Antipodean Prawn Rolls

According to Wikipedia, prawn rolls are a common takeaway item in parts of Australia.

Wait, wait, let’s back up a minute. There are a couple of things, scientific and cultural, that require explanation if we, right-side-up citizens of the northern hemisphere, are going to talk about prawn rolls.

First off, prawns. Prawns are not the same thing as shrimp but they might as well be. Prawns’ legs and shells are slightly different than shrimp, and they tend to be a bit larger. The difference in their shells cause shrimp to have a sharper bend than prawns. Shrimp are saltwater crustaceans; prawns live in fresh or brackish water. Culinarily, though, they are nearly identical. I can’t say that prawns and shrimp are sold interchangeably, and I don’t think they are, but here in the US we are more likely to call a prawn a shrimp, while in Australia and New Zealand, they are more likely to call a shrimp a prawn, despite that Paul Hogan ad from the ’80s that you might remember if you’re old like me.

Second: roll. Some cultures don’t automatically think sandwich when they see something served in a bread roll. Here in the US we call them subs, grinders, hoagies, heroes, po’boys, or we might even call them rolls sometimes, but we still think of them as sandwiches. In other places, a sandwich is only made with sliced bread. Something served in a bread roll might be a roll, a bap, cob, barm, or burger. There are prawn rolls in Thai and Vietnamese cuisine that are spring rolls served in rice paper. There are prawn or shrimp rolls in Japanese or Korean cuisine that are types of sushi. We aren’t talking about either of those. We are talking about prawns, which are basically big shrimp, being served in a bread roll.

Third: the Takeaway. I’m not 100% certain I’ve got a strong feel for this one yet. On the one hand, takeaway has the same meaning as “to go,” so a takeaway shop is simply one that does carry-out business. When my friends in Australia or New Zealand have talked about going to their local takeaway, I’ve gotten the sense of ethnic mom and pop type shops. However, this Australian guide to the best and worst in takeaway food focuses on such venerable local institutions as McDonald’s and KFC.

My pal Marinus, a New Zealander currently teaching abroad, described them thus:

Over in New Zealand and I presume Australia they’re a common feature in bakeries and lunch bars as one of the prepared meals you can buy, either to eat right away or as a packed lunch. There’s a whole variety of these rolls, stuffed with things like roast beef, chicken, BBQ pork (Chinese style BBQ pork, that is), and so on. Most of these, the prawn roll included, will have lettuce, tomato, the protein and some sauce or dressing. More than one sauce or a relish or some pickles are also common, though probably less so on the prawn roll in particular. Sliced boiled eggs… are commonly a feature of the prawn roll. The exact sauce or dressing changes from shop to shop (these are mom-and-pop places), but normally I’d expect something like the dressing from a prawn cocktail, but much more lightly applied. It could be as simple as a bit of mayonnaise squirted onto the roll. The bread tends toward the chewy, shorter and fatter than something like a demi-baguette, and the filing is generous. It’s meant to keep together, since you’re often going to eat these at a park bench or standing somewhere, and they’re always wrapped in cling film.

And now we find ourselves back at the beginning. According to Wikipedia, prawn rolls are a common takeaway item in parts of Australia. Yet when I searched for Australian prawn roll recipes, many of the results I found were recipes on Australian websites for sandwiches that sounded very much like a Maine style lobster roll, only subbing in prawns for the lobster.

Now I can get something very much like that right near my home, at a quick service restaurant called Just Shrimp. They serve a shrimp roll that consists of a toasted New England-style hot dog bun stuffed with large shrimp and a touch of mayonnaise. It’s… OK. The roll could be a little fresher, toasted a little better. The fries are standard food-service crinkle cut. The shrimp are pretty good.

This doesn’t fit in with the prawn roll as described to me by Wikipedia or by Marinus. For one thing it’s far too American. For another, it’s not a pre-packaged sandwich wrapped in cling film (or “saran wrap” as I grew up calling it). However, the types of places that have pre-made sandwiches available for purchase where I live are not the mom and pop shops Marinus describes either. I visited a few–7-11, Walgreens, Pret A Manger–and found a variety of sandwiches of varying attractiveness. None featured prawn (or shrimp, since we’re in the US) though.

Note: there was constantly a Pret A Manger employee stocking those shelves, and it took me a while to get this photo. As I was trying, a manager sidled up to me and seemed to be on the verge of asking me my business. I was forced to buy a sandwich and retreat. I bought the “Chicken Caesar & Bacon on Artisan.” It was a mistake.

So as much as I’d love to be able to walk into a local establishment and buy a prawn roll to toss in my backpack and eat on a hike or a bike ride or while reminding my American friends that it’s tomorrow where I am, I’ll be forced to make this sandwich myself. Some caveats–I have not found anything labeled prawn where I am, but I can buy some decent quality larger shrimp, so that will have to do. Cocktail sauce in New Zealand, as referenced by Marinus, is not the same as cocktail sauce in the US. Here, cocktail sauce is essentially ketchup with horseradish mixed in. There, cocktail sauce is mayo- or aioli-based, with a little ketchup or tomato sauce for color and some hot sauce and Worcestershire for flavor.

I used some store-bought Italian rolls, a mixture of lettuces, some halfway decent tomatoes I found, and offered mayo, aioli, and Kiwi-style cocktail sauce to my sandwich eaters. For the shrimp, I tossed it with some lime juice, olive oil, garlic, paprika, white pepper, and salt, then slipped those shrimp on the barbie for just a couple minutes per side.

Ian, a boy of simple tastes, asked for his with mayo and lettuce only. He didn’t stop raving about the roll for days.

Everybody else pretty much took theirs the way I did, with aioli on the roll, lettuce, tomato, and some cocktail sauce drizzled over the shrimp itself.

This was a heck of a sandwich. Too much sauce, according to Marinus. OK, maybe he’s right. It was a little messy. I thought the shrimp turned out great though, and the sauces were a good fit for the shellfish.

It’s good enough for my purposes, anyway. I got closer to this than I did to the Chinese Donkey Burger. Ah well, another month draws to a close at the Tribunal, and soon we’ll have three more sandwiches to try. Thanks for reading, and let me know if you have any personal experiences of the prawn roll you’d like to share in the comments!