By The Lowcountry boil won't happen this year. First African made the decision: no large gatherings until the virus is under control. I understand it. I accept it. I hate it. The boil has happened every September for as long as I can remember — through hurricanes, through grief, through everything. But not through this. The virus is bigger than a storm. A storm passes. This just stays.
Gladys called when she heard. She said, "No boil?" I said, "No boil." She said, "Does that mean no cobbler competition?" I said, "Gladys, the cobbler competition doesn't require a boil. I will make a cobbler. You will make a cobbler. I will win. This can happen independently of any church event." She laughed. Then she said something serious, which Gladys rarely does: "Dot, I miss you." I said, "I miss you too, Gladys." She said, "When this is over, I want to sit next to you in the choir and sing so loud the pastor asks us to stop." I said, "Deal." We hung up. I cried a little. Not a lot. Just a little. Because seventy years of friendship is worth a few tears when you can't sit in the same pew.
I've been recording stories every evening. The recorder sits on the kitchen table and I turn it on after dinner and I talk. This week: she-crab soup. The history — how it was originally a Charleston dish, how it came to Savannah through the Lowcountry network of Black cooks who carried recipes the way they carried everything else, with care and secrecy and pride. I talked about the sherry. I talked about the crab roe. I talked about how Mama made it with just one crab because that's all they could afford, and how I make it with four because I can, and how the recipe is the same either way because the love doesn't scale.
Made she-crab soup tonight. Four crabs. Extra sherry. Because I can.
Now go on and feed somebody.
She-crab soup starts with a cream base — that’s the quiet truth Mama never had to say out loud because her hands already knew it. When I talked into that recorder about how the recipe stays the same whether you have one crab or four, what I meant was this: it’s the foundation that holds. This cream soup mix is that foundation. Keep a jar of it in the pantry, and you’re never more than a pot of stock and whatever the sea gives you away from something worth sitting down to.
Cream Soup Mix
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 5 minutes | Total Time: 15 minutes | Servings: 9 (each serving equals one can of condensed cream soup)
Ingredients
- 2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
- 3/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken bouillon granules
- 2 tablespoons dried onion flakes
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
- 1/3 cup cold water (per serving, when preparing)
- 1 1/3 cups additional water or broth (per serving, when preparing)
Instructions
- Combine dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry milk powder, cornstarch, bouillon granules, dried onion flakes, thyme, basil, black pepper, and celery seed until thoroughly combined with no streaks.
- Store the mix. Transfer to an airtight jar or container. Label it with the date and preparation instructions. Store in a cool, dry pantry for up to 6 months. One batch makes approximately 9 “cans” worth of condensed cream soup.
- Prepare a single serving. When ready to use, measure 1/3 cup of the dry mix into a small saucepan. Whisk in 1/3 cup cold water until smooth and no lumps remain — this step prevents clumping.
- Cook into a cream base. Add 1 1/3 cups water or low-sodium broth to the pan. Whisk constantly over medium heat for 4—5 minutes until the mixture thickens to the consistency of condensed soup. Reduce heat to low and stir another minute.
- Season and finish. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. At this point the cream base is ready to use as a 1:1 substitute for any condensed cream soup — cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, or, with the addition of crab stock and a measure of good sherry, the start of something the Lowcountry would recognize.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 95 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 0g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 310mg