Do you eat the 'vein' at the back of a prawn

Mr Magnolia

Curious to see what people's attitudes are to the small waste-line that run's down a prawn's/shrimp's back.

Do you eat it?

Minder

If it is small like a thread, I find that it doesn't taint the taste of the prawn, but the bigger veins have a definite muddy taste that is unpleasant.

Poncherello

What you are referring to are the intestines of the Prawn. They should be washed properly to remove them but wont do you any harm to eat them.

Mr Magnolia

Poncherello wrote:

What you are referring to are the intestines of the Prawn. They should be washed properly to remove them but wont do you any harm to eat them.

I know they won't do any harm I eat them regularly depending on the dish.

In a few countries they wouldn't even dream of removing it, hence the topic.

Alun

It kind of depends a bit .. if you're cooking the prawns whole in the shell, or just the tails with the shell on then there's not a lot you can do really, although sometimes when pulling the body off, you'll often pull out a good bit of the gut with it too.

I got some tiger prawn tails the other day and for the dish I was preparing it suited me to peel them. About 50% of them didn't appear to have any gut at all, of the remainder about 50% of those had a small one that wouldn't have bothered me, but a few had really quite large brown guts which I wouldn't have really fancied eating tbh. But, like I said, if you're cooking them whole anyway you'll eat them without realising, and probably be none the worse for the experience.

catho_monster

eugh!
prawn poop.
ick ick ick.
no no no