Recipe

This One-Pot Crab Soup Comes with a Spooky Story

Courtesy of Amy Bruni’s Food to Die For cookbook

A bowl of crab soup

Photo: Emily Dorio


Every October, the Hermann-Grima House in New Orleans’ French Quarter goes into mourning. A nineteenth-century coffin lies in the front parlor, shuttered windows decimate any chance of light, and “mourning china” is set out to plate unseasoned foods. Each of these solemn traditions is an ode to an old-fashioned Creole wake. 

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Felix Grima—one of the house’s namesakes—lived in the mansion on St. Louis Street (along with his wife, their nine children, his mother, and his sister) in the mid-1800s. When Grima’s mother died on October 15, 1850, the family grieved in a similar fashion. Some visitors to the home, which is now open to the public, believe Madame Grima makes her way back to the house every October to greet her mourners. 

The house is featured in Food to Die For, a new cookbook from paranormal investigator Amy Bruni. (Read our interview with Bruni here.) Its kitchen would have turned out recipes from the city’s beloved and oldest culinary compendium, Creole Cookery, from which the below crab soup has been adapted. Don’t worry, this meal is seasoned. 


Ingredients

  • Crab Soup (Yield: 4–6 servings)

    • 3 tbsp. butter

    • 1 large yellow onion, minced

    • 3 cloves garlic, minced

    • 1 (28-oz.) can chopped tomatoes

    • 1 lb. crabmeat

    • 1 tsp. salt, plus more to taste

    • ½ tsp. black pepper, plus more to taste

    • ¼ to ½ tsp. crushed red pepper, to taste

    • Zest of 1 lemon

    • Juice of half a lemon

    • 6 saltines, crushed

    • 32 oz. (4 cups) seafood stock (for a milder flavor, use vegetable stock)

    • 2 tsp. dried thyme

    • 1 tbsp. dried parsley

    • 1 tsp. dried marjoram


Preparation

  1. In a stockpot, melt the butter over medium-high heat, then add the onion and garlic and cook for 10 minutes, until lightly browned.

  2. Add the tomatoes and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the crabmeat, salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice, and saltines.

  3. Add the stock, thyme, parsley, and marjoram.

  4. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. (If it tastes too watery, cook for up to an hour.) Adjust the spices to taste.


The cover of Food to Die For cookbook

Recipe excerpted from Food to Die for: Recipes and Stories from America’s Most Legendary Haunted Places by Amy Bruni, photography by Emily Dorio. 

Garden & Gun has an affiliate partnership with bookshop.org and may receive a portion of sales when a reader clicks to buy a book.


Liv Reilly, a 2024 intern at Garden & Gun, grew up in Lake Norman, North Carolina, and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill.


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