Charleston She Crab Soup

The creation of she crab soup is credited to early Charleston Settlers. However, legend says that a butler in the mayor's Charleston home (William Deas)in the early 1900s added crab roe to dress-up the suit for a special house guest, President William Taft. The crab roe gives the famous she crab soup it's noticable orange hue today.

Charleston Magazine and The Post and Courier recently featured a great recipe for She Crab Soup.

Ingredients:

1 medium onion

1 lb white crab meat

1 quart and 1 pint milk

1 stick of cooking butter

Worcestershire sauce to taste

Salt to taste

1/6 lb. of crab roe, chopped

1/2 cup of sherry

Paprika

Directions: Saute the onion in half of butter but do not brown. Add the crab meat and heat. Heat the milk in top of double broiler, but do not boil. Add crabmeant mixture (crab meat and roe) and the rest of butter to the hot milk. Season with Worcestershire and sprinkle with salkt. Pour a little milk in the cup, thicken with cornstarch, then remove from heat. Add sherry. Let sit for 3-4 minutes. Finish by adding paprika.

She Crab