# ISO help/tips w/shell on prawns



## acc2020 (Sep 30, 2011)

Normally when i cook headless shell on prawns , i remove the shell and gut the veins along the back. 

With head on prawns , are you supposed to cook them whole , with the shell on ? Obviously you make the choice of purchasing them whole and it seems a waste to dicard the heads.

My asian friends say they prefer them whole and enjoy sucking the gunk from their heads , but i find the thought of that a little scary. 

When gutting some prawns they range from a thin black strip to a thick line of green looking snot , so the thought of eating that is a little scary too.Is this perfectly safe ?

How do you cook and eat your head on prawns ?


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## acc2020 (Sep 30, 2011)

I've seen on youtube videos of people eating deep fried prawn heads from japanese restuarants. Everyone seems to enjoy eating them even the americans. Are the shells digestable ?


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## Claire (Sep 30, 2011)

I can't say I've seen anyone actually eat the shells, and believe me, I've lived among Asians of many nations.. I have seen people suck the heads of shrimp, prawn, crawdads/crayfish.  To much for my taste.  I like to remove that line of goo (I believe it is intestine), but know people who don't and they're all still alive.


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## acc2020 (Sep 30, 2011)

on youtube type in " deep fried shrimp heads" theres a few videos


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## spork (Sep 30, 2011)

Your stomach is smarter than your brain, acc.  It's also filled with acids and bases like liver bile that would scare you and swear never to ever eat again.  Of course, their shells are digestible, same way a corn-on-the-cob is digestible.  I also don't care for their shell, but mostly because it's a drastic distraction from their flesh's texture.  Love the visual of shrimp heads, but I don't like eating or sucking them either. A t-bone beef steak is just a different form of digested poop, there's no need to recoil from it.


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## Timothy (Sep 30, 2011)

When fried, I remove the heads, shell and vein. Then I butterfly them, dip and fry.

When preparing them as an item in a stew like Shrimp and Black Bean Stew, the entire shrimp goes in after being rinsed. 

To eat them this way, The shrimp are lifted from the stew and put on the soup plate to cool, so as to not burn the fingers. 

Then, the shell is removed with the legs, the head broken from the body and reserved. 

The body is eaten with a spoonful of soup and after swallowing, the head is picked up and the thumb pressed firmly into the bottom of the head to squeeze all the wonderful head juices into the mouth. 

Fantastic! The natural flavors inside the head, combined with the seasonings of the stew make the head juices a taste sensation that is just awesome!

If done quickly, hardly any runs down your arm. 

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f57/cajun-shimp-and-black-bean-stew-75079.html#post1054111



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