Recipe: She-Crab Soup (2)

Paula, I found a couple recipes for you. Hope it helps!

She-Crab Soup

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, grated
3 celery stalks, minced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Salt and white pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground mace
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco
Lemon juice
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk
2 cups total white she-crab meat and roe
1/2 cup sherry
Garnish
Paprika
Chopped fresh parsley

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat and saut the onion and celery until soft. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables, stir, and cook 5 minutes. Add all the spices, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, and a splash of lemon juice and simmer briefly. Add the cream and milk and heat almost to scalding, stirring constantly. Add the crabmeat and roe and stir. Heat just long enough to warm through. Add the sherry and serve at once, garnished with paprika and chopped parsley.

Yield: 8 servings

Charleston She-Crab Soup

1 small onion, minced
4 tablespoons butter
1 pound crabmeat (about 12 crabs)
1 quart milk
2 cups light cream
1/4 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 cup dry sherry
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup orange crab roe
Rind of 1 lemon, grated

Saut onion gently in the butter, add crabmeat, and set aside. Heat milk and cream in the top of a double boiler, add crab meat and onion, seasonings, and sherry. Cover, and let steep over very low heat for 30 to 45 minutes.

Beat the egg yolks, pour a little of the hot liquid into them, and then stir the yolk mixture slowly into the soup. Put a spoonful of roe in each soup bowl, ladle in the soup, and sprinkle the top with grated lemon rind.

Serves 4 to 6.