Southport Potted Shrimps with Wild Samphire - Lancashire pub pots

Name: Southport Potted Shrimps with Wild Samphire - Lancashire pub pots
Total time: 900 s
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 200 g cooked peeled brown shrimps (crangon crangon); 200 g butter; Juice of ¼ lemon; 1/4 tsp ground mace; 1/4 tsp white pepper; good pinch sea salt; To serve:; few sprigs of samphire; buttered bread or toast

Laura @FeelBetter

Milton Keynes, England

People from Southport, a town located in the north west of England facing the Irish Sea, are known as Sandgrounders showing how important the beach is to this town. Southport Beach is known for its shy tide where the water’s edge is typically further out and and the town is jokingly referred to as Southport-no (rather than on)-Sea.

My fondest treat is a small pot of delicious brown Southport shrimps suspended in a sea of butter. These little sweet tasting, pinky-brown delights live in shallow, sheltered waters of sandy shores and are caught using ‘nobbies’ (shrimping carts), an amphibious vehicle half boat, half tractor that scanks (trawls) the ebb tide using long nets with floats attached. The shrimps are cleaned and boiled in seawater on board then taken back to land to be shelled and flavoured with a little spice and potted.

In Tudor times the shrimps were preserved in earthenware pots but with the development of the railway networks, demand grew and the industry expanded in the 19th century. Sadly, this once thriving industry has dwindled and only a handful of shrimpers remain.

When I return home to Southport, I love to buy a pot of shrimps from Peets Plaice (Kevin Peet is one of the few remaining shrimpers) and wander down to the beach where samphire grows wild and pick some to top the shrimps. I roll out my picnic blanket and get out my baggin, bread and butter, crisp white wine if summer or a flask of hot tea any other time and enjoy with the sea air. #December2026

Laura @FeelBetter

Milton Keynes, England

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Ingredients

15 minutes plus chilling time

4 servings

200 gcooked peeled brown shrimps (crangon crangon)
200 gbutter
Juice of ¼ lemon
1/4 tspground mace
1/4 tspwhite pepper
good pinch sea salt
To serve:
few sprigs of samphire
buttered bread or toast

Saved

Steps

15 minutes plus chilling time

1

If the shrimps haven’t been cooked, boil for 15 minutes in salted water then plunge into cold water and peel.
2

Heat the butter in a small saucepan on low heat until it has melted. The milk proteins will rise to the top and separate from the butter. Pass through a fine sieve so just the clarified butter remains. Discard the milk solids.
3

In a small saucepan add 125g of the clarified butter, lemon juice, mace and pepper and simmer very gently for 5 minutes then take off the heat and allow to cool. Add the shrimps and stir to coat. Divide the shrimps between 4 ramekins and place in the fridge to set.
4

Once solid pour over the remaining clarified butter and return to the fridge to set. Top with samphire and serve with thinly sliced bread and butter or toast.