Turkish Wedding Soup (Düğün çorbası)
Overview
Düğün çorbası, the wedding soup, is a rich lamb soup traditionally cooked in large cauldrons for wedding feasts. Lamb on the bone is simmered into a flavourful broth, the meat is shredded, and the broth is thickened with flour. It is then enriched with a liaison of egg yolk and lemon juice, which makes it velvety and gently tart. A drizzle of butter coloured with red pepper goes on top. It is filling, elegant and made to feed a crowd, which is why it is linked with celebrations in many regions.
Pictures
History
Large communal meals have long been part of Anatolian weddings, and soups like this one were practical dishes for feeding many guests from a single pot of meat. Thickening broths with flour and finishing them with egg and lemon is an old technique in Turkish cooking, shared with other egg-lemon dishes of the eastern Mediterranean. Regional wedding soups vary, but the lamb and lemon version is the best known.
Main ingredients
Lamb, flour, egg yolk, lemon juice, butter, red pepper. The soup is built on lamb broth and is usually served hot. Diet: contains meat; not usually gluten-free.
Recipe outline serves 4 · ~105 min
Ingredients
- 600 g lamb neck or shoulder on the bone
- 3 tbsp flour
- 2 egg yolks
- juice of 1 lemon
- 30 g butter, 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- salt and black pepper
Method
- Simmer the lamb in 2 l salted water for about 75 minutes, skimming; shred the meat.
- Whisk the flour with cold water and stir it into the strained broth; simmer for 10 minutes.
- Whisk egg yolks with lemon juice, temper with hot broth and stir back in without boiling.
- Return the meat and serve with red pepper butter.
Sources
Description, history and recipe written by SoupWiki and checked against the sources above. Calories and times are rough estimates.