Partan Bree (Partan bree)
Overview
Partan bree is a creamy Scottish crab soup. The name comes from the Scots words partan, meaning crab, and bree, meaning broth. Brown crab meat is cooked with rice in milk and fish stock until the rice is very soft, then the mixture is blended until smooth and finished with cream and a little anchovy essence. Pieces of white crab meat are stirred in at the end. The soup is rich, delicately sweet and tastes of the sea. It is often served at Burns Night suppers and on the north-east coast.
History
Crab soups have long been made in fishing villages along the coast of Scotland, where brown crabs were cheap and plentiful. Partan bree appears in Scottish cookbooks from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is seen as one of the classic Scottish soups along with cullen skink and cock-a-leekie and is still served in seafood restaurants.
Main ingredients
Brown crab, rice, milk, cream, onion, anchovy essence. The soup is built on fish stock and milk and is usually served hot. Diet: pescatarian; usually gluten-free.
Explore: Fish and seafood soups · Rice soups · More soups from United Kingdom (Scotland)
Recipe outline serves 4 · ~60 min
Ingredients
- 1 large cooked brown crab, white and brown meat separated
- 60 g long-grain rice
- 600 ml milk, 600 ml fish stock
- 150 ml cream
- 1 onion
- 1 tsp anchovy essence
Allergens: Contains: Crustaceans, Fish, Milk. Based on the typical recipe. Recipes and products vary; always check labels if you have an allergy.
Method
- Simmer the rice in the milk with the onion for 20 minutes.
- Add the brown crab meat and blend until smooth.
- Stir in the stock, cream and anchovy essence and heat gently.
- Add the white crab meat and serve.
Sources
Description, history and recipe written by SoupWiki and checked against the sources above. Calories and times are rough estimates.
