Egg Drop [Anything] Soup
Three different styles of Chinese Egg Drop soup. (鸡茸粟米羹/川味酸辣汤/兰州牛奶醪糟)
Egg drop soup is less of a dish and more of a technique – pretty much any kind of soup you got, you can drop in an egg.
So today, we’ll teach you three different egg-dropping techniques all while showing you three different egg drop soups from across the country.
First, we'll show you the stream-and-stir method using a classic Cantonese egg drop of corn and chicken; second, we'll show you the ladling method with a simple homestyle Sichuanese hot and sour, and finally, we'll cover the whirlpool method using a sweet fermented rice, milk, and egg dessert from Lanzhou up in the northwest.
The point here's to help build you a bit of a base, so that any kind of soup you're feeling, you can turn it into an egg drop.
The Three Egg Drop Techniques
There will be three ways that you can drop an egg into a soup. Depending on what you want as the final consistency of the egg, these will be interchangeable.
The Stream and Stir Method. With this technique, you will pour the egg in a thin stream while stirring constantly. This technique gives you very fine strands of egg bits which wind up really incorporating into the soup in the end. We’ll use this method with the Cantonese Chicken and Corn Egg Drop.
The Ladling Method. With this technique, you take a spoonful of egg and sort of ‘flick’ it across the soup (imagine that you’re Jackson Pollock and you’re going at a soup canvas). To cook it evenly, you gently pull some of the larger sheets apart and pull it over to the bubbling areas of the soup. This method produces thin sheets that’re more substantive than the stream-and-stir, and is both mine and Steph’s favorite way to enjoy an egg drop. We’ll use this one with the Sichuanese Hot and Sour egg drop.
The Whirlpool Method. With this technique, you get the soup going in a whirlpool, sort of akin to poaching an egg. But unlike poaching an egg, you aim your egg on the stream of the whirlpool instead of the vertex - against the ‘current’. This is the easiest method of the three and will net you chunkier strands of egg. We’ll use this one with the Milky Dessert egg drop.
Cantonese Chicken and Corn Egg Drop
Ginger, ~½ cm. Minced.
Water or stock, 2 cups.
Chicken breast, 60g.
Corn, ~½ ear, or 60g. Frozen is also ok.
Seasoning:
Salt, ½ tsp.
Sugar, ¼ tsp.
Chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉), ¼ tsp.
Slurry: 1.5 tbsp starch - preferably root vegetable starch like potato (土豆生粉), tapioca (木薯淀粉), or waterchestnut (马蹄粉) – mixed with 3 tbsp of water.
Egg, 1. Beaten.
To finish:
Sprinkle (~⅛ tsp) white pepper powder.
Drizzle (~⅛ tsp) of toasted sesame oil.
Chopped cilantro to garnish.
Mince ½ cm of ginger. Shuck a half an ear of corn. Beat an egg thoroughly, until no stray strands of egg white remain.
Fry the minced ginger in a bit (~1 tsp) of oil, and when fragrant add in two cups of water (or stock). Add in 60g of chicken breast. Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer, and cook the chicken breast until a chopstick can puncture cleanly right through it, ~5-6 minutes.
Remove the chicken, and pound it with a back of a knife. Thoroughly shred until you can get the chicken into stringy, crumbly bits.
Add the corn to the soup. Boil for 2-3 minutes, or until cooked. Add back in the shredded chicken and season - ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp sugar, ¼ tsp chicken bouillon powder.
Make sure the flame is on low. Drizzle in a slurry of 1.5 tbsp of starch mixed with 3 tablespoons of water slurry in bit by bit to thicken, stirring constantly.
Once thickened, shut off the heat. Pour the egg in a thin stream while stirring constantly. Mix in ⅛ tsp each of white pepper and the toasted sesame oil. Transfer to a serving bowl, sprinkle over a bit of chopped cilantro for garnish.
Sichuan Homestyle Hot & Sour Egg Drop Soup
Ginger, ~½ cm. Minced.
Water or stock, 2 cups.
Seasoning:
Soy sauce (生抽), ½ tsp.
Salt, ½ tsp.
Chicken bouillon powder (鸡粉), ¼ tsp.
Slurry: 1.5 tbsp starch - preferably root vegetable starch like potato (土豆生粉), tapioca (木薯淀粉), or waterchestnut (马蹄粉) – mixed with 3 tbsp of water.
Egg, 1. Beaten.
Dark Chinese vinegar (陈醋 or 香醋), 1 tbsp.
White pepper powder (白胡椒粉), ½ tsp.
Chopped scallion to garnish.
Mince ½ cm of ginger. Beat an egg thoroughly, until no stray strands of egg white remain.
Fry the ginger in a bit of oil – lard, preferably – until fragrant. Add in two cups of water (or stock). Bring up to a boil, then down to a simmer, and season with ½ tsp soy sauce, ½ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp chicken bouillon powder.
Make sure the flame is on low. Drizzle in a slurry of 1.5 tbsp of starch mixed with 3 tablespoons of water slurry in bit by bit to thicken, stirring constantly. To drop the egg, take a spoonful of egg and sort of ‘flick’ it across the soup. Gently pull some of the larger sheets apart and pull it over to the bubbling areas of the soup to cook evenly.
Mix in a tablespoon of dark Chinese vinegar and ½ tsp of white pepper powder. Transfer to a serving bowl, sprinkle over a bit of chopped scallions.
Lanzhou Milk & Fermented Rice Dessert Egg Drop
Nuts:
Peanuts, ~10.
Pumpkin seeds (南瓜子), ~10.
Sesame seeds (芝麻), ¼ tsp.
Milk, 1 cup.
Sugar, ½ tsp.
Baking soda (苏打粉), ½ tsp.
Dried fruit:
Dried apricot (杏脯), 10g.
Raisins (葡萄干), ~8.
Goji berries (枸杞), ~8.
Laozao (a.k.a. jiuniang) fermented rice (醪糟/酒酿), ½ cup.
Egg, 1. Beaten.
If your nuts are untoasted, first toast the nuts. Over a medium low flame, ~6 minutes for peanuts and pumpkin seeds, ~3 minutes for toasted sesame seeds. Peel the peanuts and break them in half with your fingers. Reserve.
Beat an egg thoroughly, until no stray strands of egg white remain.
Bring one cup of milk up to a simmer. Add in ½ tsp of sugar and ½ tsp of baking soda. Mix in the dried fruit (10g dried apricot, ~8 raisins, ~8 goji berries), let them soften in the milk for a minute or so. Add in ½ cup of fermented rice, let everything simmer together for 2-3 minutes.
Get the soup going in a whirlpool. Aim your egg at the stream of the whirlpool, against the ‘current’.
In your serving bowl, first add in the toasted nuts, then pour the hot soup over. Serve.