LowCountry She-Crab Soup 
   
This is Charleston’s most famous dish. It is a regional variation on an English soup, adapted to local produce. John Martin Taylor, owner of Hoppin John’s, a cookbook store and cooking school, suggested the use of rice as the thickening agent for this soup.

Frozen crab roe is often available in fish markets. Ifyou cana’t find it, you can substitute either chopped hard-boiled egg yolks or chopped toasted almonds,- or both.

Serves 8 people.

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  
• 1 cup finely chopped yellow onion
  
• ½ cup finely chopped celery
  
• 1 cup finely chopped leeks, white part only
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 1 sprig fresh thyme or 1 pinch dried thyme
  
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  
• 2 teaspoons salt
  
• ½ cup uncooked converted long grain white rice
  
• 5 cups fish stock (see p.000), crab stock, or clam juice
  
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  
• 1 pound lump crabmeat, gently picked over to remove any shell without breaking up the big pieces of crab
  
• 6 tablespoons Amontillado sherry
  
• ½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  
• ½ cup crab roe, finely chopped
  
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, tarragon, and chervil

1. Heat the butter in a heavy-bottomed soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, and leeks and gently sauté them, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, or until they are very soft. Add the bay leaf, thyme, cayenne pepper, salt, rice, and stock or clam juice and mix well. Bring the mixture to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Increase the heat to medium-high, add the cream, and bring the mixture to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat to medium and simmer the mixture for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Remove the soup pot from the stove. When the soup has cooled enough to handle, remove the bay leaf and the sprig of thyme. Put the soup though a food mill or puree it in a food processor. If you wish to have a more elegant soup, now strain it through a fine sieve, which will catch the minuscule bits of rice left from pureeing. Return the soup to the pot.

4. Place the pot over medium heat and add the crabmeat. Bring the soup up to a boil, stirring gently to prevent scorching and being careful not to break up the lumps of crab

TO SERVE: Combine the crab roe and the herbs for the garnish. Stir in the sherry by the tablespoon to your taste and add the lemon juice. Pour the soup into warm bowls, add the prepared garnish, and serve immediately.