Avgolemono

The egg-and-lemon liaison technique is shared across Sephardic Jewish, Greek, and Turkish kitchens; food historians trace it to medieval Sephardic cooking in Spain (agristada), brought east after the 1492 expulsion. In Greece it became the standard finish for chicken soup, fish soups (psarosoupa), and stuffed-vegetable braises by the 19th century, and is now the country's signature soup move.

Egg-and-lemon liaison traced to medieval Sephardic agristada, brought east after the 1492 Spanish expulsion. First taste should be lemon, second chicken, third the silk of the egg.

A pale yellow soup, thick enough to coat a spoon: chicken broth tightened with egg and a heavy hand of lemon juice, with shredded chicken and rice or orzo at the bottom. Served hot but never boiling — boiling curdles the eggs and the soup breaks into yellow scrambled flecks. The first taste should be lemon, the second chicken, the third the silk of the egg.

Tempering is everything: whisk eggs with lemon, then ladle hot broth into the egg mixture slowly, only after, return it to the pot off the heat. Adding cold egg directly to hot soup curdles instantly. The starch from the rice or orzo helps stabilize the emulsion — a starch-free version is much more fragile and needs flour or cornstarch added.