The President Who Inspired The First She-Crab Soup Recipe

Presidents have requested some truly weird foods while in the White House, such as squirrel stew and Rhode Island eel. However, one presidentially inspired dish eventually became a Southern staple, all thanks to the ingenuity of a butler named William Deas. William Howard Taft served as president from 1909 to 1913. After his term, he was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1921. At some point during his illustrious career, Taft attended a dinner at the home of former Charleston, South Carolina mayor Robert Goodwyn Rhett. In anticipation of the stately visit, Rhett conferred with Deas to make a dish that Taft wouldn't soon forget.

That recipe was for she-crab soup, and Deas' culinary ingenuity led him to include the roe of "she-crabs" (hence the name of the dish). Deas' original recipe stated that the inclusion of roe added "extra flavor and color" to the soup. Taft was said to be a huge fan of the dish, and there's no denying that she-crab soup is a beloved recipe in South Carolina.

It's obvious that a lot of consideration went into William Deas' original she-crab soup recipe. The soup is similar to a bisque in that it includes a generous portion of cream to make the consistency pleasantly thick. The original she-crab soup, however, doesn't call for blended ingredients, which is a feature of many other bisque recipes (here are some more differences between soups and bisques, if you're curious). In addition to the crab meat and roe, the recipe also contained flavorful ingredients like sherry, Worcestershire sauce, white pepper, chopped celery, and mace, which is similar to nutmeg but not quite as powerful on the palate. Overall, she-crab soup is said to feature a balance of sweet and savory flavors, with the crab roe imparting a bit of tanginess.

Modern she-crab soup largely sticks to the same recipe, albeit with minor variations like the addition of onions and hot sauce to boost the dish's flavor. Also, the original recipe recommended replacing the crab roe with egg yolks in the event that the former ingredient was inaccessible. While some regional dishes may be hard for outsiders to understand (looking at you, banana and mayo sandwich), she-crab soup is sure to delight all seafood lovers.