French technique makes food creamy
Making what chefs call a liaison is usually taught in French technique classes at culinary school. A liaison is nothing more than mixing a warm liquid with egg yolks so that the egg yolks coagulate slowly and thicken the sauce making it rich and creamy. The danger, of course, is that you add the hot liquid too quickly and you scramble the eggs. But with a little practice, a liaison is a useful technique every cook can master. It’s great as a base for making ice creams and puddings and for thickening soups and sauces.
I learned to make a liaison some 30 years ago from a chef/professor in a Greek cooking class at the Culinary Institute of America.
Chef Dimitri, who was already 80 years old when I was a student, was a small gentleman with a huge moustache. He could whip up the perfect liaison every time and never ended up with scrambled eggs. He had us practice the technique making Greek Egg and Lemon Soup.
This creamy, tart, golden yellow soup is like slurping a bowl of warm sunshine. It is traditionally made from chicken stock, however it is equally delicious made with vegetable stock. It is also typically made with white rice but you can substitute orzo if you prefer.
GREEK EGG AND LEMON SOUP
8 cups vegetable broth or low-sodium vegetable broth
1 cup white basmati rice or orzo
2 whole garlic cloves, peeled
5 egg yolks
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 3 lemons
Fresh-ground black pepper, to taste
Combine the vegetable broth with rice or orzo and whole garlic cloves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes or until tender. Discard garlic cloves.
In a mixing bowl, combine yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice and ground pepper. Whisk until well combined.
When the orzo or rice is tender, dip out about 2 cups hot broth into a glass measuring cup. While you whisk the egg mixture, very slowly drizzle the 2 cups hot broth into the egg yolk mixture; if you add it too quickly you will scramble the egg yolks. This is what you want to avoid. Continue whisking and adding liquid to the egg yolks until the measuring cup is empty.
Remove the saucepan with the orzo or rice from the burner and, once again, very slowly whisk the yolk mixture back into the saucepan combining well until thickened. Serve immediately. Makes 8 servings.
Per serving made with regular vegetable broth: 142 calories, 19 percent calories from fat, 3 grams total fat, 1 gram saturated fat, 131 milligrams cholesterol, 25 grams carbohydrates, .4 gram total fiber, 2 grams total sugars, 24 grams net carbs, 4 grams protein, 946 milligrams sodium.
Per serving made with low-sodium vegetable broth: 142 calories, 19 percent calories from fat, 3 grams total fat, 1 gram saturated fat, 131 milligrams cholesterol, 25 grams carbohydrates, .4 gram total fiber, 2 grams total sugars, 24 grams net carbs, 4 grams protein, 146 milligrams sodium.