Crab and Corn Soup

Mariel here. I’ve noticed a trend recently on our site: my mom and I seem to be having a small love affair with soup. Never one to forgo a fad, I decided to add to our online arsenal and post my mother’s super delicious crab soup, even though it’s not the most traditional winter dish.

This soup is outrageously good – the consistency is somewhere between a broth and a bisque (not a thick, thick chowder, like many seafood brews), and the flavor is absolutely out-of-this-world. She originally gave me this recipe as part of a larger compilation last Christmas, but warned me that it wasn’t quite ready yet. She was wrong. It’s perfect.

I made a few small adjustments to the ingredient list, swapping out regular bacon in favor of turkey bacon and eschewing pricey lump crab meat for plain white canned crab. But it was still a winner and I managed to eat this for a full week straight without tiring of it. I also froze a quart of it for future enjoyment…

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Crab and Corn Soup
12 bowl-sized servings

Ingredients:
4 cups Yukon Gold or Idaho potatoes, unpeeled and diced – $2.77
1/2 lb smoked bacon or turkey bacon, coarsely diced – $3.19
1 large sweet onion, diced – $0.89
2 cloves garlic, minced – stock
2 cups celery, diced – $2.00
2 cups carrots, peeled and diced – $0.79
4 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen – $1.69
2-lbs lump crab meat – I used 6 6-oz cans of wet-packed Madam Canned White Crab Meat (lump crab meat is around $18.99/lb) – $16.50
1.5 cups clam juice – $1.99
2.5 cups of crab juice (strained from the canned crab meat) – above
4 cups chicken broth – stock
1/2 cup all-purpose flour – stock
2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning – stock
8 Tablespoons sweet butter – stock
2 Tablespoons honey – stock
2 cups light cream – $1.09
1 cup skim milk – stock
Salt & ground pepper to taste – stock
Grand total assuming “well-stocked” kitchen: $30.91
Cost per serving: $2.58

Directions:
1. Bring a pot of salted water to boil and cook diced potatoes until tender-firm, about 7 or 8 minutes. Be careful not to overcook as they will turn to mush in latter stages of the recipe.

2. Drain and rinse potatoes under cold, running water to stop the cooking process.

3. Meanwhile, in your largest stock/soup pot, fry the diced bacon until crisp. Remove from pot with a slotted spoon, keep the drippings in the bottom of the pot. Set bacon aside.

4. In the same pot, saute the onion, carrots, celery and garlic in the bacon drippings over high heat, stirring constantly. The goal is to caramelize the veggies, which is done aggressively in this recipe. It takes only about 12 minutes to get them deeply golden. As they begin to brown, toss in the cooked potatoes and stir another minute or two.

5. Add corn, chicken stock, clam & crab juice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, add bacon, and simmer 10 minutes. Note: you can prepare the soup up to this point a day or two before.

6. Meanwhile, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour, Old Bay, and some salt & pepper. Cook, stirring constantly for 5 minutes.

7. Gradually add milk and light cream, whisking constantly. Bring to a gentle boil for 1 minute, then reduce heat and continue whisking until mixture thickens.

8. Stir in crab meat and honey for 1 minute, then add crab mixture to the veggies/chicken stock (over medium-low heat). Stir for 3 minutes, then adjust seasonings and serve hot!