The Best Avgolemono
Prep
15m
Cook
45m
Total
60m
Bigly says
Sit down for this one. Avgolemono. AVGOLEMONO. The greatest Greek soup in the history of Greek soups, and the Greeks have been making soup for THOUSANDS of years — older than France, older than Italy, older than the printing press, the Greeks invented soup, probably, I'm comfortable saying it. The Greeks invented a lot of things: democracy, philosophy, the gyro, that thing where you smash a plate on the floor when you're happy which is fantastic by the way, we should all be doing more of that. Avgolemono is one of their greatest hits. Top three. Maybe top two. You can ask anyone.
Now what is avgolemono. The TV chefs will tell you 'it's chicken soup with lemon.' Wrong. Sad. A child could write that and the child would be EMBARRASSED. Avgolemono is an emulsion. It's chicken, lemon, egg, and orzo, whipped into a creamy soup with ZERO dairy. ZERO. That's right. No cream. No milk. No butter. And yet it's creamy. It's silky. It's the texture of a Greek goddess descending from Mount Olympus into your soup bowl. The Greeks figured this out with EGGS. Eggs and lemon juice, tempered properly, become a sauce that beats every cream-based soup on Earth. It's not even close. It's a slaughter. Take that, vichyssoise.
The secret is the tempering — and I had a guy with a PhD in food chemistry explain this to me once, took him 90 minutes, worth every second — you cannot pour the eggs straight into the hot broth. You will scramble them. You will make eggdrop soup. Eggdrop soup is a tremendous soup, by the way, the Chinese got that one RIGHT, but it's not avgolemono and we are not making eggdrop soup today. You temper. You whisk hot broth INTO the eggs, slowly, in a thin stream. You raise the eggs gently to the temperature of the soup. You bring them along. You don't shock them. You don't betray them. Respect the egg.
Ingredients
- 2 lbbone-in skin-on chicken thighs(bones make broth, do not use boneless, do not betray the broth)
- 8 cupslow-sodium chicken stock
- 1yellow onion, halved
- 2carrots, peeled and halved
- 2 stalkscelery, halved
- 4 clovesgarlic, smashed
- 2bay leaves
- 1 tspblack peppercorns
- 2 tsp, plus more to tastekosher salt
- 1 cuporzo pasta
- 3large eggs(room temperature, not straight from the fridge, the fridge is the enemy of emulsion)
- 1/2 cupfresh lemon juice(from about 3 lemons, never the plastic bottle)
- 1 tbsplemon zest
- 1/4 cupfresh dill, chopped
- 1/4 cupfresh parsley, chopped
- to tasteblack pepper
- as neededlemon wedges (for serving)
Steps
- 1
Place the chicken thighs, chicken stock, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns, and 2 tsp salt in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer.
- 2
Simmer uncovered for 35 minutes, skimming any foam that rises to the top. The chicken should be fully cooked and the broth should taste rich.
- 3
Remove the chicken thighs to a plate to cool. Strain the broth through a fine mesh sieve into a clean pot. Discard the vegetables and aromatics.
- 4
Return the strained broth to a simmer. Add the orzo and cook 8-9 minutes, until tender.
- 5
While the orzo cooks, remove the skin and bones from the chicken and shred the meat into bite-sized pieces.
- 6
In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and lemon juice together until smooth and slightly foamy, about 1 minute.
- 7
Temper the eggs: while whisking constantly, ladle 1 cup of the hot broth into the egg mixture in a slow, thin stream. Repeat with a second cup of broth, still whisking. The mixture should be warm and smooth.
- 8
Reduce the heat under the pot to low. Slowly pour the tempered egg mixture back into the pot, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or whisk. The soup should thicken and turn pale and creamy. Do not let it boil after the eggs are added or it will curdle.
- 9
Stir in the shredded chicken and the lemon zest. Heat gently for 2 minutes, just to warm through.
- 10
Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Stir in the dill and parsley. Ladle into bowls and serve immediately with lemon wedges.
One more thing
This is the soup you make when someone you love is sick, or sad, or just had a hard week. It's the soup that says 'I see you, I made you something, I tempered eggs for you which is a serious commitment.' The Greeks have been giving each other this soup for two thousand years and they're still GOING, still healthy, still smashing plates. There's a lesson in there. The lesson is: more lemon. Always more lemon. It's a beautiful thing.
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