[Sashimi Grade] New Zealand Wild Scampi

New Zealand scampi live in burrows on the sea floor, hundreds of metres down. They are slow to grow, hard to catch and landed in small volumes, which is why they sit at the top end of the seafood counter rather than in the middle of it. The shell is a pale pink-orange with fine stripes; the tail meat inside is snow white.

The flavour sits somewhere between a prawn and a lobster — sweeter than one, more delicate than the other — with a fine, almost silky texture. Raw, the tail meat is one of the great sashimi items. Cooked, it needs almost nothing: a minute of heat and some butter.

Why Choose Our NZ Scampi?

• Wild caught: from the cold, deep waters off New Zealand, never farmed.
• Sashimi grade: frozen at sea to a standard that allows raw service.
• Deep-sea clean: taken from hundreds of metres down in clean southern waters.
• Delicate, sweet meat: white, fine textured and naturally sweet.
• A genuine centrepiece: the seafood you serve when the meal is the occasion.

Cooking Methods:

• Sashimi: remove the raw tail meat from the shell, serve chilled with soy, wasabi or a little citrus and salt.
• Grilled: split lengthways, brush with garlic butter, 2-3 minutes under a hot grill, shell side down.
• Barbecued: split and charred flesh-side briefly, then finished shell-side down.
• Baked: split, topped with garlic, breadcrumb and parsley, 5 minutes in a hot oven.
• In a broth: the heads make an outstanding bisque or miso base — do not throw them away.

Cooking Note:
The meat is fine and lean, so it overcooks in seconds. Pull it off the heat while the centre still looks slightly underdone.

Thawing:
Thaw in the refrigerator (0-4°C). Never use hot water or a microwave.

Storage:
Keep frozen at -18°C. Use within 1 day of thawing and do not refreeze.

Raw Consumption Note:
If you are pregnant, elderly, very young or have low immunity, cook the scampi through rather than eating it raw.

The one to serve when the seafood is the occasion. Order now.