Chef Juliette
Homard à l’Américaine
Lobster shells blaze red over fierce heat, brandy catches, and tomato-wine liquor reduces to a shining sauce bound with coral and cold butter. The lesson is simple: after the finish, never let it boil.
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Shrimps and Prawns (Crevettes Grises et Crevettes Roses)
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 979, Shrimps and Prawns (Crevettes Grises et Crevettes Roses), from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Pink prawns stay sweet and whole, grey shrimps disappear into coral butter, and one cold hors d’œuvre teaches the classical pantry’s best economy: use each shellfish where its character works hardest.
Appetizers & Snacks
French
Dinner Party
Picnic
35 min
Active Time
20 min cook•1 hr 20 min total
Yield4 appetizer servings
Crevettes grises et crevettes roses teaches a small but fundamental rule: choose shellfish by the work its texture and shell can do. Larger pink prawns give a clean, handsome bite for a cold hors d’œuvre. Tiny grey shrimps surrender their deeper, shell-borne savor to beurre de crevettes grises (grey-shrimp butter). Do not treat them as interchangeable before touching the pan.
The source is a pantry direction rather than a composed formula. Its professional kitchen assumed a garde-manger, the cold-pantry station, with enough hands to send pink prawns into aspics, Mousses, and small cold Soufflé preparations while grey shrimps moved toward garnishes, soups, creams, and butter. For one cook, one stove, one evening, those routes become one coherent hors d’œuvre: gently poached pink prawns, a crock of sieved grey-shrimp butter, and crisp baguette. The multiple preparations and brigade quantities were scaffolding, so they go. The pounding and sieving stay, because they are the dish.
The entry supplies uses rather than proportions, so this home formula adopts the classical working ratio of equal weights grey shrimp and butter. A small processor replaces the mortar, but the tamis, a drum sieve, becomes an ordinary fine-mesh sieve rather than disappearing. Pass the butter through while it is pliable. That single step removes the shell grit and decides whether the finished spread is silk or rubble.
This entry belongs not to one province’s composed dish but to the classical garde-manger, where shellfish were sorted by the work each did best. Along the Channel and North Sea coasts, especially Normandy and Picardy, crevettes grises meant tiny brown shrimp whose shells carry concentrated savor; larger crevettes roses moved from market baskets to Parisian hors d’œuvre platters, aspics, Mousses, and cold Soufflé because their firm flesh held a clean shape. The distinction is not decorative: grey shrimp were pounded into soups, creams, and butter, while pink prawns were shown whole or folded into light preparations.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
raw shell-on pink prawns
Quantity
12 ounces (340 g)
cold water
Quantity
4 cups (960 ml / 960 g)
dry white wine
Quantity
½ cup (120 ml / 120 g)
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 18 g)
lemon
Quantity
1
half thinly sliced and half cut into wedges
parsley stems
Quantity
6
bay leaf
Quantity
1
black peppercorns
Quantity
6
cooked shell-on grey shrimps
Quantity
6 ounces (170 g)
thoroughly dried
unsalted butter
Quantity
¾ cup (180 ml / 170 g)
pliable but not greasy
fine sea salt (optional)
Quantity
Up to ⅛ teaspoon (0.6 ml / 0.8 g)
baguette
Quantity
1 (about 12 ounces / 340 g)
cut into 20 thin slices
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| raw shell-on pink prawns | 12 ounces (340 g) |
| cold water | 4 cups (960 ml / 960 g) |
| dry white wine | ½ cup (120 ml / 120 g) |
| fine sea salt | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 18 g) |
| lemonhalf thinly sliced and half cut into wedges | 1 |
| parsley stems | 6 |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| black peppercorns | 6 |
| cooked shell-on grey shrimpsthoroughly dried | 6 ounces (170 g) |
| unsalted butterpliable but not greasy | ¾ cup (180 ml / 170 g) |
| fine sea salt (optional) | Up to ⅛ teaspoon (0.6 ml / 0.8 g) |
| baguettecut into 20 thin slices | 1 (about 12 ounces / 340 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •2-quart (2-liter) saucepan
- •3 to 4-cup mini food processor or sturdy mortar
- •Fine-mesh sieve, about 6 inches (15 cm) wide
- •Flexible bowl scraper
- •Rimmed baking sheet
Instructions
- 1
Build the poaching liquor
Combine the water, wine, tablespoon of salt, sliced lemon, parsley stems, bay leaf, and peppercorns in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and let it murmur for 5 minutes, just long enough for the aromatics to perfume the liquid. This is a light cuisson, a seasoned cooking liquor, not a stock that needs hours on the stove.
