Cream of Crab Soup

If you’ve ever sat at a waterfront restaurant on the Chesapeake Bay and ordered the cream of crab, this is what showed up in the bowl.

A full pound of crabmeat simmered in a butter-and-flour thickened broth with milk, celery salt, and a whisper of pepper.

No fancy techniques, no long ingredient list, just good crab and a simple cream base that lets the sweet shellfish flavor shine.

It works as a first course for a dinner party or a full bowl with crusty bread on a cold evening.

Kitchen Tips

• Use the best crabmeat you can find. Lump or backfin crab makes the biggest difference here since there aren’t many ingredients to hide behind.
• Pick through the crabmeat carefully for shell fragments before adding it to the soup. Nothing ruins a spoonful like biting down on a piece of shell.
• Stir constantly while adding the milk to the roux to prevent lumps. A whisk works better than a spoon for this step.