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Avgolemono Sauce & Soups
(Egg Lemon Sauce)
INGREDIENTS:
Sauce:
3 @ eggs, jumbo, separated whites and yolks
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 cup lemon juice, strained (5 TBS, or about 2.5 medium lemons)
3 TBS melted butter
1 cup hot broth (chicken or fish, unsalted)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, ground
1 pch sugar
- or Go directly to soup:
4 @ eggs, jumbo, separated whites and yolks
1 tsp cream of tartar
6 TBS lemon juice, strained
4 TBS melted butter
5 cup rich hot broth (chicken or seafood, unsalted)
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, ground
1 pch sugar
METHOD I:
1. Whisk the yolks until pale and frothy, reserve.
Do these by hand, or use a hand beater, with or without
cord.
2. Whisk the egg whites (warmed), adding a tsp or two
of the lemon juice after they become frothy, along
with the cream of tartar, until they form peaks.
[A K5 with warmed bowl does well]
3. Fold the egg yolks into the eggwhite merangue.
If using a K5, distribute the yolks, and use
a very low speed to mix. Increase the speed
a bit.
4. Continue whisking the egg whites, while slowly adding
the lemon juice to the whites and then whisk for another
minute. Begin slowly dribbling in the melted butter.
[You would be using a moderate K5 speed.]
5. Then, add one third of the broth in a fine and steady
stream, constantly whisking. Observe some thickening,
and mix well. Begin adding the remaining broth, in
the same way.
6. Transfer mixture to an appropriate saucepan and heat
gently.
7. Whisk while heating, until mixture thickens enough to
coat the back of a spoon. Do not boil.
Serve immediately.
Actually the frothy sauce will hold nicely covered at a
keep warm for at least 30 minutes.
Frothy sauces were not invented in Paris or NYC.
METHOD II:
A second, older and more common variation, but quite
fine, is not to separate the eggs, but simply to whisk
them smooth, adding the cream of tartar, combing well
before dribbling in the lemon juice, then melted butter,
then broth exactly as before. Again, finish in a sauce
pan, adding whatever you want for additional seasonings.
NOTES:
1. There are many variations of avgolemono sauce, which
differ mostly in how we thicken. The variations always
involve additions of starches that thicken. Egg yolks
are the finest culinary thickeners, and here TSC uses
them exclusively, without resort to farinaceous crutches.
The other methods are less of a "high wire" act, and a
lesser cuisine. If you don't understand why, you need
to study more of cooking and chemistry.
The basic idea is very closely related to a classic
French Sauce Allemande, so attributing it to Germans.
Sometimes these ethnic attributions are meaningless, but
sometimes they have small to large grains of truth in
history.
2. The sauce gets extended to a soup by dillution with chicken
broth or seafood broth, with rice or orzo added, and always
with gentle heat.
Additionally add cubed or shredded "white cooked" or poached
chicken, fish or shrimp for the soup.
In place of the chicken or in addition add small cubes of
avocado and or artichoke hearts, and or cucumber.
3. The soup can be seasoned with basil, tarragon, oregano,
marjoram, rosemary, mint or dill. Keep it light and simple.
Add the herbs near the end.
4. See also Hollandaise sauce, as another egg, lemon and
butter emulsion, and additionally mayonnaise which originally
used olive oil in the emulsion in place of butter.
Where Hollandaise and mayonnaise are true egg butter
emulsions, Avgolemono is a little more subtle and mysterious.
The trick in all such emulsions is to avoid ending with
scrambled eggs in some kind of liquid, i.e., to get the
emulsion right. To some extent this is a matter of
understanding the biochemistry, and/or following tried
and true culinary incantations; it's like white magic.
5. The sauce and soup mostly use chicken broth, but using
an aromatic shrimp fumét is especially wonderful,
especially when the end result is combined with
asparagus.
6. The separation of eggs trick to make an elegant frothy
soup from thinner broths and soups is a trick that has
general application.
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Created: July 27, 2007
Last Updated: July 24, 2008
Last Updated: