The South Carolina Origins Of She-Crab Soup

If you've ever visited South Carolina, you probably saw plenty of menus that featured she-crab soup, a dish that is not often seen outside of the Palmetto State. Similar to a seafood bisque, she-crab soup is particularly big in Charleston, where it is said to have originated in the early 1900s. At its most basic, she-crab soup is made of crab meat (not to be confused with imitation crab meat), heavy cream, sherry, and crab roe, but the many variations and interpretations of the soup often include things like fish stock, spices, rice, and milk.

Some food historians agree that she-crab soup may be based on a Scottish dish called partan bree, which Scottish settlers would have brought to Charleston in the early 19th century. Indeed, in Gaelic, "parten" means "crab" and "bree" means "broth" or "brew." But, it's widely accepted that she-crab soup was first made at the John Rutledge House in the 1920s by William Deas, the butler and cook for Charleston's mayor at the time, Robert Goodwyn Rhett. Rhett was hosting President Taft and asked Deas to create a special crab soup for the esteemed visit.

Roe, which, of course, only comes from female crabs and which Deas decided to incorporate, was a key ingredient in the soup. It's also safe to assume that Deas would have used the crab meat from female crabs as well, which tends to be sweeter in flavor than that from male crabs. The soup was so memorable that several of Rhett's neighbors began requesting the recipe from him. The dish's reputation spread on a mass scale once Deas began working in the restaurant industry where he continued to make the popular soup. From that time on, she-crab soup was soon copied all over the seaside city and throughout the state.

Today, she-crab soup is as popular as it ever was amongst locals and tourists in Charleston, South Carolina and the surrounding areas. People may be delighted to know that they can stay at the aforementioned birthplace of she-crab soup, the John Rutledge House Inn, which is now a chic bed and breakfast. However, the soup is not on the menu, as the location only serves breakfast and afternoon tea. But the dish isn't hard to find amongst the city's numerous seafood restaurants. 

The use of crab roe in she-crab soup is what makes the dish distinct, but female blue crabs are now highly protected by South Carolina law due to overfishing, so the roe isn't as easy to come by, causing some restaurants to either omit the roe completely or substitute the ingredient (hard boiled egg yolks is a popular choice). The best she-crab soup is arguably made with jumbo lump crabmeat, which is the sweetest and most expensive of the various types of crab. With so many eateries in Charleston offering the soup, note that some may not use the highest quality ingredients for unsuspecting tourists. Seek out recommendations from locals and consider dining reviews before you decide on a place to try the soup.

You might find she-crab soup that is very thick and filling, or thinner and velvety; some versions may come with the Andalusian sherry incorporated into the soup, or drizzled on individual bowls. There really is no set recipe for the dish in the Southern state; instead, the beauty lies in a collection of eateries wishing to keep their regional cuisine alive and something to be proud of.