Crab butter

Cruscana Crab Butter. Brown crab, cod, and the highest butter content in the range.

Crab butter is a French shellfish cream made from brown crab, milk, and butter, produced in Herblay near Paris. No surimi, no North Sea shrimp, no spread with crab flavoring.

Crab butter is a spreadable shellfish cream from the Cruscana manufacturer, made with 25 percent brown crab, milk, and 16 percent butter. Shellfish creams are considered an appetizer item, something for toast and small spoons. This one belongs on the stove. In French kitchens, beurre de crabe isn't found next to glasses for guests, but readily available next to the fish stock.

What brown crab and butter do on the palate

The cream is light beige-pink and noticeably firmer than the other three creams. With the first spoonful, the butter content is immediately apparent. At 16 percent, it is the highest in the range.

On the tongue, it melts slower than its three siblings. This is due to the fat content, which remains firmer at refrigerator temperature. Take the jar out ten minutes before serving.

The taste begins nutty and slightly sweet, like cooked crab meat. Then comes the mustard, short and dry, providing a counterpoint to the richness. The paprika keeps the color warm in the mouth without adding heat.

A saltiness of 1.40 grams per 100 grams remains in the finish. This saltiness is functional, as it keeps the cream present even in a sauce. Without it, the crab would disappear under cream and stock.

At 202 calories per 100 grams, it is in the middle of the four. However, the saturated fatty acids are higher at 11 grams than its siblings. This is also a direct result of the butter content.

Anyone expecting a North Sea shrimp is mistaken. The jar contains Cancer pagurus, the brown crab with strong claws from the Atlantic. Its meat tastes firmer and nuttier than the small shrimp from the coast.

Crab butter as a finish for fish sauces

The cream plays its strongest role in the last thirty seconds of a sauce. Remove the stock from the heat, add a heaped teaspoon, and swirl the pan. The sauce thickens, shines, and gains a shellfish note – all in one step.

This pairs particularly well with sole, cod, and zander. Allow one teaspoon per serving; more will make the sauce heavy. In a fish soup, one spoon per liter is sufficient, stirred in just before serving.

For a seafood risotto, add two teaspoons at the very end, instead of butter. It also works stirred into spinach, with a pinch of nutmeg. However, it is not suitable for meat dishes, where the crab note would seem out of place.

Cold, it works better on hearty bread than on white bread. A thin spread on wholemeal toast, a few drops of lemon, a little chives on top. For a dip, stir a spoon into crème fraîche and let it infuse for an hour.

A quick appetizer can also be made from the jar. Halve an avocado, fill a teaspoon into the hollow, and drizzle with lemon juice. Serve with toasted sourdough bread; nothing more is needed.

For drinking, a salty, dry white wine is suitable. A Muscadet from the Loire or a Chablis will best complement the crab. Sweeter wines are not recommended here, as the natural sweetness of the crab meat would then be overwhelmed.

Our tip: If you only use the jar for sauces, freeze the rest in portions in an ice cube tray. One cube corresponds to approximately one serving. When thawed, the cream is too soft to spread, but the difference is not noticeable in a sauce.

Escoffier's principle in a jar from Herblay

The process behind this cream is older than the brand. Auguste Escoffier described in the late 19th century the beurres composés, compound butters made from a main ingredient and butter. They served to give a sauce body and aroma at the last moment.

In 1965, Denise and Gilbert Jouneau adopted this principle. In their suburban pavilion near Paris, they stirred up shellfish butter according to Escoffier's recipe ideas and found customers. In 1981, they handed over the business to the Danish importer Knud Hays Thøgersen, with the stipulation not to alter the recipes.

Since 1980, production has been located in Herblay in Val-d'Oise, about twenty kilometers northwest of Paris. Approximately twenty employees work on three production lines across 2,200 square meters. The company operates under the regional origin label of Île-de-France.

For Beurre de Crabe, the manufacturer specifies the origin of the raw materials to its suppliers in a specification sheet. In addition to crab, cod is added to the jar, which carries the mass and stabilizes the texture. Nearly thirty preparations are created there in total, developed by a chef in their own laboratory.

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