Tourin (Tourin)
Overview
Tourin is a garlic and onion soup from south-western France. Plenty of garlic, often as many as twenty cloves, and sometimes onions are softened in duck or goose fat, a spoonful of flour is added, and the pot is filled with water or light stock. Separated eggs are used to finish it: the whites are dropped in to set in threads, and the yolks are beaten with a splash of vinegar and stirred in to thicken the soup. It is ladled over slices of stale bread. Versions with tomato are also common. The flavour is gentle and savoury rather than harsh.
History
Tourin is known across the south-west, from the Périgord and Bordeaux to Toulouse, and it is also called tourain or ouliat. In the Périgord it was traditionally carried to newly married couples on their wedding night. Locals finish the last spoonfuls by adding a little red wine to the bowl and drinking it straight from the bowl, a custom called faire chabrol.
Main ingredients
Garlic, onion, duck or goose fat, egg, vinegar, bread. The soup is built on water or light stock and is usually served hot. Diet: vegetarian; not usually gluten-free.
Explore: Egg soups · More soups from France
Recipe
Method
- 1
Soften the garlic and onion in the fat without browning.
- 215 min
Stir in the flour, then add the water or stock and simmer for 15 minutes.
- 3
Pour in the egg whites, stirring gently, so they set in threads.
- 4
Beat the yolks with the vinegar and a ladle of soup and stir into the pot off the boil.
- 5
Season and pour over bread in bowls.
- ✓
Serve. About 35 min from start to bowl.
Sources
Description, history and recipe written by SoupWiki and checked against the sources above. Calories and times are rough estimates.
