Maybe this is a Maryland thing, or at least the mid-Atlantic region, but everywhere you go they serve cream of crab soup. Some of the soups have sherry or white wine in them, and some have a lot of salt — either of those ruin it for me. The seafood recipes in the Chesapeake Bay area feature Old Bay seasoning. This Baltimore seasoning is particularly required on steamed shrimp, crawfish boils, and blue crab.
The spice was named after a steamship route around 1940 and it’s still made in Maryland. Their website says it contains 18 herbs and spices but the ingredients lists celery salt (salt, celery seed), spices (including mustard, red pepper, black pepper, bay leaves, cloves, allspice, ginger, mace, cardamom, cinnamon), and paprika.
It’s a year-round spice because you get spicy steamed shrimp on the beach in the summer and comforting cream of crab soup in the winter. You can start with half the Old Bay in this recipe if you’re not used to it. After the crab is heated through you can serve the soup, but simmering it longer allows the flavors to blend and gets the fishiness out of the crab.
Cream of Crab Soup
4 T butter
3/4 C minced onion
1/2 C flour
1 T chopped fresh parsley
1/2 T Old Bay Seasoning
Ground black pepper
2 C milk
1 C chicken broth
1 C half and half or heavy cream
1 lb. lump crab meat
Melt butter in a pot on medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir 5 minutes. Add flour, parsley, Old Bay, and pepper. Stir until well blended. Gradually whisk in milk, broth, and cream. Bring just to a boil then lower to simmer. Stir in crab meat, heat through and simmer 20 minutes.
