Shrimp butter

Cruscana Shrimp Butter. North Sea shrimp, cayenne, and the classic French cut.

Shrimp butter is a French shellfish cream made from cold-water shrimp, milk, and butter, produced in Herblay near Paris. No farmed shrimp from the tropics, no shrimp salad, no paste with shellfish flavor.

Shrimp butter is a spreadable shellfish cream from the Cruscana manufacturer, made from 28 percent North Sea shrimp, milk, and 14 percent butter. If you want to make it yourself, you'll need shrimp shells, a mortar, a fine sieve, and a good hour. Afterwards, you'll have four tablespoons of cream and a kitchen full of shells. This jar takes exactly this step off your hands, in the quality for which it was intended.

Fine, creamy, and a lingering cayenne

The shrimp butter is delicately rosé and the finest of the four Cruscana creams. Its aroma is subtle, significantly more delicate than the lobster version. It only truly unfolds on the palate.

First comes the slight sweetness that cooked cold-water shrimp bring. Then follows a creamy richness of butter and milk that coats the mouth. Right at the end, the cayenne announces itself, more as warmth in the throat than as spiciness.

It is the only one in the range that contains mustard, paprika, and cayenne simultaneously. That sounds like a lot, but it's a necessity. Shrimp meat is finer than lobster or crab and would otherwise be lost in the butter.

At 182 calories per 100 grams, it is also the lightest of the four. The salt content, at 1.30 grams, is also at the lower end. You don't notice either of these when eating, but you do when comparing it to its siblings.

Straight from the refrigerator, it is firm and seems closed. Ten minutes at room temperature are enough for the aromas to open up. At about 14 degrees, it reaches the consistency at which it is best spread.

If you expect strong spiciness, you should look elsewhere. The cayenne here is intended as a base, not an effect. This cream is not on a chili level.

From canapés to bisque

It's made for canapés, and that's where its delicacy shines. Take crustless white bread, spread it thinly, and top it with half a shrimp or a sprig of dill. A scant teaspoon is enough for two bites.

In a bisque, a heaped tablespoon replaces the entire final step. Stir it in after turning off the heat, and the soup will thicken and gain a shellfish note at the same time. The same works for a sauce with seafood pasta.

It also works as a filling. Mix a teaspoon with the yolk of hard-boiled eggs and refill the halves. For puff pastry sticks, spread it thinly before folding the dough.

On a hot baked potato, it melts into a rosy, shimmering layer. With asparagus in spring, it's an alternative to classic butter sauce, with significantly less effort. And a teaspoon folded into scrambled eggs turns breakfast into an appetizer.

In cold cuisine, it can also be used to make a dip. One part cream to two parts crème fraîche, a squeeze of lemon, and it's done. Serve with chicory leaves or fennel strips instead of the usual vegetable sticks.

To drink, a dry white wine with a clear structure, such as a Riesling Kabinett, pairs well. A Crémant works just as well because the perlage breaks up the butter film. A cool, not too hoppy beer is the underrated option.

From experience: Spread sparingly. A too thickly applied dollop goes from fine to greasy, and that's the most common mistake with this variety. The cream goes further than it appears.

A recipe from the repertoire of haute cuisine

Beurre de crevette is one of the classic compound butters of French cuisine. Auguste Escoffier described it in the late 19th century as a tool, not a spread. Its purpose was to give a sauce aroma and binding at the last moment.

In 1965, Denise and Gilbert Jouneau adopted this principle. In their suburban pavilion near Paris, they stirred shellfish butter according to Escoffier's model and quickly found customers. In 1981, they passed the business on to the Danish importer Knud Hays Thøgersen, on the condition that the recipes remained.

Since 1980, the manufactory has been located in Herblay in Val-d'Oise, northwest of Paris on the Seine. Around twenty employees work there on 2,200 square meters on three production lines. The business operates under the regional origin label of Île-de-France.

Only Pandalus borealis, the North Sea shrimp from the cold North Atlantic, is processed. It grows slowly, remains small, and develops firm, sweet meat. The manufactory stipulates the origin of the raw materials to its suppliers in a specification sheet.

The German names for this shrimp regularly cause confusion. North Sea shrimp, Arctic shrimp, and Greenland shrimp all refer to the same species. What is always meant is the small cold-water shrimp, not the tropical farmed shrimp from aquaculture.

Additionally, cod is used as a carrier. Its protein stabilizes the emulsion of milk fat and water so that the cream does not break when heated. Nearly thirty preparations are created in Herblay in total, developed by a chef in the in-house laboratory, without colorants and without added preservatives.

The most accessible of the four Cruscana creams

Within the range, it is the best entry point. It is fine enough not to overwhelm anyone, and flavorful enough not to seem arbitrary. If you want to get to know the series, start here and work your way up.

The path then leads from crab butter with its higher butter content to lobster butter, which is the most pronounced. The smoked salmon butter stands alongside as a mild exception without shellfish.

A practical advantage over freshly prepared shellfish butter is its shelf life before opening. Homemade varieties must be consumed within a few days. The unopened jar, however, easily withstands the waiting period until the next occasion.

The cream is not suitable for storage after opening. Without added preservatives, the opened jar belongs in the refrigerator and should be empty within two days. Unopened, however, it is uncomplicated to store.

A side note: The four varieties are not intensity levels of the same recipe. Each has its own raw material and its own seasoning. Therefore, it is worthwhile to open two jars on the same evening and compare them directly.

As a gift for a dinner party, the jar works better than a bottle of wine. It's unusual, it's immediately usable, and it costs the host no preparation. For a reception with twelve guests, calculate two to three jars.

A classic of French cuisine that eliminates an hour of manual labor – without the result showing it.