Update: in retrospect wish I’d waited until April 2nd to publish this, as it may be met with some scepticism today, but people really DO do this! Besides, December 28th, ‘El dia de los inocentes’ is joke day here in Spain, not April 1st.
My Spanish wife Marina, who many of you will know from our videos and podcasts, has, like her mother and endless other Spanish people, a most alarming approach to eating prawns.
I’m talking about the prawns that are cooked as they come, and need careful peeling to reveal the, to my mind, evil tasting nugget of white flesh inside. The first maneuver in this peeling process involves pulling off the head, and while most people will discard this immediately (often straight onto the floor if standing at a bar), Marina will raise prawn-head to mouth and, with an almighty swoooooosh, suck out it’s fried little brains.
Ben: “Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuchhhhh, how can you DO that?!”
Marina: “Shut up! Joder, It’s the best bit!”
OK, so clearly I can’t say I’ve tried sucking the brains out of prawns, so don’t really have a leg to stand on, but I do know this:
IT’S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN!
Prawn-brain sucking is up there with eating pig jowls, lamb brains, and anything’s testicles. It’s a psychological barrier that just isn’t going to be crossed!
Then again I used to say that about Morcilla, pigs-blood-sausages, some stuffed with rice, all rather delicious.
The question is: Would YOU suck the brains out of prawns?
Note about this post: This is a short excerpt from a new book I’m writing, that tells the story of our last few years in Spain, and covers many of the things, like this, that make Spain so Spain. To help with the writing process, and to be first to find out when the book is ready, sign up for our newsletter in the top right-hand corner of this page.
Colin
1 Apr 09 at 8:27 am
Reminds of when I asked in friend in New Orleans what the delicious yellow sauce was on the jumbo prawns we were enjoying. “Cerebral fluid” he replied.
Ben
1 Apr 09 at 8:29 am
@Colin – once again, Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuchhhhh!!!
Parubin
1 Apr 09 at 9:46 am
Sure I always do, and Marina is right, it is absolutely the best bit.
What do you do with the other species of sea-food? Do you also discard what comes within the head shell cavity of ‘nécoras’ (crabs) ‘bogavantes’ (lobster) ‘cigalas’ (crayfish) ‘centollos’ (spider crab)?
It is usually the most tasty stuff, specially in ‘centollos’, ‘maseras=bueyes’ etc. if you mix the salted fluid with the flesh and the spawn (if it is a female piece you’re having) with something like chopped onions, maybe capers, a sliced boiled egg and a trickle of white wine then you are in heaven.
Jacs
1 Apr 09 at 10:16 am
Yes I am ABSOLUTELY 100% with Marina on this one – Prawn brains = YUMMY!
I love the whole ritual of peeling and eating a prawn, you get in a bit of a mess but they taste amazing. I think Gambas are one of my favourite foods and so if there is a bit of effort involved in preparing them to eat its well worth the wait.
Ben please, please try it one day, even if you then decide you don’t like it at least you have given it a go!
Jacs
Ben
1 Apr 09 at 10:31 am
@Parubin – Spawn?!?!? – Madness!!!!
@Jacs – It took me 5 years to try Morcilla – I’m thinking x10 for prawn brains!
xoanwahn
1 Apr 09 at 10:36 am
HA! I do this too. It’s really quite tasty. Most people I’ve met seem to do it as well. I guess we just have no problems chewing on brain. lol
gary
1 Apr 09 at 10:47 am
Not one that I’ve tried but I went to La Tasca in Meadowhell for the first time last week and ordered the fish selection para picar. Most of the stuff was very acceptable but the pescaditos were a great disappointment – they were goujons of very rasty white fish deep fried in a tempura batter, posh fish fingers in fact.
I never thought I’d see the day when I,d moan that the fish I was being served had has the heads, eyes, gills, fins etc removed!!
MadridMan
1 Apr 09 at 11:11 am
I’ve never been able to bring myself to try this either although, as you say, it’s very “Spanish”.
And to take it one step further, there’s also (oftentimes, but now always) that long, “black-filled” (and YOU know what it’s filled with!) intestine along its dorsal which wigs me out too. Still, all those critters in the prawn-family are D-LICIOUS!
Saludos, MadridMan
mcark
1 Apr 09 at 12:16 pm
Ben,
I know you enjoy Spanish ham, but have you thought about trying a vegetarian lifestyle for a few months? Brains are disgusting, but I realized that I couldn’t eat meat again when I pealed the skin from fried chicken and realized (after a childhood of eating the stuff) that I was devouring flesh.
Btw, I am not preaching that eating meat is wrong. I still buy meat when I cook for my wife who is a huge fan of bacon.
bill (Legazpi)
1 Apr 09 at 12:34 pm
The head of the fish is considered the best part in perhaps most countries – right through Asia, Africa and Latin America. I have to confess that it doesn’t appeal to me very much – I guess you have to start early in life!
ValenciaSon
1 Apr 09 at 12:38 pm
I have and always will. No seas tan guiri, Ben y pruebalo ya.
Kralizec
1 Apr 09 at 1:07 pm
I watched http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGhhHsIfoAE (and the other 5 parts) the other day – and yeah, the guy sucks the prawn’s brain. I knew some of our delicacies would look bizarre to foreigners, but I certainly didn’t think we had enough weirdness as to deserve a TV show on the matter! I expected snails and brains to be featured there… but, come on, HAM? How can anybody classify ham as “weird”?
