if I don't like it.

― Rumpie, Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:19 (twenty years ago)

Crab IS way tastier than lobster but lobster is pretty ok.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:19 (twenty years ago)

I haven't really gotten a handle on lobster yet (tails or otherwise). I've only had it at my work's annual picnic for the last few years, and it was pretty good. I've never felt like spending $$$ on it at a restaurant though. Does lobster have a stigma of being the food of assholes?

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:19 (twenty years ago)

i think the only thing good about lobster vs crab is the tail bit because you can scoop the whole thing out and bite into it. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. whereas crab is tasty but a little more fiddly.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:21 (twenty years ago)

I had some smoked shrimp, smoked scallops, and smoked salmon during a road trip through northern Minnesota recently, and I realized that hot seafood (esp. shellfish) >>>>>> cold seafood.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:24 (twenty years ago)

They're all wonderful, except maybe for crawdads, which are a lot of work for very little payoff. Important cooking tip for larger shrimp and prawns: DRY HEAT >>>> BOILING. Tenderer, more intense flavor... awesomeness. Alton Brown's method for brining then broiling is very good advice.

I wonder if I can eat at least one Dungeness crab each day I'm in Seattle?

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:38 (twenty years ago)

So do you grill them or what?

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:43 (twenty years ago)

stir fry baby!

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:43 (twenty years ago)

i don't like any of them.

― latebloomer: snakes, snails, and puppydog tails (latebloomer), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:44 (twenty years ago)

also, prawn wins, because there exist something called "king prawns", which means when you're being served it, you can go "awwwlll 'king prawns mannn" in a manner that sounds as if you're moaning about being served "fucking prawns", which is hugely funny.

also you can threaten people by going "I'm gonna 'king pwn ya"

also if you misspell prawn in swedish, it will be "räkon" which sounds a bit like ROCK ON

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:46 (twenty years ago)

The best thing about lobsters is pulling the meat out of the claw in one claw-shaped piece.

― Mädchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

I'm scared of shellfish, which many of my friends find odd because I love fish.

I nibbled on a mussel a few weeks back just to please my boyfriend - "How can you say you don't like it if you've never tried it?"

I didn't like it.

Scallops look lovely but I'm afraid of the texture. I want to get my head round prawns and shrimps so I don't have to order my favourite chinese or indian dishes "without the prawns please"

― Rumpie, Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:50 (twenty years ago)

Does lobster have a stigma of being the food of assholes?

Oh yes, yes it does.

― Matt (Matt), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 13:51 (twenty years ago)

"So do you grill them or what?"

Yes: grilled, broiled and stir-fried are all great. Common element: very high heat, shortest cooking time possible.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 14:04 (twenty years ago)

King prawns are excellent, either grilled on the BBQ or just fresh ones lightly boiled, then you shell 'em and dip 'em in 1000 island dressing or lemon juice nom nom oh god I'm hungry now.

Fave memory of right now: sitting eating prawns that'd come right off the trawler that day, on xmas day in 40deg heat in the shade. Just chillin out eating prawns and drinking champers. Ahh thats the life.

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 14:06 (twenty years ago)

I nibbled on a mussel a few weeks back just to please my boyfriend

hey are you sure he wasn't saying "nibble on my MUSCLE"???? etc. etc.

sorry

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 14:06 (twenty years ago)

Important cooking tip for larger shrimp and prawns: DRY HEAT >>>> BOILING.

OTFM. Boiled prawn can be a big white piece of rubber. You get this a lot in Chinese restairants.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 14:09 (twenty years ago)

but what about the LANGUSTINES??

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 15:35 (twenty years ago)

well, do you like men's bottoms?

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 15:41 (twenty years ago)

If you boil shellfish right (ie not for ages and NOT in plain old water) it is delicious though.

― Allyzay knows a little German (allyzay), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 16:20 (twenty years ago)

Ally OTM.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:08 (twenty years ago)

Why are prawns more common in the UK?

