There are no dumb questions but I'm trying - prawns?

[jaylach]

Clam bakes? Nope. I've heard of them in the US. I did a quick search and found some local tourist places that offer them, I would guess for travelers from the south. Lobster rolls galore (even in the past at MacDo's), and a lot of dishes with clams and scallops. I'm 3 km from a clam digging bay.

I've sat around while people from the north cut and ate fish with ulus, and eaten a lot of fish cakes. I haven't had pike chowder. That would have to be away from the populated areas as apex predators collect a lot of pollutants, and aren't favoured as food where I've lived.

There are a lot of vocabulary and some grammar differences between the various forms of English. A lot go with food. There are some food differences too. When I first watched the British Baking Show, I had to learn some vocab. I sometimes have to listen closely to relatives out on the west side of Canada. I love language differences and look for them, but I recently saw a guide to Canadian English for US visitors, produced in the west, and quite a few phrases meant nothing to me. My English has a lot of French words in it, and I always have to filter them out carefully when I travel.

I don't think the actual prawn/shrimp difference matters as here we have a question of usage. I'm going to roll with the idea that for an average British aquarist, a shrimp is a prawn is a shrimp.

First you are wrong in the statement as in "a shrimp is a prawn is a shrimp". Agree or not as you wish but it is scientific fact that they are totally different animals.

Sigh, as to clam bakes... Bake is deceptive as the process is actually steaming. Picture a large steamer with an outlet at the bottom as in a valve. It is done in layers with bags of clams at the bottom. The next layers would be sweet taters and corn cobs. At the top of the stack would be half chickens. The valve at the bottom s so you can draw the broth and pour back over the top of everything to baste. Have to dig a bit to test but once the sweet taters are really close to fork tender you pull the chicken halves and throw on a grill to crisp the skin. The combination is just to awesome to really describe.

I mean no insult or disrespect but what you say about food sounds pretty elitist. You should try some 'real people' basic comfort foods. You just may find that many of the 'peasant' foods are actually better than the normal bland elite foods. There is logic to this as the poor cannot afford the 'higher' cuts of meat and rely on herbs and cooking style. As to myself I will accept comfort food from a poor family over the 'elite' stuff that has no real unique flavors.

 

[GaryE]

First you are wrong in the statement as in "a shrimp is a prawn is a shrimp". Agree or not as you wish but it is scientific fact that they are totally different animals.

Sigh, as to clam bakes... Bake is deceptive as the process is actually steaming. Picture a large steamer with an outlet at the bottom as in a valve. It is done in layers with bags of clams at the bottom. The next layers would be sweet taters and corn cobs. At the top of the stack would be half chickens. The valve at the bottom s so you can draw the broth and pour back over the top of everything to baste. Have to dig a bit to test but once the sweet taters are really close to fork tender you pull the chicken halves and throw on a grill to crisp the skin. The combination is just to awesome to really describe.

I mean no insult or disrespect but what you say about food sounds pretty elitist. You should try some 'real people' basic comfort foods. You just may find that many of the 'peasant' foods are actually better than the normal bland elite foods. There is logic to this as the poor cannot afford the 'higher' cuts of meat and rely on herbs and cooking style. As to myself I will accept comfort food from a poor family over the 'elite' stuff that has no real unique flavors.

@jaylach we aren't being literal. I'm talking usage. If the British call what I call a shrimp a prawn, then when I talk to British hobbyists, I'll adjust my vocabulary. So my shrimp, scientific or not is their prawn. That's partly why I asked in the first place, as I wanted to understand the usage. The biology is a different issue.

Clam bakes are not normal comfort food here. I just asked someone who has lived here all her life and she says it's "New England food". I have never seen one advertized or sold. People ate a lot of lobster when it was still cheap (you could get it here and in Maine at MacDonalds), but not now. From what I can see from where they're sold, 2 person clam bakes are popular at cruise ship tour restaurant stops, because I imagine a lot of US visitors expect them. I've never seen them on offer in any backyard bbq here. I could not afford to eat at the one local seafood place that offers them as regular, non cruise season menu.

We have different comfort food. Biscuits and gravy. I tried them in Louisiana. I have never seen them here. Corn dogs are uncommon up here, though available as "pogos". I don't know if you have beaver tails or poutine, steamies, maple syrup on eggs, or other comfort foods I try not to eat too often healthwise. We have chowder around, though again, cooked at home and not as fast food as I've found it in Boston. US southern cooking, other than KFC, hasn't become established. There's one Taco Bell in this city, no chick a fil, popeyes or any of that. We have the burger chains. One Acadian fish and chips chain...good stuff.

It's amusing to be a food elitist given that I am always accused of eating the worst cheap foods out there. I'd offer to take you on a tour of my favourite restaurants but I value your cardiac health too highly. You seem like a good person and that could kill you!

 

[Ichthys]

As to prawns as fish food it sort of depends on if vitamin B2 (I think) is important. While shrimp do not prawns contain a chemical that inhibits the formation of vitamin B2. As fish food I'd probably lean toward shrimp.

B1.