Since then it has burst back into fashion. Heston himself has 'done a Heston' on it, and even the sour-faced genius Mark Hix has promoted his own version. Of course, it's all down to me. I was first! Somehow I always seem to be ahead of the trends... But that was some time ago. I won't bore you with any more of that.
Fortunately, it being the Christmas season, I had a chance to top my own heights of perfection with a second round of dabbling.
You may find this strange, but despite being a child of the Seventies, the closest I ever came to a Prawn Cocktail was a bag of crisps. It just didn't figure in my diet at all. The first time I tried one was a few years ago in the Canary Islands. After dining on that, my friends and I taught a local bartender how to make cocktails.
"They used to serve cocktails here", he moaned, "but now they just do this" - and swung a disparaging hand over the laminated menu of gaudy premixes. Gesturing towards the rack of shakers, he wailed, "We haven't used these for years". He had a distinct lack of ingredients, so the best I could muster was the Brain Haemmorhage (Archers, Baileys and Grenadine) which he proceeded to make in his largest brandy glasses. The barman was so delighted he treated us to free drinks for the rest of the evening, and we didn't recover for days.
Which has little to do with Prawn Cocktail. Making the perfect Prawn Cocktail is about as sensible as giving a pig a facial - really, it's a fairly lurid dish at best. But making the perfect one is a whole bunch of fun anyway. The more time you spend over it, the better. Here's a few hints.
Make your own Marie Rose. Make it with freshly made mayonnaise. Make it with your own tomato sauce. To do this, render down the most fragrant tomatoes you can find until they are pulp, then sieve and reduce with garlic, secret spices, vinegar and sugar until you have the richest tomato sauce imaginable. Lots of mustard. OK, I'll let you off if you don't make this too. Tabasco. More than you think you need. A good dash of Pastis. Nothing is better than a hint of aniseed behind the prawn.
All that's just par for the course. Marinade the prawns with lime, garlic and chilli. Fry off at the last minute with a dusting of cornflour. At least some of them should be butterflied, and have their tails on. A variety of prawns, in a range of postures, adds some panache.
Then, the garnish. This is where it stands or fails. A Prawn Cocktail should be ludicrously glamorous. Stick an umbrella in if you can. The ensemble should look like a tropical sunset. A spring onion Palm Tree will is a vital touch.
Put it all together. In a martini glass, of course. Then devour.
There you go.
Merry Christmas all!
No comments:
Post a Comment