Trying to balance the desires of palate with one's conscience can sometimes be a challenge. Spot Prawns from British Columbia are a seasonal delicacy that satisfies chefs and diners everywhere. Being a responsible gourmet never tasted so good.
Spot Prawns (Pandalus platyceros) are available year-round frozen, but best enjoyed in season (May-June). They can be ordered online or found in many top fishmongers. In Boston's Chinatown, the Jade Restaurant features a tantalizing preparation that is just slightly hot and sweet, with a smoky hint that is guaranteed to have you licking your fingers unapologetically. Look for spot prawns in your local Chinatown or in seafood or Italian restaurants. You may see them on Italian menus as scampi, which actually is the name of a related species, but the term has become synonymous with a garlic and oil style preparation.
The Trouble with Shrimp - Good News and Bad
Shrimp are one of the favorite choices of seafood lovers everywhere, sharing top honors with Salmon and Tuna. No wonder. Their gently yielding texture, their delicately briny but sweet flavor offers a myriad of culinary options. Cooks can go in a Mediterranean direction with garlic, olive oil, herbs. Or you may prepare shrimp with many different Asian flavors. You can eat them sashimi style, with or without the tempura-fried heads (think shrimpy popcorn) in a style called "amaebi."
The problem with shrimp is that the ones you see in most grocery store fish counters or frozen coolers are farmed from horrendously unsound operations in Southeast Asia. The large operations often destroy coastal mangroves which protect the populations from the destructive forces of nature. The farms are often built with the promise of jobs for the villages nearby. The pollution the farms create fouls the water and poisons the land crops. Once the water in the mangroves becomes unsuitable for food production, the corporate entities behind these farms, move on to destroy the next coastal town. They leave behind them a ruined environment and devastated economy.
What about Wild-Caught Shrimp?
Whole Foods Markets and other responsible fishmongers are beginning to carry more "wild-caught American Shrimp" which is good, as far as it goes. The issue with wild-caught shrimp is one of by-catch. By-catch refers to the unintended catch that gets harvested along with the shrimp in traditional equipment. Wild-caught shrimp can be harvested using by-catch reduction equipment and you should ask your fishmonger to carry those. In some traditional shrimping operations, the wasted sea life that gets dumped overboard dead and dying can run as a much as 9 lbs to every 1 pound of shrimp harvested. This is mathematically unsustainable.
Why are Spot Prawns a "Best Choice"?
Spot Prawns from British Columbia come from healthy and abundant stocks. They are caught with traps which have extremely low environmental impact. Read more here, at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch site, Spot Prawn Report. By-catch is rare, though the occasional octopus will find its way onto a trap which becomes a sort of lunch-box surprise for them. Responsible fishermen release those lovely octopii.
How to prepare Spot Prawns
These versatile shrimp can be steamed, grilled or sauteed. Whatever way you choose to go, try to handle them lightly. No heavy saucing or monster sauces. A wonderfully enticing preparation comes from Becky Selengut, author of the amazing Good Fish (Sasquatch, 2011). Grilled Spot Prawns with "crack salad." Get it?
You can find them online, here are two of my favorite sources: Vital Choice; ILoveBlueSea.com; and Organic Ocean (that's their boat and prawns in the photos)
Jacqueline Church - Award-winning writer, speaker, teacher on topics at the intersection of gourmet and sustainable food issues.
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