As is often the case with seafood, the process of preparing prawns can seem fiddly and rather off-putting.

However, it is really worth putting in the effort as fresh prawns are delicious, particularly when served simply with a basic cocktail sauce or boiled, steamed, stir-fried, grilled or in soup.

1. First remove the heads and put to one side. These can be used with the rest of the shells to make stock later on. Using pointed scissors, hold the prawn belly up to cut through the soft shell.
2. Peel off the shell but leave the tail in place.
3. Using a small, sharp knife, make a shallow slit along the back of the prawn and carefully prise out and discard the black vein that is the prawn’s intestinal tract.
4. To ‘butterfly’, cut right through the prawn from its head, stopping between the belly and the base of the tail.

Langoustines and crayfish: these can be prepared in the same way as the prawns.

Meat can be extracted from the langoustine claws by removing the small pincer then using pointed scissors to cut through the length of the claw.

Split open and remove the flesh in a single piece.

Crayfish claws are larger and most easily opened using a hammer or lobster cracker to expose the meat.

Langoustines are also known as scampi and are delicious when simply boiled or steamed and eaten from the shell.

Crayfish are sold either live or cooked.

Boil in court bouillon for five to ten minutes and again eat simply from the shell.