Langoustine ◆

Langoustine

What it is

The most impatient of shellfish: it dies fast out of water and sulks fast on ice, which is why for centuries only port towns ever tasted it at its best. The English called them Dublin Bay prawns after the boats that landed them; chefs simply call them the finest sweetness the Atlantic makes.

In the kitchen

Seconds, not minutes: flash them in foaming butter or poach them barely, and serve while they still remember the sea. The heads make a ten-minute sauce that outclasses most week-long ones.

Goes with

Butter Lemon Garlic Finger lime Chervil

Also used with

Pineau des Charentes Sea arrowgrass Silver Needle white tea Vialone Nano rice

In season alongside

Brill Arctic char Crayfish Dentex Dungeness crab Hake

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