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1.) DParker - 03/30/2014
For my son's 22nd birthday dinner yesterday he requested steak and shrimp. So we took a trip to our local Central Market (high-end yuppie grocery store) to splurge on some really good raw materials. I wasn't planning on spending as much as I did, but once we got there a couple of the items looked so good I couldn't help myself. Beef prices have really sky rocketed these days, with even the middle-of-road cuts commanding elevated prices. So I said "what the hell" and went for these obscenely-priced ~3" thick ribeyes (I forgot to snap the pic before dousing them in butter and seasoning)...



They look even better with grill marks...



But the interesting find was these critters. All of the regular large shrimp they had were either frozen (which I didn't want) or fresh and whole (including the head, which meant more work than I wanted to do). But they also had a few pounds of these monsters: Pacific Tiger Prawns. When alive and in possession of their heads these "shrimps" average about 10-12" long. Here's a beheaded one in my hand for scale:



I'd never had them before, and as expensive as they were I didn't want to experiment so I treated them just like I do jumbo shrimp: Dust them with Chef Prudhomme's "Seafood Magic" blackening spice and, brush them with Frank's Red Hot Sweet Chili Sauce and then let them marinate for at least an hour. Then, onto the grill over high heat for about 2-3 minutes on each side.

They were freakin' delicious, with a firm, dense texture. I won't be buying them again anytime soon (way too expensive), but they've become an invasive species in the northern Gulf of Mexico so, crowding out some of the native species. So, who knows...maybe they'll become cheaper as a wildly available and harvestable species (the ones in stores here are mainly farm-raised). I hope so. I could get used to them.
2.) Triton Rich - 03/30/2014
[B]That prawn looks like something out of a horror movie! Sounds like a delicious meal though!
[/B]
3.) DParker - 03/30/2014
[QUOTE=Triton Rich;18365][B]That prawn looks like something out of a horror movie![/B][/QUOTE]

Yeah, you almost feel like you need to eat it before it eats you. Fookin' prawns...

4.) Deerminator - 03/30/2014
I love Tiger Prawns. They are as you said FANTASTIC. Pared with some excellent dead cow parts. Priceless

:tu:
5.) billy b - 03/31/2014
Man you did it up right for the boy, all that looks delicious, wish we had smellovision.:wink
6.) crookedeye - 03/31/2014
that's not a gas grill is it???
7.) crookedeye - 03/31/2014
what did you marinade the meat in?
8.) bluecat - 03/31/2014
:-):-)
9.) bluecat - 03/31/2014
[QUOTE=DParker;18364]






[/QUOTE]

Wow, you have small hands!

You know what they say about a guy with small hands right? Do I need to post your infant-sized weenie warmer again?



So, when you put them on the grill, are they deshelled at that point?
10.) DParker - 03/31/2014
[QUOTE=crookedeye;18381]that's not a gas grill is it???[/QUOTE]

It is...and Hank Hill says to shut up about it.

[QUOTE=crookedeye;18383]what did you marinade the meat in?[/QUOTE]

Marinate $22/lb ribeyes? Are you nuts? Some salt and a little blackening spice, and that's it. There was no A1 Sauce on the table either.

[QUOTE=bluecat;18387]Wow, you have small hands!

You know what they say about a guy with small hands right?[/quote]

Nature compensates for them in other ways?

[QUOTE=bluecat;18387]So, when you put them on the grill, are they deshelled at that point?[/QUOTE]

Before that even. Otherwise the marinating wouldn't do much good. That photo was taken as I was shelling and deveining them. That's another real advantage of their huge size. They're much easier to work with than smaller shrimp, and there are fewer of them to deal with.
11.) NEBigAl - 03/31/2014
Taste the meat not the heat!

Love me some prawns
12.) bluecat - 03/31/2014
[QUOTE=DParker;18392]

Nature compensates for them in other ways?

[/QUOTE]

Some gals like a lot of ear hair. To each their own.



