Halligbrot - North Sea Shrimp Bread with Fried Egg

Not crabs but shrimp: the brown shrimp Crangon crangon, traditionally called 'Krabbe' on the German coast. It is caught by cutters, cooked on board in seawater and traditionally peeled by hand. According to Wikipedia, dishes made with other shrimp species expressly do not count as Halligbrot.

The term alludes to the world of the Halligen, the small undyked marsh islands off the North Frisian coast that shape the region. Traditionally Hallig butter is used. Restaurants in North Frisia explicitly advertise 'Halligbrot' as a speciality.

At an inn by the twin windmills of Greetsiel in East Frisia, so not in North Frisia itself. There the same dish is simply called Krabbenbrot mit Spiegelei - a name the Wikipedia article on Halligbrot explicitly lists as common. Greetsiel is one of the classic shrimp-cutter harbours of the North Sea coast.

The classic is the fried egg, whose runny yolk flows over the shrimp when cut. The Wikipedia article, however, explicitly mentions a variation with scrambled egg. Both are common on the coast.

The type of shrimp. Only the version with North Sea shrimp counts as Halligbrot; Swedish Räksmörgås with cold-water prawns and Asian prawn crackers carry similar names but do not qualify. Then there is the fixed line-up: dark bread, butter, shrimp, fried egg. Without the egg, the coast tends to speak of Krabbenbrot or a shrimp roll instead.

Depending on the place and the speaker: Garnelen, Porren, Granat or simply Krabben. Husum lists all four names side by side and holds its Krabbentage festival in October. Zoologically the North Sea shrimp is not a crab but a shrimp; the coastal name has stuck regardless. Anyone who peels their own soon sees why pre-peeled shrimp cost markedly more.