Simple to Make, Amazing to Eat
Egg Drop Soup
A Favorite Appetizer, Now a Meal
I grew up in a Navy family. Dad used to travel the world, and sometimes came home with interesting gifts or insights from all over the world. He never really seemed to learn a lot from anyplace that did not pretty closely conform to his USA-centric world view, but every now and again I would learn something actually useful from him.
When I was about seven years old, he came home from a deployment in Japan. He’d learned how to use chopsticks, and taught me and my sisters how to use them. In later years, I was always surprised at how badly most Americans use chopsticks, if they ever bothered to learn at all. I have seen people use chopsticks two-handed, with one stick in each hand. I have seen people use them like skewers, stabbing at their food. It’s pretty grim.
Once I’d learned to use chopsticks properly, I found myself wanting to use them every chance I got. That spurred an interest in Asian cuisine. I found I loved it. One of our family traditions was that on birthdays, the family would eat out at a restaurant of the birthday kid’s choosing. I always picked Chinese. There never seemed to be other varieties of Asian cuisine where we lived. In the 1970s, if you wanted Asian food, Chinese was it.
I would always make a point of ordering something I had never tried before, because I always thought it would be a shame to find that I had missed ordering something delicious in favor of the tried-and-true. There were always pages upon pages of compelling offerings, with full-color glossy pictures to accompany the descriptions, and I wanted to try them all.
I did develop some favorites. As for appetizers, the choices were a little more limited. I never went wrong with fried wontons. I liked Hot & Sour Soup, and Wonton Soup was always a winner. The one soup that won my heart, though, was Egg Drop Soup. The ethereally wispy eggs, the oddly glutinous base, the subtle bite from the ginger, and the jewel-like chopped chives adding a touch of green to the yellowish sea of goodness, and I was lost on a wave of olfactory bliss.
For the longest time, I never knew how to make a good egg drop soup. It is not difficult, but things need to be done in the right order and using correct techniques, or you just end up with soggy scrambled eggs floating in chicken broth. There are a lot of recipes out there for egg drop soup. I like to put my own twist on it.
In restaurants, egg drop soup is not offered with noodles. That would make it too heavy for an appetizer. I add noodles to turn the appetizer into a meal. I start off by boiling some udon noodles. Lo mein noodles also work well. Cook the noodles as directed on the package, then drain and keep warm. Do not cook the noodles in the soup broth. I tried that once, and the soup was almost inedible. The noodles took up far too much liquid and made the soup resemble salty wallpaper paste. I’m still having nightmares about it.
The soup base is usually chicken broth, however much you need for the number of people you are serving. I usually use about 2 cups of chicken broth and one egg per serving. Take a little of the chicken broth and whisk in some corn starch to make a slurry, making sure to beat out all the lumps. Make the slurry not too thick, but not too thin. Maybe about the consistency of a thin pancake syrup. This will be used to thicken the soup before serving. Set the slurry aside for now. It goes in after the eggs.
Corn starch is a good general purpose food thickener, by the way. It has no flavor of its own and does not clump as badly as flour, so I frequently use corn starch slurry whenever I need to thicken food. Just be careful to add it in small quantities, as it is a powerful thickener, and too much will over-thicken your food.
To the chicken broth, add some fresh or dried chives and a chopped-up green onion or two. Season with a little ground ginger. At this point, add in the eggs. This is the part where you can mess up the whole thing if you are not careful. To prepare the eggs, whisk them the same as if you were going to make an omelet. Again, I usually use one egg per serving, but adjust to your preference. Some recipes will have you add in an extra yolk or two to intensify the yellow color. I know restaurants sometimes use yellow food coloring. I never use food coloring, for anything. It just feels cheap.
Making sure your soup stock is at a simmer, stir constantly either clockwise or counterclockwise with a spoon and drizzle the beaten eggs into the liquid as slowly as you can. I use a 1-cup Pyrex measure and drizzle the egg so that only a thin thread of egg hits the hot broth. You get best results if the broth is moving when the raw eggs hit the hot broth. Keep to a steady pace. It does take a while. This is very important to getting that nice wispy consistency to the eggs. Your arm will probably get tired from holding the vessel containing the eggs. It is ok to take a break. Once stirred into the soup, the eggs will be fine. They cook instantly on contact with the soup. Don’t give in to the temptation to just dump all the eggs in at once. If you do that, they will cook in a single soggy mass.
Once all the eggs have been added, it is time to incorporate the corn starch slurry. I have seen recipes that call for adding the thickening agent to the broth prior to adding the eggs. I have tried that and not had good results. I found that if the broth is too thick, it makes the eggs clump, and you are back to soggy scrambled eggs. Introduce it by tablespoons, stirring constantly, to let the soup thicken.
The purpose of thickening the soup is to keep the wispy eggs held in suspension rather than sinking to the bottom. When you are happy with the consistency, it is time to serve the soup. Place equal portions of the cooked noodles in each soup bowl and spoon hot soup over the noodles. I like to scatter some chopped green onions over the top for a little added visual interest. If you want, drizzle in a little soy sauce for some flavor variation. This is a great meal any time, and particularly on cold days.
