Rock stars of the sea make waves
Take it from an expert. Seafood guru Rick Stein believes you can't beat Australian prawns. Cooked, raw or peeled, there's something for every budget as retailers vie for the festive food dollar with plentiful supplies of locally caught stocks.
"Consumers are buying more," George Kailis, from Kailis' Fish Market Cafe, in Fremantle, said. "The preference is for large, whole cooked prawns and price is not as important as quality given it's a special occasion."
Theo Kailis, from Kailis Bros in Leederville, tips prawns will end up on more tables than lobster, which has increased in price. "That makes prawns particularly great value but they're also more party- friendly items because you can put them on a platter and let people help themselves," he said. "With lobster, you're obliged to give at least a half per person, so you're talking higher cost."
He said Australian wild-caught prawns were retailing at $25-$40/kg, depending on size and grading, with banana prawns hovering around the mid-$20 mark. "They tend to be the best value prawns," he said. "Jumbo tigers - and these are massive prawns - can range up to the mid-$40s," he said. "I would say probably 80 per cent of our prawns would be WA caught, with the rest coming out of the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland, which is a huge prawn fishery.
"Kings have a mild flavour and firm texture, while tigers have a real 'meaty' texture. Bananas have a sweet, more delicate flavour."
He said Shark Bay or Carnarvon kings were quite light-coloured and traditionally sold raw. They were great barbecued. If you're after colour, choose Exmouth king prawns which turn red when cooked. Expect to pay in the mid-$30s-mid-$40s/kilo, for large and extra-large varieties.
"I can't afford to eat lobster these days and believe Australian prawns are still the best seafood for money," Shark Bay Prawn Trawler Operators' Association chief executive Phil Bruce said.
The good news is that WA prawns are in good supply this year.
Australian Council of Prawn Fisheries executive officer Graeme Stewart said the Shark Bay catch came in slightly higher than expected at 1900 tonnes and the Exmouth catch was on target at 450 tonnes.
"They're wild caught and pretty much all are for the Australian market," he said. "If I can quote Stein, who was at the Margaret River Gourmet Escape, we have 'the best prawns in the world by a huge margin'. Our regulatory systems are certainly more rigorous than anywhere else, so why wouldn't you buy local?"
His favourite are king prawns, simply boiled with a bit of salt and vinegar. "If you're cooking them at home, dunk into ice water for a couple of minutes after boiling so the shell separates from the flesh and makes it easy to peel," he said.
Catalano Seafood's Josh Catalano can't go past Shark Bay king prawns and recommends "cooked on board" supplies for anyone wanting a real ocean flavour to their seafood. "Some people come in and ask for those, which they can take home to thaw for Christmas Day," he said. "Otherwise, we cook prawns here and they're ready to eat. People don't want to fuss around too much. Put them on a platter in the middle of the table, maybe add some oysters and Moreton Bay bugs, and you're ready to go.
"Just remember king prawns are a variety and don't denote size because prawns come in different sizes."
Burswood Seafood manager Daniel Gray said a 3kg pack of raw Shark Bay king prawns retailed for $49 and contained about 120 prawns, but believed the best value was the 5kg "party pack" of cooked Exmouth endeavour prawns for $105.
"We think they're the most flavoursome of all," he said. "There are about 200 prawns and they're easy to separate."
By comparison, a whole cooked lobster retailed for $29.90 and would just serve two people.
"You're looking at a bit over $60/kg for an export-grade A-size 450g lobster," he said. "Crabs come in at $18.90/kg raw and $21.90/kg cooked and you get three to four per kilo. They're really popular and perfect for crab sandwiches."
He said raw peeled Australian prawns were processed in Asia where labour costs were cheaper, and there were imported cooked and peeled prawns from Thailand.
"Most people are a bit unsure of what to get when they come in but end up taking the 5kg party pack, closely followed by the 3kg raw pack," he said.
