egg drop soup

moremuscle · Post by **moremuscle** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 8:21 pm

I have often thought of having egg drop soup - it is one of the chinese restaurant meals I miss the most. I thought it has to be possible to make it yourself but I don't know anyone who makes it - does anyone here know how to make egg drop soup?

Also, how do you add that touch of eggs to a mixed veggie/meat meal that is also a chinese tradition - I am sure you know what I mean; those bits and pieces of "threaded" egg in the dish - served together with veggies, meat, and thin rice noodles?

I have tried cracking an egg above the skillet full of veggies/meat but the egg kind of crumbles up and becomes a mashy mess rather than forming those thread like structures. What is the trick?

Love,
Karen

Post by **tex** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 9:32 pm

Hi Karen,

One of these techniques should work. Evidentally, the trick is to drizzle the egg in, while the soup is swirling at the proper speed.

http://www.estarcion.com/gastronome/arc ... 03141.html

http://chinesefood.about.com/library/we ... 90701a.htm

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chinese ... opsoup.htm

http://www.azcentral.com/home/recipes/a ... 20rec.html

http://www.recipezaar.com/61070

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art1881.asp

Love,
Wayne

harvest_table · Post by **harvest_table** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 9:46 pm

Karen,

Just ask, and you shall recieve.

Here are 59 more recipes for egg drop soup. Hope the link works. We have made egg drop soup at home but it never tastes as good as it does in a Chinese resturant. ( They put all kinds of MSG and bad stuff in it though. ) I have not had it for at least a year- think I'll try some soon.

http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/search ... +drop+soup

Love,
Joanna

Matthew · Post by **Matthew** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 9:53 pm

Karen
In order to get the strands of eggs in a mixed veggie/meat meal you have to have a good quantity of liquid in the pan. Beat the egg in a separate bowl first. Move the meat and vegetables to the sides of the pan and drizzle the egg into the liquid . Dragging a fork a few times through the egg should turn it into strands. Cook for a while longer to reduce the liquid. Another trick is to tip the pan on edge pushing the meat and vegetables to the top to get a pool of liquid and add the egg to that. Again dragging a fork through it a few times. Helps if your genes have provided you with three hands.

I was just looking at a recipe I have from long ago for egg drop soup. It contains so many things we can’t eat that I see no point in posting it. It is not hard to do though. Start with a good strong chicken or vegetable stock and bring it to a low simmer. Add any of the following just not to much since the soup is mostly broth. Chopped green onions, snow peas, peas fresh or frozen, chopped garlic , some finely grated ginger , a few bits of browned pork or chicken, a few water chestnuts , 1 teaspoon sesame oil, a few slices of mushroom , a little shredded Chinese cabbage, a teaspoon of dry wine or sherry, white pepper to taste or what ever might look good to you . After they have simmered for a while gently pour in a beaten egg and move it around with a fork. It will not take long to cook the egg .

It can be really good but I think it is best if it i is a bit minimalist as far as things you add to the stock . Two or three of the above work best for me Let me know how it works out for you. No measuring

Matthew

Could not find the olive oil mister but a friend said you can find them a most kitchen shops.

moremuscle · Post by **moremuscle** » Wed Aug 24, 2005 6:27 am

Hi Kitchen Buddies,

You've given me some excellent advice. I wonder if the imagine chicken soup would be a good "broth" to use as a base - I think I will give it a try this morning for breakfast. Sounds like adding just a few ingredients will make it into the desired egg drop soup -
proteins for breakfast and a new way to use eggs (new for me, that is), this is just right!

Wayne, looks like the first recipe in your list calls for sesame oil but you could probably use peanut oil if you prefer - doesn't sound half bad, does it?!

Joanna, it's exactly all that BAD stuff you mentioned we want to avoid so doing it yourself is the best. Are you going to have egg drop soup for breakfast too?

Matt, since I have already developed the shape of an octapus after having kids, husband, and business (The full Catastrophy) I think the veggie/meat mix with strands of eggs is going to be a trick I can pull off (do you think breathing with it will help?!)

