She-crab soup The soup is named for the "She-Crab", or female crab, originally a gravid crab, as the orange crab roe comprise a chief ingredient in traditional she-crab soup. As with turtle soup, other ingredients may be added to the soup or substituted for others, although crabmeat is found in all versions. She-crab soup She-crab soup is a rich soup, similar to bisque, made of milk or heavy cream, crab or fish stock, Atlantic blue crab meat, and (traditionally) crab roe, and a small amount of dry sherry added as it is plated. It may be thickened either by heat reduction or
Crab meat and the animal is then returned to the water. The practice is defended because some crabs can naturally autotomise (shed) limbs and then about a year later after a series of moults, regenerate these limbs. In Western Europe crab meat is derived primarily from the species "Cancer pagurus". "C. pagurus" is a large crab noted for the sweet, delicate flavour of its meat. It is also known as the "Brown Crab", the "Common Crab" or the "Edible Crab". The United Kingdom is the largest fishery for "C. pagurus" with large fisheries in Scotland and a smaller but substantial fishery in