Shrimp butter

Shrimp butter made with cold-water shrimp

Cruscana's shrimp butter is a spreadable shellfish cream made from North Sea shrimp, milk, and butter. Not a farmed tropical shrimp, but Pandalus borealis from the cold North Atlantic – a small shrimp that grows slowly and gathers flavor in the process.

Shrimp butter is a fine French shellfish cream for canapés, sauces, and soups. Cruscana prepares it from 28 percent shrimp, milk, and 14 percent butter, along with cod, mustard, paprika, and cayenne pepper. "A great classic of French gastronomy," the manufacturer says of it – referring to the Beurre de Crevette, which has been part of their range since the early years.

Of the four butters from Herblay, it is the most complex in its seasoning: it is the only one that contains mustard, paprika, and cayenne all at once. Not to make it spicy, but because shrimp is more delicate than lobster or crab and can use a little boost.

Fine, savory, with a warm finish

It sits in the glass a delicate rose color and smells of shellfish and the sea, more subtle than the lobster butter, clearer than the crab butter.

On the tongue, it is creamy and soft, with the slight sweetness that cooked cold-water shrimp bring. The cayenne makes itself known late and quietly, more as a warmth in the throat than as heat. Added to this is the butter, which binds everything together, and a salty tang that brings the North Sea to mind.

Fine, savory, creamy – that is how it stands among its siblings. At 182 kilocalories per 100 grams, it is also the lightest of the four, which you would never guess.

Canapés, as fine as possible

It is made for canapés, says Cruscana itself, and that is true. A thin slice of white bread, crusts removed, the cream on top, half a shrimp or a sprig of dill on top – a good reception needs no more effort than that.

In the kitchen, it binds a sauce for seafood pasta, or rounds off a bisque if you stir it in at the very end. For an aperitif, a Riesling Kabinett or a Crémant goes well, or even a cool lager. On a warm potato instead of butter, it is not a classic, but it makes for a good evening.

Because it is produced without added preservatives, the jar should be refrigerated after opening and consumed within 2 days.

Why the shrimp comes from the north

Pandalus borealis lives in the North Atlantic, in the cold waters off Greenland, Iceland, and Norway. There, it grows slowly, remains small, and develops exactly that firm, sweet meat for which cold-water shrimp are prized. Large tropical farmed shrimp are a different world in terms of flavor.

In German, the confusion of names is complete: North Sea shrimp, Arctic shrimp, Greenland shrimp – they all refer to the same thing. It shares only its kinship, not its flavor, with the brown shrimp, which is also zoologically a shrimp.

The fact that Cruscana sticks with this shrimp fits the house: the manufacturer dictates the origin of the raw materials to its suppliers in a set of specifications. They have been working this way since 1965, starting with Denise and Gilbert Jouneau in a Parisian suburban pavilion, inspired by Auguste Escoffier. In 1981, the Dane Knud Hays Thøgersen took over the factory in Herblay so that the recipes would live on.

If you want to get to know the range, start with the shrimp butter – it is the most accessible. Then try the lobster butter, if you would like something bolder.