What is a Rømø Shrimp?
Rømø Shrimp is a shrimp species that lives in the Waddensea. It is also known as Hesterejer, as in the past horses were used to drag nets through the shallow water at the beach.
Rødørejer is found in the shallow waters of the Wadden Sea, which stretches from the northernmost end at Esbjerg to the southernmost end in the Netherlands. The Rømørejen lives on sandy bottoms in the Wadden Sea area, and is very common in Denmark, where it is often seen in areas with shallow water and clean sandy bottoms.
Why is it different from normal fjord shrimps?
The Rømø Shrimp is special because it retains its brown color even after it has been cooked, which gives it a completely unique appearance when served.
However, you should not be intimidated by the brown colour, because it also tastes completely unique, and has a unique texture. This is partly due to the fact that it is somewhat smaller than the well-known pink fjord shrimp.
How to catch Rømø Shrimp
To get hold of the small shrimp, you have to catch it on the sandy bottom, this requires a special form of fishing, namely bottom trawling. There are many different bottom trawls and those that are fished with from Rømø harbor are called boom trawlers, these have two nets on each side of the fishingboat.
When the boat has sailed off the coast of Rømø, it lowers its two nets, which are then towed along the seabed to pull the prawns lying on the bottom into the net. Shrimp fishing is best at night or when the water is cloudy, because it is under these circumstances that the shrimp are most active and sit on the seabed.
Once the shrimps have been lifted onto the boat, they are cooked even before the boat goes ashore. Thereby, they are immediately ready to be sent off, to countries such as e.g. Morocco, to be pillaged.
After they have been picked, they are again sent back to Denmark or another country, where they are sold.
A large part of the shrimp ends up in Germany, where shrimp is more common than in Denmark.
The taste of Rømø shrimps and which dishes it goes with.
The shrimp tastes a bit spicier than what you are used to with ordinary shrimps, this is why it tastes absolutely fantastic together with e.g. the saltherb Kveller.
In general, Rømø shrimps are served as a substitute for regular shrimps, which means you can serve them with anything.
A real Wadden Sea experience is to serve Rømø Shrimp on French bread or in a shrimp cocktail, of course with Kveller to spice it all up.
Tip:
If you like gin and tonic, you can serve a fresh gin and tonic from either Marskdestilleriet, Norlyk or VadehavsSpirits.
Taste it on Rømø
Rømø Shrimp must of course be tasted on Rømø, and it can be found in some places.
If you want to take it home to your own kitchen, it can be bought from Otto & Ani's fish shop In Havneby.
You can also order a dish with it in Otto and Ani's fish restaurant, The harbor kiosk.
You can buy Rømø Shrimp at the harbor on Rømø at the fishing shop Otto and Ani's Fisk. You can also taste it at the restaurants: Otto og Ani's fish, Holms Røgeri and at Havnekiosken.
Rømø Shrimp is fished in Denmark off the coast of Rømø, and it is fished in almost the entire Waddensea in Germany and the Netherlands.
You can get a bucket of Rømø Shrimp from a fish shop on Rømø for approx. DKK 40-50
Such a bucket is enough for 2-3 people.
Rømø Shrimps are already boiled in water when caught. Therefore, when you buy a bucket of Rømø Shrimp, you can actually already eat them raw.
However, there are plenty of recipes on how to make them tastier with e.g. marinades.
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