Mustard Butter Scampi

Ingredients

• 1 lb plus scampi (large prawns)
• 20 g butter
• 15 g mustard
• 3 g sugar
• 30 g soy sauce
• 30 g oyster sauce
• 3 g salt
• 15–30 g rice wine, rum or beer
• 5 sprigs coriander
• 5 cloves garlic

Method

Clean the scampi by removing the heads, tails, legs, and antennae with scissors or your fingers. Split the back shell lengthways and pull out the dark digestive tract under running water. This isn't finesse work — speed matters because you want the flesh exposed and ready to absorb heat and sauce. Pat them dry thoroughly; wet shells steam instead of sear, and you need the pan-frying surface to caramelise.

Heat a wok or large flat-bottomed pan over medium-high heat with enough oil to coat the base. Once shimmering, lay the scampi shell-side down. Don't move them. You're after a golden-brown crust on the shell, which takes about two minutes per side — listen for the occasional pop and watch for the shell to shift from translucent grey-blue to opaque bronze. This browning isn't decoration; the shellfish proteins are Maillard-reacting, building depth. Once both sides colour, transfer to a plate.

Reduce heat to medium and add the minced garlic to the residual oil. You'll know it's ready when the raw bite disappears and you catch that peppery, caramelised garlic smell — about ninety seconds. Return the scampi to the pan. Cut the butter into small cubes and scatter it across the shells. The butter will melt into the creases of the shell and begin emulsifying with the moisture released by the cooking flesh. This is butter-sauce building.

Whisk the soy sauce, oyster sauce, mustard, sugar, and salt together in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves and the mustard disperses evenly. Pour this directly onto the scampi and raise the heat to high. The sauce will bubble immediately — you want a rolling boil for thirty to forty-five seconds so the soy's salt and umami penetrate the flesh. Add your chosen alcohol — fifteen grams of rum or thirty grams of rice wine or beer — which will flare slightly. The alcohol cooks off in seconds and leaves behind complexity.

Toss the scampi twice, then scatter the coriander segments across the top and toss once more. The coriander should stay largely intact, not shredded into the sauce. Serve immediately in the pan or transfer to a warm plate. The sauce should coat the shell thickly but still move. If it's too thin, you either didn't reduce enough or your heat wasn't high enough; if it's glue-like, you overworked it.