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:13 (twenty years ago)

Oh man I couldn't choose, but I do like crab generally more than other shellfish. But it's not like I would refuse prawns, shrimp, lobster or crayfish. They're all damn good.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:17 (twenty years ago)

Prawn po' boy

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

Prawns really don't taste that different from shrimps. They're really basically just like shrimp kongs or shrimpzillas or something.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:21 (twenty years ago)

The good news and the bad news as regards lobster tails.

The good: you can usually find them frozen in most groceries for way cheaper than fresh lobster.

The bad: lobster REALLY suffers for being frozen as opposed to fresh.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

There was a place called Sarge's in Baton Rouge that made a po'boy of buttery boiled shrimp instead of fried shrimp. OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

I think there's an overlap on the shrimp/prawns thing. I have a bag of 26-30's in my freezer right now that would be called shrimp in the US and prawns in the UK. Really, I think the difference between shrimp and prawns is the same difference between gasoline and petrol, i.e. none.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

MORE FAVORITE DISHES INVOLVING ARACHNIDS OF THE SEA:

lobster bisque
coconut-battered fried prawns

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

haha it's almost like we're eating scorpions or something

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

Fuck it, I'm going to make a pound or two of buttery, spicy boiled shrimp this week, see if I don't.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

Crawdads are one of the most frustratingly specific eating experiences. The meat inside their wee little husks has such an amazing, naturally-spicy power to it, but there's so much effort involved. Not really recommended for, like, actually hungry people, but on those BEERS + BROS occasions, it's near untoppable, as far as ritualistic sea-arachnid feasting ceremonies go.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

My sister has been a vegetarian for almost 10 years now, and she just started eating creatures of the sea last month. She ate this one big shrimp at lunch today and suddenly got this look on her face like she was about to cry, thinking about all the big fresh shrimp boils we've had on family beach outings over the years that she's missed.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

Totally. It's also kinda satisfying to end up victorious atop a MOUNTAIN of discarded crawfish carcasses.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

Uh, that makes it sound pretty icky (which it is, I guess), but I do appreciate the tasty crawfish meat even more for the effort it requires.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

I don't think I've had lobster bisque but crab bisque is the best soup-type thing I've ever eaten.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 17:38 (twenty years ago)

Ken, funny you should say that, we WERE in bed at the time.....

― Rumpie, Wednesday, 7 September 2005 18:07 (twenty years ago)

I think I've only eaten langustines, like, once. Ever.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 18:08 (twenty years ago)

Rock shrimp are kind of a lobster-tasting shrimp, so they beat all!

― nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 18:19 (twenty years ago)

haha rumpie!

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 19:55 (twenty years ago)

Langoustines are pleasant, but you have to eat something like twenty of the damn things.

― Matt (Matt), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 22:43 (twenty years ago)

I love all of these!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 7 September 2005 22:48 (twenty years ago)

stone crab > everything else.

― ..., Wednesday, 7 September 2005 22:50 (twenty years ago)

five years pass...

I have a question about shrimps (or prawns):

We all understand that you have to take the poop tubes out of the shrimp's sagittal plane. Sometimes, in addition to normal shrimp guts, there is this gross clots of stuff with the texture of cottage cheese curds hanging out with the intestine. Sometimes it is white, or bluish, last night I found some that was pink. What the fuck is that stuff? If I take it out of the shrimp but I still cook & eat that shrimp, will it turn me into a mutant? Is it a sign of something I should toss & not eat?

― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Monday, 20 June 2011 20:48 (fourteen years ago)

poop tubes!

― $^o$ (/o^)/ (ENBB), Monday, 20 June 2011 20:54 (fourteen years ago)

I had a friend who refuses to eat shrimp on account of the poop tubes (I don't think he even knows about the mutant yuck stuff!).

― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Monday, 20 June 2011 20:57 (fourteen years ago)

had = have

feeling TENSE today hah haa

― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Monday, 20 June 2011 20:57 (fourteen years ago)

I have no idea what the real answer is - I've only ever cooked frozen ones that have all that stuff removed already.

