My Avgolemono - a story of a once in a life time soup.

I love cooking; I love that what I create will never again be re-created, no matter how hard I may try. Cooking is fluid, with a life of it's own. Every ingredient perfect for the moment based on seasonality, geographic location, and dumb luck that it was in my fridge when I opened the door.

Today, while reading through my newly aquired cookbook, A Bird in the Oven, and Then Some by Mindy Fox, I came by a recipe for Avglomeno, a soup I have wanted to make for some time. And one of those dumb luck moments struck - I had all the ingredients sitting in wait for me in the kitchen and a fresh batch of chicken broth simmering away on the stove.

Avglomeno soup is a classic greek soup which literally translates to "egg-lemon" soup. It was a soup that was served at a restaurant I worked at for some time. It is a soothing soup that warms the soul, like chicken noodle soup. For some reason I had been intimidated by the recipe in the past, despite it's simple ingredient list.

Today I was not intimidated. I knew that today's soup would be like no other Avglomeno soup ever made before, as the chicken stock simmering away was made out of carcasses that had cooked in the smoker for 5 hours yesterday. The smokey aroma had been filling the house for the last several hours and I knew this was just the recipe to showcase it's unique flavor.

The soup came out beautifully. It's silky texture and soft lemon notes were just as I remembered, plus the hauntingly sensuous hint of smoke that permeated each spoonful.

Back to the name of my blog post. A thought occurred to me while I was mixed the broth with the egg-lemon mixture, I realized that this soup will be enjoyed today and maybe tomorrow, but never again will I have a soup just like it again.

And this is what I love about cooking.

A homemade broth is never two times the same. It varies with the flavor of the bird, whatever vegetables are added to the broth, how long it is cooked, and what it is added to.

For some reason lost to me, the larger society seems to enjoy consistency. The idea that you can go to eat at anywhere in America and beyond and know that what you are getting will look, taste, and feel exactly like it did every time you've had it since you began ordering it many years ago.

We are often upset when we go to our favorite restaurant and it doesn't taste "the way it did the last time" we got it. We love cake mixes and boxed meals because they always turn out tasting exactly the way we thought they would. We are annoyed when we can't recreate Aunt Bettsy's cassorole like the way we remember it, despite meticulously following the recipe.

Before chain restaurants, before box cake mixes, and before the majority of us moved into cities and severed our close connection to growing food and butching our own animals, no two times making a recipe would be the same. Each meal could be enjoyed once (or as long as the leftovers lasted) and then new meals would be created from the ever changing supply of food available to the families.

This is what I desire, to make a truly delicious and nutritious dish and fully enjoying it, knowing that this dish defines this exact moment, and to cherish it and let it nurture myself in that fleeting moment. I desire to accept that every moment is special and that the next moment will be different, and wonderful in it's uniqueness and impermanence.

Avglemono Soup

Adapted from recipe by Mindy Fox

6 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup rice (short-grain prefered)

3 eggs

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

Fresh ground pepper

Fresh ground salt

Handfull of shredded chicken, fully cooked

Bring the chicken broth to a simmer and add the rice. While rice is cooking, beat the eggs in a medium sized bowl. Whisk in the lemon juice a little bit at a time (I used a fork and that worked just fine). Next wisk in 1 cup of broth into the egg-lemon mixture, slowly adding a dribble at a time to avoid clumping of the egg. When the rice is tender, remove the pot from the heat and add the egg-lemon-broth mixture, whisking the whole time. Add pepper and salt to taste. Add the shredded chicken. Ladel soup into your favorite bowls and enjoy slowly, loving every moment.