Prawn Tails with Beer

Chef Luc Huysentruyt prepares prawn or shrimp tails with beer. For this recipe you will need prawns, olive oil, tomatoes, chives, butter, beer, salt and pepper. This recipe takes 30 minutes to cook. For best results, use raw king prawns or tiger prawn tails - these are usually sold headless and are grey in colour.

Prawns when cooked, the shells turn pink and the sweet, meaty flesh turns white tinged with pink; brief cooking is essential, otherwise the flesh will become tough. As with other types of crustacea, prawns fished in cold waters tend to be more flavorful than those from warm waters. Although anatomically incorrect, the part of the prawn eaten, the meaty body, is referred to as the tail. The very small shellfish referred to as shrimps are prawns, too - the term shrimp just indicates their diminutive size. Fresh prawns, whether raw or cooked, should smell fresh and clean, not fishy, and should look moist. Avoid any that look dry or that have broken or cracked shells. Like all shellfish, prawns go off quickly, so keep in the fridge wrapped in their original packaging or in a sealed container. Eat within 24 hours of purchase. The minimum size limit for prawns is 33 mm measured as carapace length. The minimum size for tailed prawns is 22 mm in length.