Prawns cooked in salt crust

In this recipe, we prepare king prawns in a salt crust. The reason for cooking food in a salt crust is that the product stays beautifully juicy. The salt crust works as insulation and the moisture retained by the food means the product is steamed, as it were. After this process, the salt will have added a light and salty flavour to the dish. Wouldn’t it be fun to give this a try on your Big Green Egg?

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE PRAWNS

12 prawns

1 lime or lemon

FOR THE SALT CRUST

2 kg coarse sea salt

3 egg whites

PREPARATION

Ignite the charcoal in the Big Green Egg, place the Stainless Steel Grid in the EGG and close the lid. Heat the EGG to a temperature of 220°C. Meanwhile, make the salt crust by blending the sea salt with the egg whites and sufficient water into a not-too moist, kneadable salt mixture.

Spread a layer of around 1 centimetre of the salt mixture over the bottom of the Deep Dish Baking Stone. Place the prawns with the hollow side of the tail in the salt, ensuring the heads are laying on the edge of the Deep Dish Pizza Stone. Cover the tails with the remaining salt mixture and press gently. Place the Deep Dish Pizza Stone on the grid and close the lid of the EGG. Allow the prawns to cook for around 15-20 minutes until the heads are nice and pink in colour, and the salt is hard. In the meantime, slice the lime or lemon.

Remove the Deep Dish Pizza Stone from the EGG with an EGGmitt on both hands. Break apart the salt crust with a hammer and remove the prawns from the Deep Dish Pizza Stone. Serve immediately with the wedges of lime or lemon to squeeze over the prawns, if desired.

Tip:

It is also delicious to wrap the prawns in bacon after you’ve removed from the salt crust and maybe also grilling them briefly on both sides.

Salt