Ostfriesische Krabbensuppe

Ostfriesische Krabbensuppe belongs to the North Sea coast, where Krabben means brown shrimp, not crab. This is weeknight food if you've got good shrimp and Sunday food if you peel them yourself at the table first. In East Frisia the soup is pale, clean, a little creamy, with potato and leek to give it body; further along the coast you'll find clearer broths, more carrot, sometimes dill, and plenty of argument over whether cream belongs. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. The south is not invited to settle this one.

The shells decide the soup. Buy cooked, unpeeled North Sea brown shrimp if you can, peel them, keep the meat cold, and cook the shells briefly with leek, onion, bay, and water. Don't boil them hard and don't forget them on the stove. A shrimp shell gives sweetness quickly, then it gives bitterness and a muddy edge. Twenty minutes is enough. Das braucht seine Zeit, but not all afternoon.

Weggeworfen wird nichts. The part most people throw away is the part that makes the broth taste of the coast. The shrimp meat goes in at the end, off the boil, because it is already cooked and needs warming, not punishment. Let it boil and you've made rubber in cream. Nicht aus dem Glas. The jar has no shells in it.