She-Crab Soup

She-crab soup — a rich, creamy, sherry-laced crab soup that uses the roe (eggs) of female blue crabs to provide colour, richness, and a specific briny depth — is Charleston's signature soup and one of the defining dishes of the Low Country. William Deas, a Black butler and cook for Mayor R. Goodwyn Rhett, is credited with developing the dish in the early 1900s, adding the crab roe to a standard crab soup to impress a visiting dignitary (reportedly President William Howard Taft). The dish became a Charleston restaurant standard and has been served continuously for over a century. The credit belongs to William Deas — a Black cook working in a white household, whose name was forgotten for decades and only recently recovered by food historians.

A thick, cream-based soup — pale golden from the crab roe, rich from butter and heavy cream — with lump crabmeat throughout and a finish of dry sherry that perfumes each spoonful. The soup should be velvety-smooth in the cream base, with identifiable lumps of crabmeat providing texture and the roe providing tiny bursts of briny richness. The colour ranges from ivory (light roe content) to pale orange (heavy roe content).

A first course in a Low Country meal. Followed by shrimp and grits, fried oysters, or pan-seared fish. Oyster crackers or crisp toasts alongside. A dry white wine or a fino sherry to echo the sherry in the soup.