On the other hand, they didn’t show something no spaniard outside Valencia would eat – the rata d’aigua (“water rat”, Arvicola sapidus), consumed in paellas in the area around L’Albufera. Guess they didn’t know about that.
Tom
1 Apr 09 at 1:59 pm
Absolutely! I was introduced to this delicacy in Singapore many years ago: the brains (or at least the contents of the head) are the best bit!.
@Ben – never realised you were so squeamish!
Sara
1 Apr 09 at 4:58 pm
I’ve done it to crawfish, I think I could do it to prawns.
Stuart
1 Apr 09 at 6:18 pm
Plenty of prawns here, but I miss those tiny tiny North Atlantic ones you can mix with fried rice.
MrMark
1 Apr 09 at 6:58 pm
Well, I’ve eaten octopus (Galician style – yummy), morcilla (even more yummy), callos and even a dish from Aragon that involves intestines wrapped around sticks (errr, probably a mistake). But even I wouldn’t dare to eat prawn brains, despite the fact I love eating a lot of sea food.
Ben
1 Apr 09 at 7:00 pm
mcark – We are practically vegetarian! We certainly never buy meat anymore, just the occasional bit when we go out, and of course once every other Christmas the suegra buys us a ham!
RayTibbitts
1 Apr 09 at 7:59 pm
vile
IVAN STOLER
1 Apr 09 at 9:18 pm
Pinch the tail, suck the heads. Ben, when they tell me it’s tasty in Spain, I eat it and worry later.
Jonny
2 Apr 09 at 12:08 am
i agree with Ivan above: typically, if it’s considered gross by most brits and americans (I am the former living in the latter) then I will try it, most likely love it, and be the recipient of raised eyebrows (at best) by my companions.
Chicken breasts individually shrink-wrapped in plastic on supermarket shelves are among the worst things to happen to food in both the UK and USA because they separate the animal from the meal. Similarly, it’s very hard to even find shrimp with their heads on in either of these countries because people get grossed out when the shrimp are looking at them.
Suck the brains! They’re delicious. After all, you don’t think about what part of the hen the egg came from when you’re enjoying a boiled egg, do you?
Mark
2 Apr 09 at 12:48 am
I guess I’d give it ago. I like prawns but unfortunately I’ve a bit of an allergy to them. I draw the line at testicles, eye balls and other such spherical objects.
Speaking of unappealing food, the most disgusting thing that I’ve ever eaten was “hákarl” while working as a conservation volunteer in Iceland. That is shark that’s been left to rot for about 6-10 weeks, then to hang for a few more weeks. Traditionally eaten with with the local schnapps of Brennivín. Actually the schnapps is ok but the shark tastes how you’d imagine!
Read this Ben. The thought of prawns’ brains won’t seem so bad afterwards!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1karl
RayTibbitts
2 Apr 09 at 6:45 am
@Jonny: I pay extra for food that no longer resembles any animal or part thereof, and it’s worth every penny. Although, I do agree that it can lead to humorous levels of ignorance…
http://forums.bowsite.com/TF/pics/00small34329294.JPG
… it certainly isn’t a bad thing. And again, people pay the extra cost because they find added value in the product. (Free Econ101 lesson for you.)
pippa
2 Apr 09 at 7:03 am
Pero Ben, hombre, Haven’t you eaten black pudding in England? That is almost pure blood. At least the morcilla has plenty of rice.
Isabel
2 Apr 09 at 7:09 am
Ben, that’s the best part of all! (Although my Mum tells me it’s incredibly high in cholesterol). Prawn heads also make the best fish stock.
Manuel
2 Apr 09 at 11:55 am
Most disgusting is the people who lick the fingers later to suck the prawns !!!!
Ben
2 Apr 09 at 1:04 pm
@Mark – you are right, hakarl wins hands down!
Gary
2 Apr 09 at 2:13 pm
Who gets to suck the sharks brains?
Melocoton
2 Apr 09 at 3:03 pm
Agree with Isabel, prawn heads make great fish stock, though I can’t quite get into sucking the raw brains…
I think the Australians have an expression: “Don’t come the raw prawn with me!” Not quite sure what it means.
My most embarrassing Spanish food experience happened in a fairly posh restaurant when I ordered what I thought was a pork casserole. When the dish arrived it looked like a sort of hill, covered in white sauce. Under the sauce, I found two pig’s feet. Eek.
Moral: learn your Spanish restaurant vocabulary properly.
Richardksa
2 Apr 09 at 5:09 pm
If you are what you eat, what does that make people who eat prawn brains?
Chiqui
3 Apr 09 at 10:47 pm
Whoever you’re in company with must love you because they get to eat the prawn heads you discard.
It’s just like sushi/sashimi, when you acquire a taste for it you’ll be hooked for life.
Ian
20 Apr 09 at 12:34 pm
Ben,
If you dont like the prawn itself you’ll never win the psychological battle with yourself about sucking the little things brains out…
…However, when (not if) you finally start likning prawns, you cant consider a prawns brains as a brain in the real sense. Its just a bit of fluid and tiny bits and pieces – and ful of flavour… Not at all like having to deal with a monkey brain or sheeps testicles!
Lenox
20 Apr 09 at 3:59 pm
I’d rather suck the brains out of a prawn than drink a ‘sin alcohol’ beer. Now THAT’S disgusting!
catalonia food
11 Nov 09 at 12:01 pm
Bill’s right when he says that the head of the fish is considered the best part in perhaps most countries – right through Asia, Africa and Latin America. I also agree that it’s not really “my bag” either!