Waterzooi
A Ghent stew that looks like soup and eats like a main course. Two things matter. First, the broth simmers at barely a tremble — a hard boil turns chicken to fibres and stock to cloudy liquid. Second, the yolk and cream liaison goes in off the heat: one boil after it is added and the yolks set into fine grains.
Your own work in that: 5 min.
- Broth 55 min
- Vegetables 20 min
- Liaison 10 min
- Serving 5 min
Step by step
0 / 7 donePoach the chicken at a bare tremble
Cover the chicken pieces with cold water, add the onion, bay, thyme, parsley stalks, peppercorns and salt. Bring to a boil, skim, and cook 45 minutes with the surface barely trembling. A boiling broth turns cloudy and the meat dry.
Ingredients: 1500 g chicken · 1800 ml water · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs bay leaves · 3 pcs thyme · 1 bunch parsley · 8 pcs peppercorns · 2 tsp salt
The surface trembles — it never boils.Lift out the meat and strain the broth
Remove the chicken, pull the meat off the bones in large pieces and set aside covered. Strain the broth through a fine sieve and reduce it over high heat to about 1.2 litres (around 10 minutes) — it carries the flavour of the dish, so it should be concentrated.
Ingredients: 1500 g chicken · 1800 ml water · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs bay leaves · 3 pcs thyme · 1 bunch parsley · 8 pcs peppercorns · 2 tsp salt
Cut the vegetables into even batons
Cut the carrot, leek and celeriac into batons about 5 mm thick and 5 cm long, and the potatoes into 1.5 cm dice. Even thickness matters practically here: the vegetables cook at the same rate and none collapses into the broth.
Ingredients: 3 pcs carrots · 2 pcs leeks · 250 g celeriac · 400 g potatoes · 40 g butter
Batons of one thickness — they cook evenly.Sweat the vegetables in butter
Melt the butter in a pot and sweat the vegetables 5 minutes without colouring, then pour in the strained broth and cook 15 minutes, until tender but still firm. Browning would darken the dish, and waterzooi should stay pale.
Ingredients: 3 pcs carrots · 2 pcs leeks · 250 g celeriac · 400 g potatoes · 40 g butter
Return the meat and take off the heat
Add the chicken to the pot, warm it through for a minute and take the pot off the heat. This is the point at which the whole dish must stop cooking — from here you work with residual heat only.
Ingredients: 1500 g chicken · 1800 ml water · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs bay leaves · 3 pcs thyme · 1 bunch parsley · 8 pcs peppercorns · 2 tsp salt
Temper the liaison and stir it in off the heat
Whisk the yolks with the cream, whisk in a ladle of hot broth, and only then stir the tempered liaison into the pot. Stir gently for a few minutes until the broth turns opaque and silky from the heat of the soup. Do not let it boil — the yolks would set into grains.
Ingredients: 3 pcs egg yolks · 200 ml whipping cream (30%) · ½ pcs lemon · 3 tbsp parsley · 1 pinch nutmeg
Off the heat, tempered first — otherwise it grains.Finish with lemon, nutmeg and parsley
Add the lemon juice, nutmeg and chopped parsley, and season with salt. The lemon is essential: cream and yolks make a very full, rich broth, and without acid the dish turns heavy after three spoonfuls.
Ingredients: 3 pcs egg yolks · 200 ml whipping cream (30%) · ½ pcs lemon · 3 tbsp parsley · 1 pinch nutmeg
Before you start
The fish version
According to a popular story, waterzooi was originally made with freshwater fish, and chicken took over once the rivers around Ghent became too polluted. For the fish version use a fish stock, and poach pieces of pike-perch or eel in it for only about 8 minutes.
Potatoes in or out of the pot
The potatoes are often boiled separately and served alongside. In the pot they release starch and slightly thicken the broth — both are correct, but the second gives a less clear soup.
Reheat very gently
A liaison-thickened soup reheated over high heat splits easily. Warm it on the lowest burner, stirring, and take it off before it steams hard. It keeps two days in the fridge but does not freeze.
