Avgolemono ( el, αυγολέμονο or literally egg–lemon) is a family of
sauce
In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French wor ...
s and
soup
Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling soli ...
s made with
egg yolk
Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example ...
and
lemon
The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China.
The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...
juice mixed with
broth
Broth, also known as bouillon (), is a savory liquid made of water in which meat, fish or vegetables have been simmered for a short period of time. It can be eaten alone, but it is most commonly used to prepare other dishes, such as soups, ...
, heated until they thicken. They are found in
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
,
Sephardic Jewish
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
,
Turkish,
Balkan
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
and
Jewish-Italian cuisine.
In
Sephardic Jewish cuisine
Sephardic Jewish cuisine is an assortment of cooking traditions that developed among the Sephardi Jews.
Those of this Iberian origin who were dispersed in the Sephardic Diaspora ultimately became the Eastern Sephardim and North African Sep ...
, it is called agristada or salsa blanco, and in
Jewish-Italian, bagna brusca, brodettato, or brodo brusco.
[Gil Marks, ''The Encyclopedia of Jewish Food'', 2010, , p. 5] In
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
, it is called tarbiya or ''beida bi-lemoune'' 'egg with lemon'; and in
Turkish terbiye. It is also widely used in
Balkan cuisine
Balkan cuisine is a type of regional cuisine that combines characteristics of European cuisine with some of those from Western Asia. It is found in the Balkan Peninsula of Southeast Europe, a region without clear boundaries but which is generally ...
.
History
Although often considered a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
dish, ''avgolemono'' is originally
Sephardic Jewish
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefa ...
: ''agristada'' has been described by
Claudia Roden
Claudia Roden (née Douek; born 1936) is an Egyptian-born British cookbook writer and cultural anthropologist of Sephardi/ Mizrahi descent. She is best known as the author of Middle Eastern cookbooks including ''A Book of Middle Eastern Food'' ...
as the "cornerstone of Sephardic cooking."
''Agristada'' was made by Jews in Iberia before the
expulsion from Spain with
verjuice
Verjuice ( ; from Middle French ''vertjus'' 'green juice') is a highly acidic juice made by pressing unripe grapes, crab-apples or other sour fruit. Sometimes lemon or sorrel juice, herbs or spices are added to change the flavour. In the ...
,
pomegranate
The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between tall.
The pomegranate was originally described throughout the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean re ...
juice, or
bitter orange
Bitter orange, Seville orange, bigarade orange, or marmalade orange is the citrus tree ''Citrus'' × ''aurantium'' and its fruit. It is native to Southeast Asia and has been spread by humans to many parts of the world. It is probably a cross be ...
juice, but not
vinegar
Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to eth ...
. In later periods, lemon became the standard acidic ingredient.
Sauce
As a sauce, it is used for warm
dolma
Dolma (Turkish for “stuffed”) is a family of stuffed dishes associated with Ottoman cuisine, and common in modern national cuisines of regions and countries that once were part of the Ottoman Empire. Some types of dolma are made with who ...
, for vegetables like
artichoke
The globe artichoke (''Cynara cardunculus'' var. ''scolymus'' ),Rottenberg, A., and D. Zohary, 1996: "The wild ancestry of the cultivated artichoke." Genet. Res. Crop Evol. 43, 53–58. also known by the names French artichoke and green articho ...
s, and roast meats. According to
Joyce Goldstein
Joyce Goldstein (born July 17, 1935) is an American chef, who is a two time James Beard Foundation Award winner. She ran the influential San Francisco-based restaurant Square One between 1984 and 1996.
Career
Joyce Goldstein worked as executive ...
, the dish ''terbiyeli köfte'' is made by frying meatballs until they are cooked through, then preparing a pan sauce by
deglazing the pan and using the cooking juices to temper the avgolemono, which is served over the meatballs.
In some Middle Eastern cuisines, it is used as a sauce for chicken or fish. Among Italian Jews, it is served as a sauce for
pasta
Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, ...
or meat.
