Eggs – Trick to making perfect egg ribbons

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I'm looking for a time-proven method for getting perfect egg ribbons in egg drop or hot and sour soup. The result I'm looking for is a clear soup with the classic gossamer egg ribbons. I'm not really asking for soup recipes(although feel free to share along with your answer!). I'm asking for specifically how to add the eggs.

I've read plenty of "beat eggs, pour into soup", and I haven't quite been able to nail the technique. I end up with some ribbons, but a cloudy soup.

This question is meant to delve into specifics. I'd like to know explicit details of your ancient, family secret. How far to beat the eggs…light, or foamy? Drizzle in slowly, or fast? Drizzle the eggs into the soup using chopsticks…fork…whisk? Stir the soup while adding or not? Before or after adding cornstarch thickener…or do you use a different thickener(perhaps another previous egg addition?) Please provide as much detail on technique, tools, and process as possible. I don't mind spending some time practicing a new technique, as long as I end up with a good product and am able to repeat it.

Thanks!

Best Answer

I can't speak to your specific recipe, but I worked in a Chinese take-out restaurant for a few years, but that was a ways back....if I remember correctly, the process was extremely simple.

  1. Start with a broth of hot water, white vinegar, salt and a drop or two of yellow food coloring (ancient Chinese secret - food coloring)
  2. Get it nice and hot and add a small amount of cornstarch slurry, whisk and wait for it to thicken.
  3. Meanwhile, scramble some eggs, just like normal. Nothing special. We used a fork and scrambled the eggs in a take-out soup container.
  4. Pour the eggs into the broth at a steady rate while stirring the broth at a medium and consistent speed (roughly one rev/sec).

And that was it. As far as specific technique? I can't recall anything that really stands out. Like I mentioned, we used a take-out soup container and a fork to scramble the eggs, and cut a hole in the top to pour them. I suppose if you want to get really specific, we used a box cutter to make a triangular hole, roughly 3/4 inch per side. The soup was cooked in a round-bottomed wok, and stirred with what Google is telling me is called a hand-spoon - imagine a one-cup ladle, except bend the cup so it's more or less parallel to the handle.

Hope this helps. If you'd like any more information I'll try and see what I can drag out of the back of my dusty memory - it was about six-seven years ago, but I might be able to persuade my feeble old mind to provide some more details.

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