Aloha at first sight?

 Marcelle Richards, L’Etoile intern/cook

The Pacific, or Hawaiian, blue prawns on the L’Etoile menu make for happy mouthfuls in the dining room but jaws are agape in the kitchen as well.

“Those are the craziest things I’ve ever seen.” said Graze’s Natalie as I cleaned the prawns in their raw form.  “They’re really cool.”

I thought the same thing.  I can’t stop looking at the prawns, which, as majestic as they are in a blushed spire of crustacean holiness on a grit cake, what diners don’t get to see is that as far as prawns go, these are the Ziggy Stardusts of the prawn world, harvested and beamed overnight to us from Hawaii from the Honolulu Fish Company in a holographic UV ray-bouncing shipping box that could only bode the spectacular inside.

Cleaning prawns isn’t glamorous. You’ve got to peel off the corsetry of overlapping shell in order to remove the “vein” (i.e. digestive tract) and if it’s at all possible to get the equivalent of rope burn from plucking antennae I think I’ve managed to pull that off.  Still, I’ve volunteered to clean these guys multiple times because I like to.  I can’t stop looking at them.  

In their natural state, their bodies evoke a watercolor palette of oceanic blues, kelpy greens and a blaze of coral pink on the carapace.  From their heads a serrated bayonet-like protrusion, or rostrum, makes me think of what would happen if a hungry fish tried to gulp one of these down – it would be like taking a toothpick to the roof of your mouth.

raw Pacific blue prawns

Each time I’ve cleaned them I’ve almost always had a passerby ask me a question about them; sometimes I knew the answer, sometimes not.  

One person asked me the difference between a prawn and a shrimp, and although shrimp and prawns are related taxonomically (both are decapods, or crustaceans with ten legs) from there the two do differ slightly in brooding, segmentation etc.  Ask someone who cooks with them and a prawn is more or less a big daddy shrimp and even the United Nation’s Food and Aquaculture Organization can vouch for the shakiness of layman definitions, which vary even geographically. 

The Pacific blue prawns we get from the Honolulu Fish Company happen to be a real catch, which Sous Chef Mike Balistieri describes as being sweeter and more buttery than your run of the mill prawn.  We cooks have a saying that “fat is flavor” and the blue prawns do make for good eating due to a relatively higher fat content, and of course, a talented kitchen staff.

Pacific blue prawns are only available seasonally from summer through early fall.  

“They are very, very rare,” said Honolulu Fish Company sales representative William Grafton.  “When we bring them in, which is pretty much on a daily basis, we sell out very quickly.”

The Honolulu Fish Company specifically cultivates blue prawns that belong to a species called Litopenaeus stylirostris, and actually has a trademark protecting information surrounding their husbandry of the species since they run one of only a few farms producing this particular species, and at a very high quality at that.  They boast meticulously high standards for freshness and sustainability (fish are line caught and shipped fresh; scallops and prawns are individually quick frozen per law.)  

cooked prawns, featured on the L'Etoile menu

Their Hawaiian blue prawns have entered numerous taste tests and is recognized as one of the best sashimi grade prawns available.  So do jump at the chance to try them at L’Etoile and do squeeze their heads when you’re enjoying them – that’s why we leave them on!  

Honolulu Fish Company

Contact: William Grafton

1-888-475-6244 x. 254

www.honolulufish.com