Eating & Fishing ! - Prawn 3 ways

beer enigma

Having some great Tench success with a new homemade groundbait mix this year & thought I'd share.

I start with two 350g packs of fresh shell-on coldwater prawn from Tesco - they're €4 for two packs, so great value.

Peel the prawns and set the shells aside - take a wide pan such as a frying pan & add a small nob of butter (butter seems to help the final paste consistency) - heat this up and add the shells, heads etc (but not the prawns) & cook for 5 minutes, keep stirring. This releases a load of flavour. Then add 1ltr of water & let this simmer for 30 mins.

At the end of the 30 mins, bung the whole lot into a food processor & whizz it till its as smooth as it will go. Use a fine sieve & separate the shell remnants from the liquid. If you use the back of a ladle to press against the sieve you end up with a paste of concentrated prawn shells (see attached pic).

I mix the shell paste with either white or brown crumb - you can add a touch of molasses to help bind, but not too much as it kills the prawn flavour.

Ive used it four times so far this year on a peg I'd know well & my catch rate has hugely improved this year. I normally fish with sweetcorn, worm or prawn hookbait.

As for what's left, well the liquid that's passed through the sieve has actually become a gorgeous thick Prawn Bisque (impressive huh) & you still have the prawns themselves - not a bad days work for €4 ! - a few garlic croutons in the bisque & a jar of green or red curry paste with the prawns & your fishing passport gets immediately stamped

bitemybanger

Id stick that on the sambos.:D

SeaFields

bitemybanger wrote: »

Id stick that on the sambos.:D

I was waiting for the punch line too such as "enjoy your fried prawns with a nice white wine and give the fishing a rest for awhile"

beer enigma

Neanderthals the lot of ya