John Luff and John Woodford on Fishing
Oh, the price of prawns. This must have been after the War, I used to go down and see Uncle George, that was George Attrill, he lives in ‘Stonehenge’ in Lane End, to get some prawns for Sunday tea and I think they were two and six for 100. The big ones were five shillings for 100.
John L: They used to sell them in 100’s, not pounds.
John W: Yes, and every fisherman had their own recipe for cooking, and some were better than others. I know Mr Caws’s were very good, we used to have some from them sometimes and of course they were always very good. But some were lacking. It’s the recipe. John will tell you about the recipes.
John L: I only went with Mr Caws’s recipe. You put them into boiling water and when they come to the boil again they’re cooked. And then you tip them into cold brine. You made up your own brine. I expect you remember you used to get blocks of salt, big blocks, like a loaf and they used to use it. When I was doing it, I was using about three quarters of a pound of salt in a washing up bowl of water to make the brine, and you chuck them in there and leave then until they’re cold and that’s it. Never salted. Other people used to sprinkle salt of them.
John W: And lobsters I think were about two and six I think at the time.