- 2
Poach the pink prawns
Lower the heat until the cuisson barely trembles, then add the pink prawns. Stir once and poach for 2 to 4 minutes, depending on size, until the shells are coral and the thickest flesh is opaque and reaches 145°F (63°C). Lift them out immediately and spread them in one layer on a chilled tray. Refrigerate until cold, then peel and devein them. If they overcook and curl into firm little rings, ça se rattrape: slice them lengthwise and serve them on the buttered toasts instead of presenting them whole.
- 3
Pound the grey shrimps
Blot the grey shrimps again; surface water makes the butter weep. Put them, shells and all, into a small food processor and work them to a damp, finely broken paste, stopping twice to scrape down the bowl. Add the softened butter in several pieces and process until the mixture is uniformly coral-grey. If the butter turns shiny or begins to feel oily, stop and chill the bowl for 5 minutes. Do not melt it. You need pliable butter, not liquid fat.
- 4
Sieve the shrimp butter
Set a fine-mesh sieve over a bowl and press the shrimp butter through with a flexible scraper, working firmly until only dry shell fragments remain. Scrape every bit of smooth butter from the underside. This is the step that must stay: blending releases the flavor, but sieving removes the grit. If the butter stiffens before it passes, leave it at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes; if it grows greasy, chill it briefly. Ça se rattrape. Taste and add up to the remaining ⅛ teaspoon salt only if the shrimps need it.
- 5
Chill and toast
Pack the beurre de crevettes grises into a small crock, cover it, and chill for at least 30 minutes so the flavor settles. Meanwhile, arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet and toast at 375°F (190°C) for 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, until dry through and gold at the edges. Let them cool completely; warm bread softens the butter and loses its crisp bite.
- 6
Set the hors d’œuvre
Take the shrimp butter from the refrigerator 15 minutes before serving. It should yield cleanly to a knife without looking oily. Set the crock beside the chilled pink prawns, lemon wedges, and baguette toasts, letting each guest spread and assemble their own. For a picnic, carry the prawns and butter over ice and uncover them only when the bread is ready. Small work, deep flavor. À table!
Chef Tips
- •True crevettes grises are tiny brown shrimp from the Channel and North Sea, usually sold cooked. Their size is inconvenient and their flavor is magnificent. If they cannot be found, use the smallest cooked shell-on cold-water shrimp available; the accent changes, but the shell-driven depth remains.
- •If the pink prawns are already cooked, do not poach them again. Peel them cold and proceed directly to chilling and serving. A second cooking makes their flesh dry and woolly.
- •The prepared pink prawns are also ready for the source entry’s other routes: aspics, Mousses, or a small cold Soufflé. Those remain separate preparations in the canon, so their formulas are not folded into this butter.
- •Butter, not margarine. The fat must carry the roasted-shell perfume and soften cleanly on bread; a substitute leaves a waxy spread and mutes the shrimp.
- •Serve with a very dry Muscadet or another lean coastal white. The wine should clear the butter from the palate without trampling the sweetness of the prawns.
Advance Preparation
- •The beurre de crevettes grises can be made 2 days ahead and kept tightly covered in the refrigerator. Let it soften for about 15 minutes before serving.
- •The pink prawns can be poached, peeled, and chilled 1 day ahead. Keep them covered and cold so their surfaces do not dry.
- •For a picnic, pack the butter and prawns in separate sealed containers over ice. Keep them chilled until serving and return leftovers to the cold promptly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 190g)
Calories
600 calories
Total Fat
36 g
Saturated Fat
22 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
11 g
Cholesterol
205 mg
Sodium
900 mg
Total Carbohydrates
48 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
24 g
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