Despite the name, the Dublin Bay prawn is no prawn at all but the langoustine, a small relative of the lobster with a pinkish-orange shell, landed all along Ireland's east and west coasts. The native catch is taken inshore in pots, prized for its sweet, firm flesh and most often served as scampi. So treasured are they that fresh, genuinely Irish-landed langoustines are a premium rarity, much of the catch exported.
The meat is sweet, succulent and snappy-firm, far more delicate than lobster yet richer than shrimp. Garlic butter clings to each tail while a squeeze of lemon lifts the sweetness with a clean tang. It tastes unmistakably of the cold, clean Atlantic.
Brief cooking in salted water sets the delicate proteins before they toughen, and an immediate ice plunge halts carryover heat to keep the flesh tender. Garlic butter coats the meat with fat-soluble aromatics while lemon's acid brightens the natural sweetness.
Variations
Breaded and deep-fried as scampi, grilled in the half-shell, served chilled with mayonnaise, tossed through pasta or a seafood platter
On the Palate
Where Dublin Bay Prawns sits in the Irish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
8 steps · 15 min
- 15 min
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil.
- 23 min
Drop in the live or fresh prawns and cook just until the shells turn bright and the flesh is opaque, about 3 minutes.
Watch outPull the prawns the instant the shells turn bright and the flesh goes opaque, about 3 minutes — a moment longer and the delicate meat toughens.
- 31 min
Lift out at once and plunge into iced water to stop the cooking.
Watch outPlunge them straight into iced water — this halts the carryover heat that would otherwise keep cooking and toughening the tails.
- 45 min
Peel away the shells, keeping the tail meat intact, and devein.
- 53 min
Melt butter in a pan with crushed garlic and a little chopped parsley.
- 62 min
Toss the peeled tails briefly in the garlic butter to warm through.
- 71 min
Finish with a generous squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt.
- 81 min
Serve hot with brown soda bread to mop up the buttery juices.
