Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Prawns

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paddypf, Jan 7, 8:43am
I went to the supermarket today to buy some Aussie prawns but there were none just Asian ones from various countries so gave it a miss as I have never tried them before. How do they compare in flavour to Aussie prawns?

cookessentials, Jan 7, 2:10pm
Dont know, but personally, I would not touch them. Countdown had Australian banana prawns last week. You could try your local wet fish shop.

prawn_whiskas, Jan 7, 7:37pm
If you go to youtube and put in exactly what you have written as your title here.. and also 'Basa fish' you will be shown exactly how and where they are grown and what they are fed.It should be enough to make your tummy turn and put you off any of the Thai/Chi/Viet products.

davidt4, Jan 7, 8:27pm
And here's a link to a long and very interesting article from an English newspaper:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1067963/Is-prawn-cocktail-toxic--Read-want-eat-again.html

In essence - I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

beaker59, Jan 7, 9:59pm
Great for bait though at current prices, snapper love them :)

They lack flavour for human consuption however.

$8.59 Kg cooked whole prawns in the shell at our local PnS

motorbo, Jan 7, 10:32pm
omg they are farmed like that fish, puk puk im not buying them again

herself, Jan 7, 10:35pm
Thank you davidt4 for that link.What an informative article!I will never again be tempted by the supermarkets low cost frozen prawns from Asia.I have emailed this article to all my foodie friends.
Am I right in thinking that Australian prawns will be an ok option?

davidt4, Jan 7, 10:38pm
I think Australian prawns are fine.Apart from the price.

herself, Jan 7, 10:45pm
Aaah yes, the dratted cost!After reading that article though, I will not be swayed!

elliehen, Jan 7, 10:54pm
Basa flourished briefly in local fish'n chip shops until an article appeared on their origin... 'farmed in the Mekong Delta - the toilet bowl of Asia'.Then shops started putting up signs saying 'No Basa sold here', although the supermarkets still seemed to be doing a thriving trade.

uli, Jan 8, 12:30am
Basa is still regularly sold in woolworths supermarkets. I always talk to the people behind the counter about it - and they get quite worried now to have to sell it ... imagine if the staff refuses to sell the stuff - wouldn't that be great?

Chinese cooked prawn/shrimp today $8.20 per Kg at our local Pak'n'Save. Forget it! How could they have been raised to sell at that price - in poly ponds?

beaker59, Jan 8, 3:18am
From what I've heard about Basa no one would go back a second time to get it. If I buy Fish and chips I always ask now and if they say its Basa (only once) I turn around and walk out.

Beautiful day for a sail today Uli I took the boat out for an hour sail this afternoon after a maintenance session 15Kn warm wind light chop put up all the sail and had a blast around the bay. We've caught a few fish lately too smoked snapper salad for lunch and a big John Dory for dinner last night who in this country needs fish from the mekong river?

socram, Jan 8, 3:39am
Now you know why Delking prawns fell over!!!

Talking to the owner, I complimented him on the always tasty prawns. (We bought regularly...)He explained that it was because they only sold 'seafood'.I wasn't too sure what he meant at the time - until he explained.

He then went on to say that many/most imported prawns were not sea-food at all, and despite lobbying our previous government pretty hard, they were far more interested in a free trade deal with China, than ensuring imported prawns were labelled correctly.

Another honest top quality NZ business that fell over, with a consequent drop in quality for consumers through a misguided trade policy.

Unfortunately beaker59, some of us are not fishermen and have to rely on the retail trade...

lyl_guy, Jan 8, 4:02am
Oh NO!I have a bag of cooked prawns in the freezer, the distributor is "sea cuisine" in CHCH NZ, but it's a "product of Thailand"!!!Only good for the bin??

prawn_whiskas, Jan 8, 4:04am
Or Schnapper bait.

lyl_guy, Jan 8, 4:07am
Hmmm.... bugger, might have to give them to the fisherman of the family.

prawn_whiskas, Jan 8, 4:27am
Oh well, at least if you give them to the fisherman of the family you can trade them in for some REAL Kai Moana!

karenz, Jan 8, 4:59am
You do see frozen banana prawns from Australia in supermarkets sometimes, they had them at Pak N Save Petone yesterday, they don't compare to tiger prawns flavourwise though, given they could be landed in NZ fresh and sold fresh on the same day it is a shame more varieties of Australian prawns are not available here, but I guess it would be a very expensive exercise, the Asian ones are probably frozen an source and shipped over in bulk.

uli, Jan 8, 5:00am
lyl_guy - if you have been eating that cr@p for the last 10 years then 1 more time is not going to kill you I guess :)

Of course if your New Years resolution was to be more healthy - then yes - use it as bait!

uli, Jan 8, 5:02am
Bloody tease that you are beaker59 - one day I will catch up with you in Jaffa land :)
Still haven't got enough bend in the knee to go into the dinghy - and without going into the dinghy I cannot go onto the boat ...
*sighs*

paddypf, Jan 8, 7:47am
Wow thanks for the article Davidt4 I'm glad I didn't buy any and will certainly never be tempted after reading that. I see in the local countdown flyer that they will have Aussie prawns for $21-79 next week so will grab some of those.

lyl_guy, Jan 8, 8:28am
Hi Uli... no I haven't bought prawns like that before... I used them ONCE in a stirfry, but never again. Was telling my partner about it and he was horrified... we'll be getting fresh seafood from Seamart from now on, lol!

beaker59, Jan 8, 8:57am
My boat is on a marina so easy access if you are in Auckland ever then definately say so and I will take you for a sail for sure.As long or short a trip as you like.Boat is at Gulf Harbour Whangaparoa so only just inside the Auckland boundary :)

paddypf, Jan 7, 8:43am
I went to the supermarket today to buy some Aussie prawns but there were none just Asian ones from various countries so gave it a miss as I have never tried them before. How do they compare in flavour to Aussie prawns!

prawn_whiskas, Jan 7, 7:37pm
If you go to youtube and put in exactly what you have written as your title here. and also 'Basa fish' you will be shown exactly how and where they are grown and what they are fed.It should be enough to make your tummy turn and put you off any of the Thai/Chi/Viet products.