Soup
Avgolemono can also be used to thicken soups and stews.
Yuvarlakia
Yuvarlakia, or giouvarlakia ( el, γιουβαρλάκια, from tr, yuvarlak, 'round' Λεξικό της κοινής Νεοελληνικής (''Dictionary of Common Modern Greek''), Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών ...
is a Greek meatball soup made with rice and meat meatballs that are cooked in liquid. Avgolemono is added to the soup to thicken it.
Magiritsa
Magiritsa () is a Greek soup made from lamb offal, associated with the Easter (Pascha) tradition of the Greek Orthodox Church. Accordingly, Greek-Americans and Greek-Canadians sometimes call it "Easter soup", "Easter Sunday soup", or "Easter ...
soup is a Greek avgolemono soup of lamb offal served to break the fast of
Great Lent
Great Lent, or the Great Fast, ( Greek: Μεγάλη Τεσσαρακοστή or Μεγάλη Νηστεία, meaning "Great 40 Days," and "Great Fast," respectively) is the most important fasting season of the church year within many denomin ...
.
For some Sephardic Jews, this soup (also called ''sopa de huevo y limón'') is a traditional way to break the
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day' ...
fast.
[
As a soup, avgolemono usually starts with ]chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...
broth, though meat (usually lamb), fish, or vegetable broths are also used. Typically, rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...
, orzo
Orzo (, ; from , from Latin ), also known as risoni (; 'large rains ofrice'), is a form of short-cut pasta, shaped like a large grain of rice. Orzo is traditionally made from flour, but it can also be made of whole grain. It is often made with ...
, pastina
''Pastina'' (Italian: literally, "little pasta") is a variety of pasta consisting of tiny pieces of pasta, typically of a round (irregular) shape with a diameter of about 1.6 millimetres (1/16"). It is the smallest type of pasta produced. It is ...
, or tapioca
Tapioca (; ) is a starch extracted from the storage roots of the cassava plant (''Manihot esculenta,'' also known as manioc), a species native to the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, but whose use is now spread throughout South America ...
Claudia Roden
Claudia Roden (née Douek; born 1936) is an Egyptian-born British cookbook writer and cultural anthropologist of Sephardi/ Mizrahi descent. She is best known as the author of Middle Eastern cookbooks including ''A Book of Middle Eastern Food'' ...
, ''A Book of Middle Eastern Food'', 1968, , p. 111stew
A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. A stew needs to have raw ingredients added to the gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables a ...
to near-broth
Broth, also known as bouillon (), is a savory liquid made of water in which meat, fish or vegetables have been simmered for a short period of time. It can be eaten alone, but it is most commonly used to prepare other dishes, such as soups, ...
. It is often served with pieces of the meat and vegetables reserved from the broth.
The soup is usually made with whole eggs, but sometimes with just yolks. The whites may be beaten into a foam separately before mixing with the yolks and lemon juice, or whole eggs may be beaten with the lemon juice. The starch of the pasta or rice contributes to stabilizing the emulsion.
See also
* List of egg dishes
This is a list of notable egg dishes and beverages. Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have been eaten by humans for thousands of years.Kenneth F. Kiple, ''A Movable Feast: Ten ...
* List of lemon dishes and beverages
* List of sauces
The following is a list of notable culinary and prepared sauces used in cooking and food service.
General
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* (salsa roja)
*
*
* – a velouté sauce flavored ...
* List of soups
This is a list of notable soups. Soups have been made since Ancient history, ancient times.
Some soups are served with large chunks of meat or vegetables left in the liquid, while others are served as a broth. A broth is a flavored liquid usua ...
References
Bibliography
* Alan Davidson, ''The Oxford Companion to Food'', Oxford, 1999. .
{{Soups
Middle Eastern cuisine
Balkan cuisine
Cypriot cuisine
Mizrahi Jewish cuisine
Sephardi Jewish cuisine
Soups
Lemon dishes
Greek sauces
Greek soups
Egg-based sauces
Turkish cuisine
Yom Kippur
Citrus dishes