Could you have at least boxed up some gristle for me?
13.) DParker - 03/31/2014
[QUOTE=bluecat;18394]Could you have at least boxed up some gristle for me?[/QUOTE]

I could have, but I have two large dogs who called dibs...and I don't want to have to sleep with one eye open all the time.
14.) crookedeye - 03/31/2014
I don't no ..gas and grilled ribeyes don't fly over here in Nebraska.. we take are meat cooking seriously..
15.) DParker - 03/31/2014
I still don't buy into the persistent idea that gas is somehow not appropriate for grilling meat. The fact is that propane gas, including the additives mixed into it for consumer use, imparts no flavor to foods cooked using it, and properly done (spelled "rare to medium rare") steaks usually don't spend enough time on the grill (~4 minutes per side...up to 5 if you have ridiculously thick steaks like the ones I used here) for any other method (like wood or charcoal) to impart much in the way of desirable flavors. And if you want some wood smoke anyway, no problem. A few chips of your favorite hardwood tossed into a little metal box on the burner will do that for you, and is still far easier to deal with than charcoal. Most high-end steak houses use gas grills for its clear advantages in terms of heat control, startup time and ease of cleanup, though a few use wood/charcoal...and advertise that fact, because there is this widely-accepted belief that it makes a noticeable difference. But in terms of final flavor of the finished product, the choice of fuel itself is all but irrelevant, provided that your grill is capable of producing the required level of heat. Granted, many gas grills aren't made to deliver that level of heat close enough to the food, which is the real issue, but mine is. Here are some good sources of info on the matter:

[URL="http://www.mpnnow.com/x1474277615/Jim-Hillibish-Busting-open-the-urban-myths-of-grilling?zc_p=1"]Jim Hillibish: Busting open the urban myths of grilling[/URL]

[URL="http://amazingribs.com/BBQ_buyers_guide/grills/charcoal_grills_vs_gas_grills.html"]Charcoal Grill vs. Gas Grill Throwdown: Let's Settle This Once And For All[/URL]

Lots of people claim they can taste a difference between the two cooking methods, but practically none of them have ever done a blind taste test using exactly the same quality cut of meat prepared exactly the same way using the two different fuels, so such conclusions are pretty much meaningless. I'm only aware of one such test ever having been conducted in a formal, borderline scientific manner, and it was by "Good Housekeeping" magazine. The test indicated that people couldn't tell the difference between burgers and skinless chicken breasts cooked over wood charcoal vs. propane gas, but there was a difference detected between the steaks cooked over the two fuels. However, the testers "attributed this difference to the fact that steaks take twice as long as hamburgers and chicken breasts to cook so they have more time to absorb the charcoal flavor". This tells me that the steaks were overcooked, as both thick burgers and whole skinless chicken breasts that haven't been pounded thin require about the same amount of grilling time (~4 minutes / side) as a good ~2" thick cut of steak does for a medum-rare finish.

{Forrest Gump}

And that's all I have to say about that.

{/Forrest Gump}
16.) DParker - 03/31/2014
While writing the above I stumbled across the following steak grilling guide, which is proof that you can't trust a lot of what you find masquerading as "information" on the internet:

[URL="http://grillingtheperfectsteak.com/grilling-times-for-steaks"]http://grillingtheperfectsteak.com/grilling-times-for-steaks[/URL]

For grilling over high heat they list the following total cooking times:

[QUOTE][B]Grilling Times For Steak[/B]

Grilling times for steaks will vary (for the most accurate approach, use a meat thermometer and follow the temperature guidelines above), but in general, here are steak grilling times:

Rare Steak

8-10 minutes for 1 inch thick steak

10-14 minutes for 1.5 inch thick steak

12-16 minutes for 2 inch thick steak

Medium Steak

12-14 minutes for 1 inch thick steak

16-20 minutes for 1.5 inch thick steak

18-22 minutes for 2 inch thick steak

Well-Done Steak

16-20 minutes for 1 inch thick steak

22-26 minutes for 1.5 inch thick steak

24-28 minutes for 2 inch thick steak[/QUOTE]

To see how insane this is (even for a 2" thick steak cooked well-done, 28 minutes is ridiculous) extrapolate the time required to cook a 1" (thin cut) steak to medium-rare by averaging their "rare" and "medium" times and you get 10-12 minutes, or an average of 5-6 minutes per side. For a 1" steak. The ~2" ribeyes I usually grill sit on the heat for just a hair over 4 minutes per side, resulting in a perfect medium rare. This guide would have me leave them on for 15-19 minutes per side. What are they cooking over? A Bic lighter?

