South Carolina She-Crab Soup

Name: She-Crab Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning; 2 cup clam juice; ½ cup dry sherry; 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter; 2 diced shallot; 1 diced small carrot; 2 diced celery stick; 1/4 cup of diced red bell pepper; 1/2 cup of dry white wine; 1/4 cup of rice; 2 tablespoons of tomato paste; 3/4 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce; 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg; 1 pound of fresh crab meat; 1/2 cup of heavy cream; 2 1/2 cups of chicken broth; 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt; 1/4 teaspoon of white pepper

Delicious and creamy She-Crab Soup with seafood and a variety of spices!

American Cuisine

May 3, 2022

Difficulty Easy

Servings 6 people

Preparation 10 mins

Cooking 25 mins

Total 35 mins

Recipe Contents

Ingredients Directions Nutrition Equipments Tips

Ingredients

4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
2 diced shallot
1 diced small carrot
2 diced celery stick
1/4 cup of diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup of dry white wine
1/4 cup of rice
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
3/4 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 pound of fresh crab meat
1/2 cup of heavy cream
2 1/2 cups of chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1/4 teaspoon of white pepper
2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
2 cup clam juice
½ cup dry sherry

Directions

Chop the vegetables finely and to the same size.
In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet, melt the unsalted butter over medium-low heat. Once the butter has melted, add the shallot, celery, carrot, and bell pepper. Saute these ingredients for about five minutes, at which point they should be fragrant and translucent.
Whisk the clam juice and chicken stock into the mirepoix. When the liquid and the fried solids are mixed in the pan, add the rice, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, old bay seasoning, and nutmeg to the pan. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Heat the contents of the pan until they reach a bare simmer, and cook until the vegetables are pleasantly tender, with the rice being perfectly soft, too. This rice-cooking process should take around ten to fifteen minutes. Remove the pan from the heat when things are cooked through.
Quickly add the white wine to the pan and be sure to scrape off the crispy, brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Deglazing is the process of removing brown bits of mirepoix from the bottom of the pan, as well as using the acidity of the wine to dissolve tiny bits of caramelized goodness from the bottom of the pan.
Whisk oyster broth and chicken stock into mirepoix. When the liquid and fried solids are mixed in the pan, add the rice, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, bay seasoning, and nutmeg to the pan. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Heat the ingredients to the boiling point and cook for about 10-15 minutes, until the vegetables and rice are completely soft. When all the ingredients are cooked, take the pan off the stove.
Smooth the soup with a blender or hand blender. When the soup is smooth and evenly pureed, it should be fairly thick. Bring it to a boil again on the stove over medium-low heat.
Add crab meat to the hot soup, and then add half a cup of cream. Cook the mixture for about 2-3 minutes until the cream and crab are warm, but do not let the mixture boil. If desired, add half a cup of sherry during the last 2-3 minutes of cooking, as this will add additional flavor to the pot.
If you prefer your soup to be a little thinner than it is, thin it with a little extra broth. Make sure the broth you use here is the same as the one you used earlier in the recipe, or you could end up with an unpleasant flavor mix.
Put the soup in serving bowls.
Garnish with fresh parsley, chives or lemon wedges. Serve it hot.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 She-Crab Soup

Serves 6

Amount Per Serving

Calories345

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 13.7 g17.6%

Cholesterol 75 mg25%

Sodium 1414 mg61.5%

Protein 13.6 g27.2%

Potassium 298 mg6.3%

*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Tips

Use fresh or canned crabmeat.
You can also prepare this recipe with dairy-free products. For this, use sugar-free and dairy-free cream.
You can add clam juice, fish stock, or crab eggs to intensify the seafood flavor.
Customize the recipe with different vegetables and spices. Use lemon juice or white wine to add acidity to the recipe.
You can add bay leaf to the recipe.
Add some Tabasco to the soup. A great Southern US seasoning combination is Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, and nutmeg. This adds aroma and a tangy flavor to the dish.

Rate This Recipe

She-Crab soup is a soup prepared by combining blue crab meat with cream and seafood stock. This seafood soup packs a bowl of flavor with its rich and creamy texture.

Try this South Carolina She-Crab Crab Soup recipe, packed with delicious crab meat flavor. Turn this soup into the perfect recipe with dry sherry.

Equipment for this recipe

Measuring Cup

Mixing Bowls

Cutting Board

Chef Knife

Wooden Spoon

Hand Blender

What Is She-Crab Soup?

She-crab soup is precisely what it sounds like—soup made from female crabs! This might seem like an odd distinction to make, but traditionally, she-crab soup was made with the eggs of crabs added along with the female crabs themselves. This created a slightly different final flavor than you would get in, for want of a better term, he-crab soup.

It can be tremendously tricky to find exclusively female crabs or crab roe if you live away from a spot where crabs are regularly fished. For that reason, no one would hold it against you if you weren’t able to get the specific type of crab.

What Type of Crab Is Used For She-Crab Soup?

The type of crab she-crab soup is typically a female crab, and sometimes crab eggs are used, too. This most certainly isn’t a hard and fast rule, thanks to the fact that it can be tricky to get exclusively female crabs. Instead, it’s a good rule of thumb.

To distinguish female crabs, look at the color and the underbelly. The claws of female blue crabs are red. Its apron is wide, rounded or triangular.

What To Serve with She-Crab Soup?

Here are our delicious recipes that you can serve with She-Crab Soup:

How To Store She-Crab Soup?

Use a plastic container to store female crab soup and remove as much air as possible. This will help you avoid freezer burn if you decide to freeze it.

Allow the soup to cool completely before closing the airtight container. Then put the soup in the refrigerator for up to two days. It is useful to be careful as it contains dairy products and shellfish.

Alternatively, you can freeze female crab soup for four to six months. In either case, allow the soup to come to room temperature and then heat it until it has completely evaporated.

Recipe byPetite Gourmets