Lemon soup: Greek avgolemono, thickened with egg
Avgolemono is the Greek trick that works without flour, cream or a roux: eggs whisked with lemon juice are poured into hot broth, where they thicken it into a silky, opaque cream. The entire difficulty lies in one step — tempering. Poured straight into the pot the eggs set into threads and you have broth with scrambled egg in it. Poured the other way round, a ladle at a time, they give exactly the texture you are after.
Your own work in that: 35 min.
- Rice in broth 18 min
- Tempering 10 min
- Serving 7 min
Step by step
0 / 5 doneCook the rice in the broth
Bring the stock to the boil, add the rice and simmer 15 minutes, until soft and even slightly overcooked — in this soup the rice starch helps thicken the whole thing, so breaking down is a virtue here, not a fault.
Ingredients: 1200 ml chicken stock · 80 g rice · 200 g poached chicken · 1 tsp salt · ½ tsp white pepper
TipShort-grain rice releases more starch than basmati and gives a noticeably smoother soup. Small pasta or 2 tablespoons of semolina also work.
Fifteen minutes; the rice may break downWhisk the eggs with lemon
In a large bowl whisk the eggs 2 minutes, until pale and foamy. Without stopping, pour in the juice of two lemons in a thin stream. The mixture should be uniform and airy, like a thin pancake batter.
Ingredients: 3 pcs eggs · 2 pcs lemons, juice
TipFridge-cold eggs curdle more readily during tempering than eggs at room temperature. Take them out half an hour ahead if you can.
Two minutes of whisking, then the juiceTemper: broth into eggs
Take a ladle of hot but not boiling broth and pour it into the eggs in a very thin stream, whisking constantly. Repeat with three more ladles. The bowl should now feel warm — a sign the mixture has warmed gradually and is ready to go into the soup.
TipDirection is everything: <b>hot into cold, gradually</b>, never the other way round. Four ladles is not excessive — each raises the temperature a little, and that gentleness is precisely the point.
Four ladles, a thin stream, constant whiskingCombine off the heat
Take the pot off the heat and wait a minute. Pour in the tempered mixture, stirring. The soup immediately turns cloudy, pale and noticeably thicker. Return it to the lowest heat and stir 2 minutes, but never let it boil.
Ingredients: 1200 ml chicken stock · 80 g rice · 200 g poached chicken · 1 tsp salt · ½ tsp white pepper
TipEgg sets at 70–80 °C. Above that the soup breaks into fine flecks with no way back — which is why the pot leaves the heat before the two are combined.
Off the heat; the soup clouds and thickensSeason and serve
Add the shredded chicken (if using) and warm it through briefly on the lowest heat, without boiling. Season with salt and white pepper. Taste: avgolemono should be frankly sharp, at the edge of what seems right. Ladle into bowls, scatter with dill, drizzle with oil and add a slice of lemon.
Ingredients: ½ bunch dill · ½ pcs lemon · 1 tbsp olive oil
Sharp, with dill and oil on top
Before you start
Rescuing a curdled soup
If threads of egg appear anyway, blend the soup for 30 seconds. You won't recover perfect smoothness, but it becomes entirely edible and nobody will guess.
Vegetarian version
Vegetable stock instead of chicken, no meat, and a handful of spinach added a minute before tempering. Lighter, and more distinctly lemony.
Reheating
Only very gently, on the lowest heat, stirring. Brought to the boil it splits irreversibly. It is best on the day it is made.
The same technique elsewhere
In Greece avgolemono is also a sauce: for stuffed vine leaves, meatballs and braised lamb. The principle is identical everywhere — temper, and never boil.