The Omaha Steaks website is almost as bad:

[url]http://www.omahasteaks.com/servlet/OnlineShopping?Dsp=32&FID=recipe_cookchart[/url]
17.) bluecat - 03/31/2014
[QUOTE=bluecat;18387]

So, when you put them on the grill, are they deshelled at that point?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=DParker;18392]

Before that even. Otherwise the marinating wouldn't do much good. That photo was taken as I was shelling and deveining them. That's another real advantage of their huge size. They're much easier to work with than smaller shrimp, and there are fewer of them to deal with.[/QUOTE]

Those things are so big I didn't know if the shell protects the meat. Kinda like a grilled lobster where they leave the shell on during the grilling process.

I bet it was tasty.
18.) crookedeye - 03/31/2014
[QUOTE=DParker;18414]While writing the above I stumbled across the following steak grilling guide, which is proof that you can't trust a lot of what you find masquerading as "information" on the internet:

[URL="http://grillingtheperfectsteak.com/grilling-times-for-steaks"]http://grillingtheperfectsteak.com/grilling-times-for-steaks[/URL]

For grilling over high heat they list the following total cooking times:



To see how insane this is (even for a 2" thick steak cooked well-done, 28 minutes is ridiculous) extrapolate the time required to cook a 1" (thin cut) steak to medium-rare by averaging their "rare" and "medium" times and you get 10-12 minutes, or an average of 5-6 minutes per side. For a 1" steak. The ~2" ribeyes I usually grill sit on the heat for just a hair over 4 minutes per side, resulting in a perfect medium rare. This guide would have me leave them on for 15-19 minutes per side. What are they cooking over? A Bic lighter?

The Omaha Steaks website is almost as bad:

[url]http://www.omahasteaks.com/servlet/OnlineShopping?Dsp=32&FID=recipe_cookchart[/url][/QUOTE]

thats what she said..
19.) DParker - 03/31/2014
[QUOTE=bluecat;18419]I bet it was tasty.[/QUOTE]

It was. I just had to warn everyone to not get used to them at that price. BTW, I can't recommend the combination of Prudhomme's Seafood Magic spice and Frank's Red Hot Sweet Chili Sauce highly enough for this purpose. You just have to be careful to not let the sauce burn on the grill, given the sugar in it...

20.) bluecat - 03/31/2014
[QUOTE=DParker;18414]While writing the above I stumbled across the following steak grilling guide, which is proof that you can't trust a lot of what you find masquerading as "information" on the internet:[/QUOTE]

Where did you hear that?

21.) DParker - 03/31/2014
It really crushed my illusions, I tell you. I'll be in therapy about my newly-developed trust issues for years.
22.) DParker - 03/31/2014
[QUOTE=DParker;18414]This guide would have me leave them on for 15-19 minutes per side.[/QUOTE]

Oops! That should have read...

[QUOTE=DParker;18414]This guide would have me leave them on for 7½-9½ minutes per side.[/QUOTE]

Still way too long.
23.) billy b - 04/01/2014
D, which Whole Foods did you buy the prawns at & how much per #?
24.) Floyd - 04/01/2014
More internet information. Beer marinade lowers cancer risk in grilled meats, study says

[URL="http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014/03/27/beer-marinade-lowers-cancer-risk-in-grilled-meats-study-says/"]http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014/03/27/beer-marinade-lowers-cancer-risk-in-grilled-meats-study-says/[/URL]
25.) DParker - 04/01/2014
[QUOTE=billy b;18447]D, which Whole Foods did you buy the prawns at & how much per #?[/QUOTE]

It was Central Market (not Whole Foods) in Plano ([URL="http://www.centralmarket.com/in-store.aspx?store=plano"]http://www.centralmarket.com/in-store.aspx?store=plano[/URL]), and IIRC it was about $23 or $24 / lb. Yeah, like I said...stupid expensive, even more than the Canadian lobster tails. But I'd never had it before, and was willing to pay extra for the experience as well as a special treat for a birthday dinner.

