Double Lemon Avgolemono Soup

A very simple soup, but I ran into some problems here.

You start with an excellent chicken broth (I used the broth recipe in the book, which includes a bit of tarragon), and you add some rice and cook till its done. One then whisks up some eggs till frothy, then adds lemon juice to the eggs. The next step is to whisk 1c of the hot broth into the egg/lemon mix, and then put the egg/lemon/broth mix into the big pot of broth. The cook is advised to turn off the heat and NOT do any additional cooking.

I am skeptical that my soup came out as suggested. The entire texture was like a yellowish buttermilk - was this what we were going for? I had expected it to be more like an egg-drop soup, with threads of cooked egg, and I wish the author had told me what to expect. Because I'm at about 5000 ft, my boiling temperature is lower, and I wondered if the eggs simply didn't cook.

My husband loved it, and I agree - a rich-tasting broth with a delicate flavor. But my kids - usually adventurous eaters - wouldn't eat more than a couple spoons full. They claimed that it felt like they were eating melted butter.

Looking at pictures of this soup on the internet, maybe mine turned out just right? I hope my review won't discourage anyone from making this -- and please comment if you know the expected final texture!

Lovely, light and bright tasting soup that makes an excellent palate-awakening starter to a meal. And, it’s very quick to put together if you have the stock on hand.

I noticed that thyme is used in the chicken stock recipe that follows so added a sprig to the homemade broth I was using that I had in the freezer and let it simmer along with the orzo. The soup was a little on the thin side……perhaps the starch from arborio rice, an alternative to the orzo, results in a slightly thicker consistency.

Simple and quite delicious.