She-Crab Soup is a rich and creamy soup that is deliciously aromatic. It has just a touch of sweetness and of course, it's chock-full of delicious crab meat.
Prepare your ingredients first: dice shallots, smash and mince garlic, measure all other ingredients.
Spread out the crab meat and sift through it with your hand to make sure there are no accidental shells left behind.
Cooking the soup:
Preheat a Dutch oven over medium heat and add butter. Once butter is melted, add shallots and sauté until softened and starts to brown.
Add garlic and sauté until fragrant. Pour in cognac and let it simmer for just about a minute.
Sprinkle flour over vegetables and stir to coat it in flour. Keep stirring and slowly pour in the stock slowly and then milk. (You can use a whisk if you need to break up any clumps that may form.)
Add in Worcestershire sauce, seasonings, and half of the crab meat. Stir everything well, and lower the heat to medium low. Let the soup cook for about 15-20 minutes. Make sure to taste to see of there is enough salt and pepper.
Stir in heavy whipping cream and remaining crab meat. Cook the soup for just a couple more minutes and take off heat. Discard the bay leaf.
Before serving, pour about a tablespoon of sherry into each bowl and then ladle out the soup. Top it off with some chives and serve it with bread of crackers.
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Notes
Gluten Free: To make crab soup gluten free, simply use gluten free all purpose flour to thicken the soup. All remaining ingredients should already be gluten free but double check nutritional information to make sure.
Lactose free: use lactose free whole milk and an unsweetened almond or oat milk creamer. Make sure to use unsweetened creamer! Also, note that oat milk creamer will naturally be slightly sweet, but that won’t affect the soup in a bad way.
Dairy free: if you have to make the soup completely dairy free, use milk substitute and an unsweetened milk substitute creamer. My best suggestion is to use oat milk (make sure it’s unsweetened and not flavored) and almond milk unsweetened creamer. They balance out the sweetness. There are also a couple of brands that make lactose free and/or plant based heavy whipping cream. Check your grocery stores for availability