Makes about 15 cups

Bring to a boil in heavy Dutch oven:

• 5 cups chicken stock or canned chicken broth
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground white pepper
• 2 dashes Tabasco sauce
• 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce

Add:

• 1 bunch (about 12 ounces) well-washed fresh leeks (all but browned leaves), chopped
• 1 bunch scallions, chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced fine

Simmer for 30 minutes and add 3 large Idaho potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled and diced.
Simmer for another 30 minutes.  Mash potatoes and onion mixture in the stock thoroughly with a potato masher.

Add:

• 4 cups milk
• 2 cups heavy cream

Taste and reseason. This should be a thick, heavy, creamy soup. If too thick, thin with milk and taste for seasonings.

Add:

• 2 cups cooked crabmeat, shrimp, or scallops**

Simmer soup for 5 minutes, and you have my favorite meal.

To steam crabs, place in pot with 2 inches of boiling water, 1 teaspoon of vinegar, and 2 teaspoons of salt. Cover and steam on high heat for approximately 30 minutes. Cool crab under cold tap water. Pick crab and drop crabmeat into soup.

If you use shrimp or scallops, sauté them quickly in butter, then add to the soup.

**my favorite addition is crabmeat. Steam live crabs and pick the meat from them or use pasteurized or frozen crab meat as a last resort. No canned seafood, please. The soup would be better with no seafood at all than with canned seafood.
From the cookbook: Southern Cooking from Mary Mac’s Tea Room by Margaret Lupo.