cream of crab soup

[bavila]

I had so much fun provoking y'all with my crabcake question a while back, I thought I'd stir the (crab) pot again. I've had several cream of crab soups over my seven years in Maryland, most of which have been at least respectable. (My favorite to date, and this was about six years ago, was at the Annapolis Yacht Club.)

Last weekend, I had a bowl with diced potato. I thought it was a completely ridiculous addition to the soup, but on searching the Net, I found a couple of recipes for cream of crab with potato. Is this something that's found in some localities rather than others? Is it just a lame way to stretch an expensive dish?

[DTBarton]

I think the right way is to use crab broth as the base, not thicken it too much (the spoon shouldn't stand up!), lots of lumps and a shot of good sherry and fresh ground pepper.

Many restaurants have good cream of crab soup early in the evening and they don't thin it back down as it sits on the stove and it ends up way too thick and starchy by 8PM.

Oh, and hold the potatoes for the clam chowder!

Edited July 21, 2007 by DTBarton (log)

[MarkIsCooking]

I grew up in MD and, by the way, love all things crab.

I totally agree with "holding the potato" and leaving it out.

I think the best cream of crab is prepared getting the liquid right and then adding the crab just at the end, which allows the crab to hold its shape and freshness. I happen to think a cool way to serve it is to have a mound of crab in each soup plate and pour the soup itself into the bowl at the table.

-Mark-

[DTBarton]

So, here's the culprit with the potatoes in the cream of crab soup!

Happy Harbor is quite the interesting spot.

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/r...07/08_03-03/ENT