[QUOTE=Floyd;18451]More internet information. Beer marinade lowers cancer risk in grilled meats, study says

[URL="http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014/03/27/beer-marinade-lowers-cancer-risk-in-grilled-meats-study-says/"]http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014/03/27/beer-marinade-lowers-cancer-risk-in-grilled-meats-study-says/[/URL][/QUOTE]

I wonder if it counts if the marinading takes place in your gut, post-cooking.
26.) billy b - 04/01/2014
Thanks for the correction, were they better than Lobster tail or along the same plane?
27.) DParker - 04/01/2014
[QUOTE=billy b;18454]Thanks for the correction, were they better than Lobster tail or along the same plane?[/QUOTE]

Given that I treated them quite different than you would lobster (marinaded in spices and sweet chili sauce, as opposed to just boiling/grilling and then dipping in butter) it made that comparison somewhat difficult to make. They were very similar to lobster in terms of texture, although perhaps slightly firmer. And from what I could discern out from under the spice/sauce they're fairly close in taste, though not with the same "sweetness" that lobster has. I don't know that I'd judge them either better or worse than lobster. Just...different. The best description I can give is that they struck me as being somewhere in between lobster and regular jumbo shrimp in flavor. Maybe even just a hint of King Crab, though that might have been the influence of the sweet chili sauce.

If you take the plunge just make sure you're very careful and keep an eagle eye on them when you're cooking. At $24 / lb you definitely don't want to ruin them by over-cooking. I came close to doing that because after grilling them for the recommended 2-3 minutes per side over high heat I thought the meat still looked a little translucent on the inside at the big end so I let them go an extra minute, wanting to err on the side of caution when it came to safety. But it turned out OK.
28.) billy b - 04/01/2014
After rehap Thurs, if I feel like it I'll pick up a few, where did you ger the spice, same place?
29.) DParker - 04/01/2014
[QUOTE=billy b;18462]After rehap Thurs, if I feel like it I'll pick up a few, where did you ger the spice, same place?[/QUOTE]

I know they carry Prudhomme's line of spices, but I don't know about the Frank's Sweet Chili Sauce. In any event, you should be able to find both at any major supermarket. I got them at the Tom Thumb by my house. They're both pretty well distributed (nationally) products.

Even if you don't end up with Tiger Prawns (they didn't have that many on display, so I don't know if it was a temporary offering or not), pick up some other large shrimp and try the spice/sauce combo anyway. It's delicious.
30.) billy b - 04/01/2014
I'll do it.
31.) Deerminator - 04/02/2014
I've got some T-Bones, AND BEER!, if anyone has any Tiger prawns:grin::beer:
32.) Swamp Fox - 04/08/2014
Mmmmmm....I knew I smelt something good cooking...


:grin:
33.) Swamp Fox - 04/08/2014
What are they doing to the cows to give them $22/lb ribeyes? That's about double what run-of-the-mill ribeyes are at the Piggly Wiggly. Or are you paying for the lighting and the acoustic emo band that plays every evening from five to eight back in the corner where they make their own bran muffins?

I'd hate to see what a filet would cost! :bang:
34.) bluecat - 04/08/2014
[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;18575]What are they doing to the cows to give them $22/lb ribeyes? That's about double what run-of-the-mill ribeyes are at the Piggly Wiggly. Or are you paying for the lighting [B]and the acoustic emo band that plays every evening from five to eight back in the corner[/B] where they make their own bran muffins?

I'd hate to see what a filet would cost! :bang:[/QUOTE]

Now that is funny.
35.) Swamp Fox - 04/08/2014
Thanks...I've been saving up.

:-)
36.) DParker - 04/08/2014
[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;18575]What are they doing to the cows to give them $22/lb ribeyes? That's about double what run-of-the-mill ribeyes are at the Piggly Wiggly. Or are you paying for the lighting and the acoustic emo band that plays every evening from five to eight back in the corner where they make their own bran muffins?

I'd hate to see what a filet would cost! :bang:[/QUOTE]

The cows are taken on regular field trips to art museums and symphony orchestra performances and read bedtime stories every night.

Mostly though, you're paying for the marbling (aka "intramuscular fat"), which translates to tender and damned tasty.