Meaty Crab-Tomato Soup

Be careful not to overcook this soup. Use the freshest—though not the most expensive—crabmeat you can find. If the blue crab shells are already seasoned, as they sometimes are, don’t add any more seafood seasoning until the end, when you can taste to correct. My family prepared crab soup by combining steamed hard crab halves and claws to the stock. It adds tremendous flavor and picking the extra juicy crabmeat from the shells is great fun.

Ingredients:
• 6 soup crabs, top shell removed, cleaned and broken into halves
• 1 large beef soup bone
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 1 medium white onion, finely chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 32-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• ¼ small head cabbage, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups fresh or frozen white corn kernels
• 2 large potatoes, scrubbed, boiled until nearly tender (20 to 30 minutes), and chopped into ¼-inch cubes
• 1 pound crabmeat
• 1 pound claw crabmeat
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preparation Instructions:

Pour 5 quarts of cold water into a large stockpot and place it over medium-high heat. Add the crab halves, the soup bone, celery, onion, bay leaf, crushed tomatoes, cabbage, seafood seasoning, and pepper. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and let the soup simmer lazily for 1 hour. Remove the soup bone and bay leaf and add the corn, potatoes, crabmeat, and salt. Cook for another 10 minutes. Serve immediately in a deep bowl. Be sure each serving includes a crab half and claw for picking. Makes 8 servings.

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