Charleston She-Crab Soup

A silky cream soup thickened with a light roux and finished with a pour of dry sherry at the table. The name comes from the roe of the female crab, which tints the soup and gives it a mineral richness you can't fake.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion
• 1 rib celery, finely diced
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 cup seafood or fish stock
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 lb fresh lump crabmeat, picked over for shell
• 1/4 cup crab roe (or 2 hard-boiled egg yolks, pressed through a sieve, as a substitute)
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon ground mace or nutmeg
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 6 teaspoons dry sherry, plus more to serve
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook until soft but not browned, about 6 minutes.
2. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, to make a pale roux.
3. Whisk in the milk and stock a little at a time so no lumps form. Add the bay leaf, mace, salt, and cayenne.
4. Simmer gently, stirring often, for about 15 minutes until the soup coats the back of a spoon. Keep the heat low so the milk doesn't scorch.
5. Stir in the cream and the crab roe (or sieved egg yolk) and warm through for 5 minutes.
6. Add the crabmeat and Worcestershire and heat just until the crab is hot, about 3 minutes. Fold gently so you keep some lumps intact.
7. Remove the bay leaf. Taste and adjust the salt.
8. Pour 1 teaspoon of sherry into the bottom of each warmed bowl, ladle the soup over it, and scatter chives on top. Pass more sherry at the table.

Tips

• Real crab roe is hard to buy since harvesting female crabs is restricted in many waters. Sieved hard-boiled egg yolk is the classic stand-in and gives the same color and body.
• Add the sherry at the table rather than in the pot. Cooking it off dulls the aroma that makes the soup smell like a Broad Street dining room.