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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Charleston
Creamy Charleston soup made with blue crab meat and the female’s roe, which give it an orange color and the dish its name; finished with a little sherry. The version that includes roe is attributed to William Deas, a cook for a local family, in the early 20th century.
Traditional dish from Charleston, Carolina do Sul
Also known as: she crab soup, Charleston she-crab soup
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She-crab soup — Charleston, the United States
She-crab soup is Charleston’s signature soup: a cream-based soup with butter and hand-picked blue crab meat and, what gives it the name, orange roe from the female crab — she-crab means female crab. It sits between a bisque and a chowder, mildly thickened, and often includes a splash of dry sherry added at the end or served on the side for each diner to add.
The base is old. Crab soups with milk were common in Charleston homes, and culinary historian John Martin Taylor links them to partan bree, a Scottish crab-and-cream soup brought by immigrants. The innovation of using roe is attributed to William Deas, an African-American cook and butler for the family of Robert Goodwyn Rhett, Charleston’s mayor in the early 20th century. According to the most repeated version, Deas enriched the soup for a visit by President William Howard Taft around 1909 or 1910. Deas’s son did not recall this episode, and researchers consider that part of the story a legend.
By the 1930s the recipe was already served in town houses. Deas brought the soup into restaurant kitchens, where he worked until his death in 1961, and the dish moved from private homes to menus. Today it is a common starter at seafood restaurants in Charleston and along the South Carolina coast, served hot in a cup or bowl.
Charleston , Carolina do Sul
A Charleston home soup; the version with roe is attributed to cook William Deas.
Blue crab meat, female crab roe, milk and cream, butter, onion, dry sherry, seasonings.
Hot, in a cup or bowl, as a starter; sherry can be served on the side.
All year round, served as a starter.
Your questions
Because it contains roe from the female crab — she-crab in English. The roe gives the soup its orange color and flavor.
The version with roe is attributed to William Deas, a cook for a Charleston family in the early 20th century. The story that he created it for President Taft is treated as a legend by researchers.
It commonly includes a little dry sherry, added at the end of cooking or served on the side for each diner to add.
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