― $^o$ (/o^)/ (ENBB), Monday, 20 June 2011 20:57 (fourteen years ago)

He is missing out. They're delicious!

― $^o$ (/o^)/ (ENBB), Monday, 20 June 2011 20:57 (fourteen years ago)

I'm not sure I've ever seen the cheese curds stuff you're talking about, Abbott.

― Mr. Patrick Batman (WmC), Monday, 20 June 2011 20:59 (fourteen years ago)

idk if it's a recent thing or what!
Every time I find one I think "the BP oil spill made this shrimp a mutant...I am going to get its mutant powers and start growing supernumerary digits..."

― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Monday, 20 June 2011 21:00 (fourteen years ago)

I am so cheap though that I still cook and eat them. Fuck!

― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Monday, 20 June 2011 21:01 (fourteen years ago)

Good scallops are the best food ever.

― Kim, Monday, 20 June 2011 21:07 (fourteen years ago)

I have been on a huge scallops kick lately. I am not a huge fish person but I LOVE shellfish and scallops are among my fave.

I don't cook seafood at home which is why I have no idea about Abbott's question but I'm curious as to what she might be ingesting!!

― $^o$ (/o^)/ (ENBB), Monday, 20 June 2011 21:09 (fourteen years ago)

Well, I take it all out first! I don't eat it. It is freaky, though! If it happens next time I clean out shrimp, I will take a pic.

I am fast at shelling & deveining shrimp, it makes me proud.

Kim is correct about scallops.

― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Monday, 20 June 2011 21:11 (fourteen years ago)

I will chomp on a shrimp head too tho if they come whole. chomp!

― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Monday, 20 June 2011 21:12 (fourteen years ago)

I would love to see pics of this stuff. Maybe it's just coagulated protein coming off previously-frozen shrimp as they thaw?

― Mr. Patrick Batman (WmC), Monday, 20 June 2011 21:14 (fourteen years ago)

Unsurprisingly a GIS for deveining shrimp mutant gunk does not bring a pic of the stuff up.

It does result in this angry shaved dog.

http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/bioprin/iklBhuqkgarydAlgsJHaoiqtyndHECzIoskBziHAmCIsrruDEwzvduxaJiyj/media_httpwwwpaddypow_vDcsv.jpg.scaled500.jpg

― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Monday, 20 June 2011 21:16 (fourteen years ago)

hahahaha

so angry!

― $^o$ (/o^)/ (ENBB), Monday, 20 June 2011 21:17 (fourteen years ago)

Never ate crawfish, but when I was a preteen ("tween" is a really stupid term, imho), me and my niece used to catch them in ditches in Colorado, keep them in tubs of water for a while, and then let them go. Cute little critters.

― Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Monday, 20 June 2011 21:21 (fourteen years ago)

weird. i've cleaned a ton of shrimp in my life and don't know that i've ever encountered abbott's gunk.

― And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Monday, 20 June 2011 23:54 (fourteen years ago)

Ah this makes me even more freaked out that they may be BP mutants!

― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Monday, 20 June 2011 23:57 (fourteen years ago)

Every time I encounter one I think "this shrimp had a bad day." Like when you find an egg that has extra twisty calcium on the top and you feel bad for the chicken.

― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Monday, 20 June 2011 23:57 (fourteen years ago)

frozen shrimp are so sad

― british sb power (dayo), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:00 (fourteen years ago)

Shrimp Poop tubes. wtf. Now I am upset.

― so confused (blank), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:01 (fourteen years ago)

lol

― $^o$ (/o^)/ (ENBB), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:02 (fourteen years ago)

I just eat the entire shrimp I thought most people did

― so confused (blank), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:02 (fourteen years ago)

ime it's only been tiger shrimp and shrimp that are grey when uncooked that have veins

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3306/3639110392_12b0956246.jpg

― british sb power (dayo), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:03 (fourteen years ago)

well, they're often sold shelled (or at least split down the back) & deveined, so a lot of the time you don't have to mess with the poop chute

― And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:05 (fourteen years ago)

re: blank

― And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:05 (fourteen years ago)

That is what I told my friend: they take the poop tubes out before the shrimp is cooked. He would still have none of it, knowing they had ever been there. But he would still eat larger animals (who also have digestive systems)! It was baffling!

― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:08 (fourteen years ago)

I wish I could remember what I was reading about the people who eat the green stuff in lobsters! (I can remember the content – some people like to eat the green stuff – I can't remember the source!)

― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:10 (fourteen years ago)

I think my dad eats the green stuff. :(

― $^o$ (/o^)/ (ENBB), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:11 (fourteen years ago)

Thanks for the clarification, contenderizer :)

― so confused (blank), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:12 (fourteen years ago)

One of my earliest memories is of my dad telling me never to eat the green stuff. Maybe it's good though!
(When I was ages 2-4 my dad worked traveling for the IRS and he got some ridiculous per diem and I started insisting on lobster every dinner, I guess! A lot of my very first memories are about lobsters.)

― free inappropriate education (Abbbottt), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:13 (fourteen years ago)

Lol! When I was 6 my parents made me try escargot which basically just taste like garlic butter and I loved them. For years I would tell people that escargot were my fav food. We could have been fancy eating friendS!

― $^o$ (/o^)/ (ENBB), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:18 (fourteen years ago)

Also it might be that my dad NEVER eats e green stuff. Not sure now.

― $^o$ (/o^)/ (ENBB), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:18 (fourteen years ago)

Prawns here are very often sold even when cooked (ie pink) with all the shell and head and legs still intact, so its a fairly common thing to sit down to a plateful that you have to completely de-head, shell and de-vein yourself. Yeah its kinda messy and bleck but thats what the bowls of hot lemon water are for, to rinse one's hands :)

― Bloompsday (Trayce), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:40 (fourteen years ago)

a few related shellfish that I often enjoy:

spot prawn
spiny lobster (big long antennae instead of claws, mostly pacific?)
mantis prawn

― it's a meme i made and i like (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:47 (fourteen years ago)

spot prawn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandalus_platyceros

spiny lobster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiny_lobster

mantis prawn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis_shrimp

― it's a meme i made and i like (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:49 (fourteen years ago)

^^^ in japanese:
amaebi (sweet shrimp)
ise ebi
shakko

― it's a meme i made and i like (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:50 (fourteen years ago)

we called the greenish organ goop in lobsters the "tomalley", not sure why. revolting stuff. certain family members made a point of eating every theoretically edible part of the animal, but most of us just stuck with the claws and tail.

― And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 00:56 (fourteen years ago)

Tomalley is pure cholesterol and flavor-ly goodness. Lobster is okay, crab "brains" are far better imho.

― it's a meme i made and i like (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 01:05 (fourteen years ago)

after reading neal stephenson's zodiac I never want to eat tomalley, I think that's where the lobster stores all the toxins and stuff it gets from living in boston sludge. tomalley is the lobster's liver.

― british sb power (dayo), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 01:26 (fourteen years ago)

in asia some places will serve the spiny lobster alive, cut in half so you can pick at its insides while it waves its antenna at you feebly

― british sb power (dayo), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 01:26 (fourteen years ago)

frozen shrimp make me sad because they are basically just flavorless bags of protein. real live shrimp, steamed in salt water, is so yummy

― british sb power (dayo), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 01:27 (fourteen years ago)

i eat shrimp poop

― Ktulu says, I've come to hate my body (wk), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 02:06 (fourteen years ago)

I can't really see what the big deal is. what do they really eat anyway? plankton or something? big deal. It's not like they're munchin down on big macs and their bodies are full of rank human style turds.

― Ktulu says, I've come to hate my body (wk), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 02:06 (fourteen years ago)

crab butter freaks me out though. I guess it's just fat but it looks so disgusting.

― Ktulu says, I've come to hate my body (wk), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 02:07 (fourteen years ago)

spread that stuff on some brioche or melba toast and I am good to go...

― it's a meme i made and i like (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 21 June 2011 02:08 (fourteen years ago)

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