How to eat langostino?

August 13, 2007 8:33 AM

Last night I ordered the "grilled shrimp" at a trendy restaurant and it ended up being a single unshelled langostino (basically, a very big prawn). It was delicious, but how was I supposed to eat it? I just dug in with my fingers, the way they do in Spain.
posted by footnote to society & culture (9 comments total)

I recently had a dish with three large grilled tiger prawns. The prawns were butterflied down the middle so the flesh was exposed. I just used my fork and knife.

I'm still a bit confused by your description though; were these just super large shrimp, or were they more like lobsters in that they had thicker, harder shells?
posted by roomwithaview at 8:51 AM on August 13, 2007

They were like super-large shrimp, not like lobsters. In Spain they're called "langostinos," which my dictionary says translates as "king prawn."
posted by footnote at 8:55 AM on August 13, 2007

Oh, and it was whole, head and all, not butterflied.
posted by footnote at 8:56 AM on August 13, 2007

They serve these in SE Asia and people just use their fingers. Don't worry, just eat with your hands and enjoy. People in the US tend to be needless squeamish about eating with their hands much to their detriment (provided those hands were washed).
posted by Burhanistan at 8:58 AM on August 13, 2007

First, fork the shrimp, where it is meatiest. Using your knife, cut the head and the legs off. Then, you can gently wedge your knife in between the shell and the meat where the legs used to be. Once you've wedged the knife to expose the flesh, take your fork and re-spear the exposed meat. With the fork remaining in the shrimp, place your knife gently into the tail shell, cutting only the top shell of the tail, where the meat ends. With both the knife and fork in place, pull away from each other. The flesh should pull away, including the hard-to-get-to meat wedged inside the tail. Whole procedure takes about 15-20 seconds.
posted by jujube at 9:09 AM on August 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

I ate these in Thailand - they would just grill the whole thing and bring a kilo or so to the table. Everyone used their fingers, and I've seen the same thing done at fancy restaurants (Chez Panisse, for example).
posted by luriete at 9:14 AM on August 13, 2007

langostino = langoustines

If this place was white-cloth fancy dining, then jujube's technique applies. But since it's grilled and trendy, I doubt that's the case in which digging in was appropriate.
posted by junesix at 9:57 AM on August 13, 2007

Hmm, a "langoustine" is a "dublin prawn," which translates to "cigala" in my dictionary, not "langostino." The "langostinos" I ate in Spain (and the one I had last night) didn't have those claws in your pictures, junesix. They looked more like king prawns. A case of false seafood cognates?

Cigala = langoustine = dublin prawn

Langostino = king prawn
posted by footnote at 1:14 PM on August 13, 2007

In New York, what I recall hearing called langostino were small lobsters, of which only the tail was eaten. Just to throw that into the langauge confusion.
posted by Goofyy at 11:04 AM on August 16, 2007