Thanks for letting me know that I need liquid in the skillet in order to do it; that's what I've been missing before - if I cook some mushrooms into the veggie mix it usually developes lots of liquid; I will try that and then add the eggs toward the end per your suggestion. Yeeaaahh, no measuring!

Love,
Karen

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Wed Aug 24, 2005 7:06 am

Oh YUM!

You are making me hungry. What a good idea for a soup! Karen, I use the Imagine brand chicken broth for all of my soup bases. I still haven't found any bouillon cubes free of my triggers. Does anyone know of any?

In our local Japanese restaurant (with the table-grill) they make fried rice by first just frying the egg. Then they cut it up into fine pieces and mix it into the rice.

I'm anxious to hear how the soup turns out. Since I am cooking-impaired, I'll let you do the experimentation and then I'll try it! LOL!

Love,

Polly

harvest_table · Post by **harvest_table** » Wed Aug 24, 2005 9:33 am

Karen,

How did your soup come out? I need to pick up some chicken broth before I make it. I noticed that recipie #6 on the link I posted above is as simple as 2 cups chicken broth and 1 egg- room temp.

Happy cooking. Hope you all have a great day.

Love,
Joanna

moremuscle · Post by **moremuscle** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 6:17 am

Cooking impaired?!

Not me

I can't say the egg drop soup resembled any that I've ever had before but I did consume it - it was edible after all. But it didn't turn out right. I used the Imagine Chicken Soup and it was a good tasty base but the eggs did not become strands or long swirls of egg; they became almost like curd - cottage cheese like. I tried swirling the soup ass I slowly poured the eggs in - that's what the recipes called for. I think I may have used too much egg in too little soup - IOW the proportions were wrong. No measuring?!

I have more soup left so I will try again this morning - more soup, less egg respectively. This time I will use a fork to swirl the egg around like Matt suggested.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Polly, curious about some tips on making soups with the Imagine base - I need some inspiration. Have not had soup all summer - it's been too hot.

Love,
Karen

Babci · Post by **Babci** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 7:26 pm

Hi Karen

Egg drop is similar to a polish soup i used to make (I'm egg free now) call panski rosu. The eggs need to be thinnned with water & beaten fairly well. You need to keep moving them in the broth & drizzle in a fine thread. Broth need to be pretty hot but not boiling. Good luck. Love & light, Rita

moremuscle · Post by **moremuscle** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 6:25 am

Hi Rita,

Thank you for the egg drop tips. I am still experimenting. Today I did the meat/veggies and added some eggs to the pan - it didn't come out exactly right but it was better than the "cottage cheese" I had done before.

Adding water to the eggs may be a good idea in order to make the eggs go in thinner - it seems the first time I pour some egg into the soup it looks right but as soon as I get to the second pouring it starts to form clumps instead of the threads. I am thinking I use too little soup - it may require a bigger pot with lots of liquid - any opinions or expertise?

Love,
Karen

Babci · Post by **Babci** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:20 pm

Hi Karen

A bigger pot wil surely help. The consistency of the eggs should be almost like thin pancake batter. Love & light, Rita

harvest_table · Post by **harvest_table** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 2:21 am

Karen,

You got me hankering for egg drop soup so tried it Thursday night and served it as an appetizer before dinner. I boiled a chicken carcus and used the stock and excess meat from that in the broth. I added celery from my garden and some onion and a clove of garlic and boiled it till the celery was cooked. I think I might have had 3 quarts of stock.

I turned the fire off under the stock so it stopped boiling and slowly poured in a slow steady stream all the egg mixture which was 4 eggs, room temp with a tablespoon of almond oil mixed really well. It went to the bottom and I stirred only a little and it surfaced cooked. It was pretty good. I think, if one stirs too much it just breaks the egg up too much.

If we keep trying home recipes someday they may taste as wonderfull as we remember at the Chinese resturants- NOT. I think what tasted so great and made the thick and colorfull broth was all the bad stuff that we hafta stay away from now.

Love,
Joanna