On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:51:41 -0400, "James Silverton"
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not wrote:

"Skyhooks" wrote in message
...
Lovely EvilOne wrote:

Anyone have a recipe for making this that tastes like the
kind you get
from a chinese place? Yes, I did google and got a whole bunch
of recipes
- some of which seem to include things I wouldn`t expect. .
The egg drop
I used to get seemed pretty simple just a rich broth and the
eggs. I
tried making with canned chicken broth at home and it wasn`t
nearly as
good. Some of the recipes called for either flour or
cornstarch - is
that what I`m missing?

I use a cornstarch slurry to thicken the chicken broth/stock
until
desired texture is reached, then add beaten whole egg(s) into
the hot -
but not boiling or bubbling - thickend broth, a spoonful at a
time. But
first, I add spices and flavoring to the chicken broth; soy
sauce,
grated fresh ginger, sesame oil (very little), rice wine
vinegar,
chopped chives or green onions, etc.

Sky

P.S. Yes, I use canned chicken broth (low sodium).

P.P.S. I do not recommend using flour as a thickening agent
for this
dish.

Escoffier always abhorred the taste of uncooked flour and for
thickening insisted that you should cook it in a roux. In
general, I can't disagree unless you are going to cook the flour
in the liquid for a very long time.


Escoffier was:

1.) French
2.) A snob (see 1)
3.) Fuller of hubris than an American

I don't know where the concept that French cuisine is great started but I'm here to
say I don't buy it.

What can you expect from a country where slugs are considered a delicacy.
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You'll have to try to determine what seems to be missing from your soup. Mine is just
strong broth with a little grated ginger, sesame oil and green onions. Possibly
heretical but I have the soup boiling when I add the eggs.

This might be of interest:

http://chinesefood.about.com/library.../aa090701a.htm