Where it comes from
Created in 1979 in Rădăuți by cook Cornelia Dumitrescu as a milder, chicken-based cousin of tripe soup (ciorbă de burtă).
On the plate
Silky and pale gold, the broth walks a tightrope between tangy vinegar and rich cream, with a final raw-garlic kick that wakes the whole bowl up. The chicken is tender and the vegetable threads give gentle bite; it is sour-soup comfort without the offal.
How it works
A tempered sour-cream-and-yolk liaison thickens and enriches the broth without curdling because it is warmed gradually and added off the boil. Vinegar provides the characteristic sourness while raw garlic, stirred in at the end, keeps its pungency intact.
Variations
Some cooks thicken with sour cream alone without egg; the heat level varies with how much garlic and hot pepper is added; a few versions use a mix of chicken on the bone for deeper flavor.
On the Palate
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
8 steps · Show ↓30 min active · 40 min waiting
How it's made
8 steps · Show ↓- 135 min
Simmer chicken pieces with whole carrot, parsnip and onion until the meat is tender and a clear broth forms.
- 28 min
Lift out the chicken, strain the broth, then shred the meat into fine strips.
- 312 min
Cut fresh carrot and parsnip into thin matchsticks and simmer them in the strained broth until just tender.
- 42 min
Return the shredded chicken to the pot.
- 56 min
Whisk sour cream with egg yolks and a ladle of hot broth to temper, then stir back into the soup off a hard boil.
- 63 min
Sour the soup to taste with vinegar and season with salt.
- 72 min
Stir in finely crushed raw garlic just before serving.
- 83 min
Serve hot with fresh hot peppers and bread on the side.
