Maryland Crab Soup

Maryland Crab Soup

Ingredients:

24 crab legs, or more if desired
3/4 pound beef cubes
1 beef bouillon cube
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrot, diced
1/2 cabbage sliced into thin strips 1/2"x3"
1 can cut green beans
2 potatos,peeled,chopped
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
2 onions diced
2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
1 can tomatoes, large
1 can corn
6 strips fried,diced bacon
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1 tablespoon Old Bay
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons barley


Preparation:

Pick the crab meat from the feelers and claws and set it aside. Save the leg and feeler shells. Refrigerate the crab meat.

Boil the shells in 1 quart of water for 20 minutes and sieve into a soup kettle. Discard shells. Add the bullion cube, beef cubes, cover and simmer on low one hour until the meat is tender.

Add all but crab and simmer for 30 minutes until all are tender.

Hold 6 hours or overnight in the refrigerator, and then reheat to serving temperature, folding in the crab meat at the last 5 minutes.

You can make the beef vegetable stock (without crab juice or crab meat added and freeze it for future use). Purchase or pick 8 ounces of fresh blue crab claw meat. Then just thaw the beef vegetable stock, heat it to serving temperature and add the crab and any juice.