Using code tags around the [embed] shortcode

First off, the [embed] shortcode seems to work very well.

My problem is that I want to write a post explaining the shortcode to my users.
I thought the easy way to write [embed] without WordPress thinking it was a command for it to do something was to wrap it with the code tag ie

<code>
<'code'>[embed]</'code'></code>

Indeed, in the visual editor of the post it appears to work find but when I published it , it looked like my code tags are being ignored as WordPress has decided it doesn’t understand the format and turned it into a url.

Is anyone else having this problem or have I missed something?

Update:
my workaround is to put ‘backticks’ around the word ’embed’
It doesn’t look great and could be confusing to my readers, so a better solution would be much appreciated.