Avgolemono

I'm having some trouble pulling off the classic Greek egg-lemon soup; I really want nothing more than to replicate the cheap, pale-yellow stuff you'd find at any average-or-slightly-below-average Greek restaurant or diner (I love the version at Miller's Pub, but it's a ridiculous $3.75 for a 6-ounce cup). It's my preferred delivery system for black pepper.

I tried Mark Bittman's recipe from HTCE, but I ended up with something more stew-like, thick with rice and not really very lemony. Still good, but not what I was after. (Bittman's recipe instructs you to whip the egg and lemon in a blender before adding it to the soup, which made the whole thing too frothy.) I tried to free-form it over the weekend by cooking some rice in chicken broth, whisking in a whipped egg, and adding lemon juice, but I got something closer to a fine egg-drop soup. I suspect I need some kind of cheater thickening agent, but I'm in foreign territory here and don't really know where to begin. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

From my Greek mom, who makes an avgolemono pretty close to what I've had in restaurants though it's not yellow. I just got off the phone with her about this and I'm translating from Greek so it's far from exact but here is what she told me:

Cook chicken pieces in water to cover until it's done (she didn't really specify how much water)
Remove chicken pieces, remove meat and discard skin and bones
Strain broth
Add rice - about a cup maybe
Cook until rice is done - about 30 minutes and she said something about how the broth/rice should look "cloudy" (I think that's how it translated from Greek)
Remove from heat and let it cool 5-10 minutes
Whisk 4 eggs well with a fork
Whisk juice from 1 1/2 - 2 lemons into eggs
Temper egg-lemon mix by whisking in a bit of the hot rice/broth (this may prevent the egg-drop soup effect)
Slowly whisk the eggs and lemons back into the soup
Bring soup up to barely a simmer
Add in the meat from the chicken - as much or as little as you like
Season - add more lemon juice if it needs it.
Done

I've not made this myself yet, so let me know how it turns out.

ndg - great to see your post. I'm a fan of the Burger Project and your photography, and hope you won't mind that I just used one of your images (with props) in the Avec GNR nomination.

A very slight repayment: the key for making the Bittman recipe work is doubling the lemon juice, using basmati rice, and adding a pinch of fine bread flour or cornstarch (sacrilege, I know) and a drizzle of olive oil right before serving. If I want it really sour, I'll make a teabag with rind from the lemon and cheesecloth and let it steep. This gets it pretty close to Greek Islands, my gold standard.

That said - Hellodali's recipe sounds much more authentic (and wholesome). I'll be trying that soon.

Hellodali wrote:From my Greek mom, who makes an avgolemono pretty close to what I've had in restaurants though it's not yellow. I just got off the phone with her about this and I'm translating from Greek so it's far from exact but here is what she told me:

Cook chicken pieces in water to cover until it's done (she didn't really specify how much water)
Remove chicken pieces, remove meat and discard skin and bones
Strain broth
Add rice - about a cup maybe
Cook until rice is done - about 30 minutes and she said something about how the broth/rice should look "cloudy" (I think that's how it translated from Greek)
Remove from heat and let it cool 5-10 minutes
Whisk 4 eggs well with a fork
Whisk juice from 1 1/2 - 2 lemons into eggs
Temper egg-lemon mix by whisking in a bit of the hot rice/broth (this may prevent the egg-drop soup effect)
Slowly whisk the eggs and lemons back into the soup
Bring soup up to barely a simmer
Add in the meat from the chicken - as much or as little as you like
Season - add more lemon juice if it needs it.
Done

I've not made this myself yet, so let me know how it turns out.

thats pretty close to our familys recipe as well..now i gotta make a pot

Wow, Hellodali---thanks so much for transcribing and translating this recipe. I'll definitely try it out and report back.

Santander---thanks for the kind words, and those are great suggestions. I need to go put in my $0.02 for Avec now...

I'm pretty sure most restaurants making gallons of avgolemono will use a thickener in addition to the eggs. We definitely used cornstarch or flour if needed when my Dad had a restaurant. We basically made chicken-rice soup then added a large quantity of thick avgolemono sauce. If it wasn't thick enough, out came the cornstarch/flour to get it up to the right consistency.

One of the cooks once told me "it depends on the mood of the eggs". I imagine, like most natural things, there's some truth there.

I don't know if Bittman's recipe is in two parts like that, but making a thick avgolemono sauce separately has always worked at home for me.

And... I tend to take avgolemono a step further and add in small browned minty-lamb & beef meatballs so it's a full meal in a bowl.

I suspect restaurants making gallons of the stuff are also not boiling chickens and making it from scratch. Instant chicken broth/bouillon makes the soup yellower, saltier, and sharper tasting. Not "Old World," but definitely "busy average restaurant." And if you get a good quality bouillon/soup base, this is not too much of a sacrifice. In fact, it will probably taste more like what you get in restaurants. This also makes the soup a quick dish, rather than an all day project. Just toss in some leftover chicken for verisimilitude, if you wish.

I've made avgolemono for years, and I just beat my eggs with a whisk (lemon juice added to the eggs), then "temper" as Hellodali advises (and yes, it does keep from creating scrambled eggs), adding a bit of soup to the eggs while whisking, and then, when about a third of the soup is incorporated with the eggs, add the eggs to the soup, stirring all the while. No, it's not quite as thick as that stuff that some places serve, that stuff that can stand up without the bowl, but it's more like real avgolemono.

Cynthia wrote:I've made avgolemono for years, and I just beat my eggs with a whisk (lemon juice added to the eggs), then "temper" as Hellodali advises (and yes, it does keep from creating scrambled eggs), adding a bit of soup to the eggs while whisking, and then, when about a third of the soup is incorporated with the eggs, add the eggs to the soup, stirring all the while. No, it's not quite as thick as that stuff that some places serve, that stuff that can stand up without the bowl, but it's more like real avgolemono.

When I make avgolemeno, I do what Cynthia described above and it's plenty sufficient to thicken the soup as egg yolks are thickeners. I personally wouldn't go the cornstarch/flour route as a soup thickener, but that's my personal preference.

petermavrik wrote:"it depends on the mood of the eggs"

This is a gem. It's like William Carlos Williams.

I've only made this once, but it was very good. It's from this cookbook.

I made a big batch of it, so please note, the ingredients have been increased by 50%

Avgolemono Soup

12 C chicken stock
3/4 C uncooked orzo
6 large eggs
1/2 C fresh lemon juice
1 t salt

Place the stock and orzo in a large pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer until orzo is tender, but not mushy, about 12 minutes.

Beat the eggs in a medium size bowl until frothy. Whisk in the lemon juice and slowly beat in 1 cup of the hot stock, whisking vigorously.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the egg and lemon mixture. Add the salt and serve right away, without re-boiling, or else the eggs will clump.

I think they suggested adding chicken if you wanted.

I gave hellodali's recipe a whirl this weekend:



(This is leftover night, with the addition of a handful of chopped dill, which may not be authentic, but is certainly good.)

I think this is my favorite version so far. I ended up making a a whole pot of broth, and any sense of proportion was pretty much out the window. Letting the soup cool for ten minutes before tempering the egg/lemon mixture is essential, and I avoided the egg-drop effect. Unfortunately, the beaten eggs didn't do much to thicken my soup. How hard should they be whipped before adding them?