culinary experiment: Avgolemono

July 19, 2023

I had leftover rotisserie chicken and I wanted to do something with it. I used the bones to make about ten cups of chicken stock but also had a lot of meat so I figured, make soup. But I was in the mood for something different so I searched “chicken lemon rice soup” and foud a word I can’t pronounce “Avgolemono”.

Avgolemono is a Greek soup and no one agrees on the recipe, not even the ratios. People were writing all sorts of crazy things. One had 8 cups of chicken stock but only 1/2 a cup of rice, while another had 4 cups of chicken stock and 2/3 of a cup of rice. One had two eggs another five. Lemon juice, lemon zest, different herbs, no herbs, and on and on it went. So as I often do, I just made it up.

Most of the recipes agreed on carrots and onions. So I started with that, kind of. I finely chopped half a carrot, a big carrot, and the white and light green parts of three or four scallions. I also added shallot and finely sliced garlic scape because I had it in my farm share. I sautéed all of that in a big tablespoon of butter for about ten minutes.

Then I added rice. I decided to use half a cup of medium grain rice. I toasted it for a couple of minutes before adding six cups of my homemade chicken stock. I brought the whole thing to a boil and then reduce to low heat and simmered for twenty minutes uncovered.

Next I added in my leftover chicken. I think it was about two cups chopped. Finally I beat three eggs with the juice of one lemon. I was going to use four, but I only had three. I tempered it and then added it to the soup which made it thinker and creamy.

I tried a cup right away and it was good, but I always like to give soup a day to let the flavors come together. The next night I reheated it for dinner and topped it with a little parsley, though dill seems to be the most common choice here. It had lost a little of the lemon zing by day two and the rice was not as defined, but the overall flavor had strengthened. I also had a bowl of it cold and it really works as a cold soup. I don’t know that I would do anything different if I were to make it again, even though my friend Michael is convinced it needs lemon zest.

For more culinary experimentation click here.