Chesapeake Bay Crab Soup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

4 c. diced potatoes
1 c. diced carrots
2 c. green peas
1 c. lima beans
2 onions, chopped
2 c. fresh corn
1 c. tomatoes, chopped
12 hard shell crabs (live)
2 c. crab meat
2 1/2 lb. crab legs, cooked
3 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. flour
2 c. cream
salt and pepper
3 Tbsp. Old Bay seasoning

Preparation

Cook all vegetables together in water, barely enough to cover, and let simmer 1 hour.
In another pot, boil crabs very gently 1/2 hour.
Remove from water and cut into small pieces, shells and all.
Put into vegetables along with liquid in which the crabs were cooked. Add crab meat and legs.
Simmer gently 1 hour.
Warm a little water in a saucepan. Work butter and flour in and add cream, stirring carefully. Stir this mixture into crab soup.
Add salt and pepper to taste.