Chef Klaus
Berlin Currywurst
The Berlin Imbiss counter on a plate: fried sausage cut thick, a tomato curry sauce cooked until glossy, and enough fries or bread to chase every bit.
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Nordseekrabben-Stulle
Created by
A North Sea open sandwich that asks for restraint: dense rye, cold butter, sweet brown shrimp, and horseradish cream added at the end so the bread stays firm.
Sandwiches & Wraps
German
Quick Meal
Weeknight
Picnic
20 min
Active Time
0 min cook•20 min total
Yield4 open sandwiches
Nordseekrabben-Stulle belongs to the North Sea coast: East Frisia, Dithmarschen, Büsum, Husum, Hamburg when the market is good. It is a quick meal, a picnic meal, and a Sunday-evening plate when nobody wants a roast but everyone still wants proper bread. The best season is late summer into autumn, when the brown shrimp are sweet and the catches are strong, but the coast eats them whenever the cutter and the cold chain have done their work.
The argument is not complicated. In Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony many cooks keep it to butter, rye, Krabben, and pepper; Hamburg will hand you the same shrimp in a white roll as a Krabbenbrötchen; inland counters start burying them under mayonnaise and salad leaves. I won't. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. This is the northern table: fish, rye, butter, and one sharp thing to wake it up.
The larder logic is right there on the board. The shrimp are cooked soon after the catch because tiny shrimp spoil fast, and the Schwarzbrot, dark rye bread, is sour, dense, and built to keep. Butter is not decoration. It is the seal between wet shrimp and bread, and without it the Stulle goes soft before you sit down.
The technique is dryness. These shrimp are small and already cooked, so the only way to ruin them is to warm them, drown them, or let them sit wet on bread. Pat them dry, butter the rye to the edges, and season at the end. The butter seals, the rye gives sour backbone, and the horseradish cuts through without burying the shrimp. Erst verstehen, dann kochen.
Nordseekrabben are the brown shrimp Crangon crangon, landed along the German North Sea coast from East Frisia through Büsum and Husum; they are boiled aboard the cutters soon after catching because the tiny shrimp spoil fast. Büsum became one of the best-known shrimp ports after its rail connection opened in 1883, letting cooked coastal seafood move quickly toward inland markets. The name still catches people out: on the coast Krabben means these small shrimp, not true crabs, and in East Frisia they are also called Granat.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Schwarzbrot or dense sour rye bread
Quantity
4 thick slices
about 1cm thick
salted butter
Quantity
40g
softened
Nordseekrabben (North Sea brown shrimp)
Quantity
300g
peeled, cooked, chilled, and well drained
Schmand or crème fraîche
Quantity
100g
fresh horseradish root
Quantity
1 tablespoon
finely grated just before mixing
lemon
Quantity
1/2
zested, plus 1 teaspoon juice
chives
Quantity
1 tablespoon
snipped
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
white pepper
Quantity
to taste
lemon wedges
Quantity
4 thin wedges
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Schwarzbrot or dense sour rye breadabout 1cm thick | 4 thick slices |
| salted buttersoftened | 40g |
| Nordseekrabben (North Sea brown shrimp)peeled, cooked, chilled, and well drained | 300g |
| Schmand or crème fraîche | 100g |
| fresh horseradish rootfinely grated just before mixing | 1 tablespoon |
| lemonzested, plus 1 teaspoon juice | 1/2 |
| chivessnipped | 1 tablespoon |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| white pepper | to taste |
| lemon wedgesto serve | 4 thin wedges |
Equipment Needed
- •Fine grater for fresh horseradish
- •Small sieve
- •Bread knife and board
- •Paper towels
Instructions
- 1
Make the cream
Stir the Schmand with the grated horseradish, lemon zest, one teaspoon lemon juice, a pinch of salt, and white pepper until it is thick enough to sit on a spoon. Keep it sharp, not loose. The cream is there to cut the sweet shrimp and carry the fat; too much lemon turns it runny and pulls water from the shrimp.
Grate the horseradish just before mixing. Its bite fades once it meets air, and bottled sweet horseradish cream is a different thing. Nicht aus dem Glas. - 2
Dry the shrimp
Tip the Nordseekrabben into a sieve, pick out any shell bits, then spread them on paper towels and pat them dry. They are already cooked, so don't cook them again. Taste first: if they are sharply salty, give them a brief rinse in cold water and dry them hard. Water steals their sweetness, and wet shrimp make wet bread.
Frozen cooked Nordseekrabben need a slow refrigerator thaw. Warm water gives you soft shrimp and poor keeping, and this dish has nowhere to hide that. - 3
Butter the rye
Spread the softened butter right to every edge of the rye. The butter is the barrier between the sour bread and the cold shrimp; leave gaps and the brine sinks into the crumb before you get to the table. This is a Stulle, an open slice, not a soft sandwich loaf.
- 4
Build and serve
Spread a thin layer of horseradish cream over the butter, pile the shrimp high and loose, then finish with chives, white pepper, and a last squeeze of lemon. Taste before salting; the shrimp may already have enough from the sea. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss: the bright things go on last, because acid and salt wake the shrimp up but also make them weep. Serve at once, or pack the parts separately for a picnic and build it there.
Chef Tips
- •Buy Nordseekrabben, also sold as brown shrimp or Granat, not large prawns. The small size matters because their sweetness spreads through every bite instead of sitting there like a separate topping.
- •Use dense sour rye. A white roll makes a Krabbenbrötchen, a good thing in its own right, but this recipe is a Stulle, and the dark bread is doing real work.
- •Keep the shrimp cold. Cooked seafood belongs under refrigeration and on the table briefly; if it has sat warm, it is no longer sandwich food.
- •If you buy shell-on shrimp, save the shells. Simmer them 15 minutes with a little onion, bay, and water for a light seafood broth, then strain. Weggeworfen wird nichts.
Advance Preparation
- •Mix the horseradish cream up to 2 hours ahead and keep it chilled; grate in a little fresh horseradish before serving if the bite has faded.
- •Drain and dry the shrimp up to 1 hour ahead, then keep them covered and cold.
- •For a picnic, butter the bread at home and pack the shrimp and cream separately in a chilled box. Assemble when you eat, because a built Stulle softens fast.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 180g)
Calories
335 calories
Total Fat
16 g
Saturated Fat
9 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
7 g
Cholesterol
155 mg
Sodium
1000 mg
Total Carbohydrates
28 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
19 g
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