South Carolina She-Crab Soup

  4.9 – 12 reviews  • Soup
Total: 1 hr 35 min
Prep: 40 min
Cook: 55 min
Yield: 4 servings
Total: 1 hr 35 min
Prep: 40 min
Cook: 55 min
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  1. 2 tablespoons butter
  2. 1 onion, finely diced
  3. 1 bay leaf
  4. 2 tablespoons flour
  5. 2 cups White Crab Stock, recipe follows
  6. 2 cups milk
  7. 1 cup cream
  8. 2 teaspoons paprika
  9. 1 pound cooked Atlantic Blue crab meat, divided
  10. 1/2 cup crab roe, divided
  11. Salt and pepper, to taste
  12. 1/4 cup sherry
  13. 2 tablespoons chopped chives
  14. French bread
  15. 2 quarts cold water
  16. 1 onion, peeled and halved
  17. 1 garlic bulb, halved
  18. 1 turnip, split
  19. 2 celery stalks, split
  20. Bouquet garni (4 sprigs fresh parsley, 4 sprigs fresh thyme, 2 bay leaves and 1 leek — tied together with string)
  21. 1/2 lemon, juice
  22. 1 teaspoon crab boil seasoning
  23. 1/2 teaspoon whole white peppercorns
  24. 1/2 cup white wine
  25. Sea salt, to taste
  26. 6 live Atlantic Blue crabs

Instructions

  1. Melt butter in a stockpot over medium heat. Add the onion and bay leaf, sweat down for 2 minutes until translucent. Sprinkle in the flour and stir until it dissolves. Whisk in the stock, stirring constantly until smooth and free of lumps. Gradually pour in the milk, cream, and paprika; continue to stir until incorporated. Add half the crab meat and roe. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 15 minutes until thick and heated through.
  2. To serve, divide a tablespoon of sherry among 4 bowls. Ladle the soup into the bowls, spooning the remaining crab meat and roe in the center of each. Garnish with chopped chives. Serve with crusty French bread.
  3. Pour water in a large stockpot and place over low-medium flame. Add the vegetables and bouquet garni; cook for 5 minutes until the vegetables begin to become tender. Add the lemon juice, crab boil seasoning, peppercorns, wine and salt. Simmer gently for 15 minutes, stirring to mingle flavors. Carefully put the crabs in the pot and continue to cook for another 15 minutes. The crab shells will be bright orange when done. Remove and shell the crabs. Strain the stock to discard the vegetable solids, reserving the crab meat and stock. 

Reviews

Martin Ward
Really good. I didn’t have a turnip or leek so left that out. Still very, very tasty. Also, didn’t include the roe, as it cost $35 to order and would have been $53 to ship. 
Christina Davis
I love this recipe!  Whenever we have crab legs the day before I save the shells and make the stock with them – I do prefer to add some seafood base to give it more depth.  I didn’t have a turnip but that’s fine! I then added a jar of blue crab meat – soooo good!!!!!
Harry Edwards
For the stock and didn’t have a turnip or a leek and I used 8 fresh shrimp with shells instead of the crab. I used more celery then called for and added 2 carrots also. The stock turned out very good….I thought. 
For the soup- I only used 1 tsp paprika instead of 2. 
I loved this recipe, even though I tweaked it to my taste. This was my first try at She Crab soup and it was delicious. Everyone loved it. I will definitely make it again in the future. 
Erica Parks
Curlymo68 – what brand of seafood stock did you use?
Crystal Taylor
I was a bit hesitant to try this soup because I wasn’t prepared to make my own crab stock so I replaced it with packaged seafood stock instead…I went ahead and used the bouquet garni to season the soup. Also, I put the sherry in the pot instead of into individual bowls. This result was delicious!! And VERY easy to do with store-bought stock!
Jose Barnett
we first tried she crab soup on vacation in fla,,found this one on line;and,it is absolutly wonderful,very close to the fancy resturant in fla. virginia garmany,dalton, ga
Ronald Torres
What a delicious recipe! Although it takes a little while to make, it is well worth it. You will think you are eating in a five star restaurant.
James Lopez
First time ever making it home made. This was even better than when going out to eat. It is a must try for everyone.
John Torres
The wonderful stock made this soup! It was as good as any fine restaurant. Wanting it to be as rich as possible, I omitted the milk and used 2 Cups of heavy cream and an extra 1/2 C stock.

Thanks Tyler!

 

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