SHE-CRAB Soup

If I missed an entry(ies) on SHE CRAB SOUP, please forgive me. BECAUSE, here comes a copy (I guess without the photos ... haven't figured out how to do that yet) that I send back to my friends in Texas and Arkansas:

Chuck’s Choice Semi-Homemade Carolina She Crab Soup
Courtesy of "ctrueder"

Okay, OKAY! . . . I have a hankering for She Crab soup, and I have neither the time, nor the ingredients, to make it from “scratch”. And likely, YOU do not have the ingredients as well (like where you gonna get the crab roe?).

SOOooo, here’s my solution for preparing a quick and easy, delicious bowl of the classic “She Crab Soup”:

Ingredients (for two diners):

1 (15-ounce) can of Gordon’s Chesapeake Classics® Condensed Carolina SHE CRAB soup
1 pint-carton of Half & Half
Bottle of medium-dry Sherry (I like Fairbanks® California Sherry) … we will use about 2 ounces of the sherry for the soup
2 freshly-cut wedges of “Meyer” lemon (each wedge about 1/8 of a fruit) ... use “regular, “Sunkist” lemon in a pinch

Equipment:

2 china soup bowls (pre-heated in a 170° F. oven)
2 “shot” glasses, or similar small, glass servers
2 appropriate-style soup spoons (no sterling or “silver-plate”, please… use stainless or ceramic)

In a non-reactive saucepan heat the Gordon’s soup until barely simmering . . . BARELY simmering.

Add the pint of Half & Half to the soup and return the mixture to a bare simmer, stirring gently but constantly. DO NOT BOIL!

Pour 1 ounce of the Sherry into each “shot” glass.

Ladle soup into pre-heated soup bowls.

Serve immediately with a “shot” glass of sherry and a wedge of lemon for each diner.

Diners should be encouraged to splash the Sherry on their soup … to taste! A light “squeeze” of the Meyer lemon is optional, but recommended!

Chuck’s Notes:

This soup makes a wonderful accompaniment to Chesapeake Crab Cakes, to Crab Imperial, or to other delicate shellfish dishes.

Be sure to accompany with a “Spring Greens” salad (NO lettuces, please) lightly sprinkled with grated, aged-Asiago cheese.

Bon Apétit!

The soup sounds great. when will you be comng to my house to brew it up for us?

Cheers, John

I'm sorry but the mention of "cans" kinda threw me off. We here in North Carolina...there is no Carolina...use real carb.

Thanks V960. I wonder if we're neighbors? The wife and I have a little "cabin" near Lake Lure which we really love!

In fact, I go there nearly every chance I have . . . OR whenever she kicks me out of the place here in Maryland .

I agree that there is no such place as "Carolina" . . . but apparently the Gordon's folks don't know it!

The EXACT wording on their soup is "Gordon’s Chesapeake Classics® Condensed Carolina SHE CRAB soup".

BELIEVE ME, I use real crab when I have it (and here on the Chesapeake . . . we usually have PLENTY). However, the ROE is getting to be a REAL problem!

However, some of my buddies down in Texas and Arkansas have real difficulty getting good fresh crab . . . hence, my recipe (for the deprived ).

Cheers!

ctrueder,
My wife of 24 years HATES the mountains so our get away is at the SC coast. We love to go crabbing when we get away but have found that Oriental markets usually have live crabs at very reasonable prices (in addition to live frogs, ells and snails).

Lake Lure is a beautiful place but let's not let that out. I heard that after the movie Dirty Dancing came out (filmed there) property values went up and The Lake Lure Inn was sold out for the whole summer.

I always have to snicker when I see this area refered to as Carolina. NC and SC were both in the original thirteen colonies...that was a while ago. When I get a letter w/ an address referring to Northern Carolina (not North Carolina) I bet dollars to donuts the sender is from California.

Real She Crab soup, Chesapeake inspired, is cream based.

Hello All,
My daughter, a student at Wm & Mary College, discovered she-crab soup at Capt. George's Seafood Restaurant in
Williamsburg, Va.. Now if she sees it on a menu, she must have it.
Last weekend I took her back to school last weekend and we went over to Yorktown, ate at the Waterstreet
Landing Restaurant, where she ordered she-crab soup, and of course, loved it.
Baconman, the soup at the Waterstreet Landing was cream based, but had a light pinkish tint due to seasoning.
It is not my cup of soup, but I enjoy seeing her loving it.
Take Care,
Fieldthistle

Best she crab soup I ever had was at Charlie's Seafood in Virginia Beach VA.
I buy online in bulk and it is awesome.

I love the she crap soup at The Wreck in the low country of SC. There's a review somewhere on the site.

I agree with Anna1887. Charlie's is wonderful. It has all the flavor without being so rich you can't finish the bowl, like some.
Anna, where do you go to order online? Do they ship it in dry ice?

http://www.charliesseafood.com/prod01.htm

quote:

Originally posted by V960

I'm sorry but the mention of "cans" kinda threw me off. We here in North Carolina...there is no Carolina...

Where do the Carolina Panthers play?

What college speaks of the color "Carolina Blue"?

quote:

Originally posted by baconman

Real She Crab soup, Chesapeake inspired, is cream based.

Right, that's Cream of Crab soup. Most of the evidence points to real She-Crab soup as having origins in the low country areas of Georgia and South Carolina.

quote:

Originally posted by saps

quote:

Originally posted by V960

I'm sorry but the mention of "cans" kinda threw me off. We here in North Carolina...there is no Carolina...

Where do the Carolina Panthers play?

What college speaks of the color "Carolina Blue"?

#1 North Carolina

#2The other Carolina is red.

Great she-crab soups:

Gullah Cuisins in Mt. Pleasant, SC
SeeWee Restaurant in Awendaw, SC

quote:

Originally posted by mbrookes

I agree with Anna1887. Charlie's is wonderful. It has all the flavor without being so rich you can't finish the bowl, like some.
Anna, where do you go to order online? Do they ship it in dry ice?

Here you go mbrookes:
http://www.charliesseafood.com/prod01.htm


I recommend ordering in quantity because of shipping, but it packed real well.
I also have a sister who lives in VA Beach and she always brings several quarts with her when visiting