Make it or Break it (Down): My First Instructional Video! And...

Jasmine Egg Drop Chicken Soup with Ginger, Mint, and Spinach

Wanna skip the recipe and go straight to the instructional vid? Jump directly to the chicken lesson, with the quick cluck of a button.

All I did was drop off some soup. Little did I know I was getting the opener to my newsletter in exchange.

A LIFE WORTH LIVING, IN SOUP FORM

LET’S JUMP INTO THE FAQ’S, SHALL WE?

Q: Do I have to be sick to enjoy this soup?

A: It’s reviving if you are, but ideally you’re not (for many reasons). Since this soup is all about the aromatics, a bowl is actually best enjoyed when the entire olfactory system is at full operating capacity.

Q: You cooks always sling that word around. Aromatics. What are you talking about?

A: Aromatics refer to vegetables and herbs that make up the base flavors of a dish. In this case, there’s onion and garlic, but the main players I’m pushing are ginger, mint, and jasmine tea leaves, straight from the tea bag. I don’t want to be dramatic (I leave that to my friends and their texts) but the depth of aroma from this soup— with fresh mint sprigs steeping alongside the gingery, jasminey chicken— feels emotionally and aromatically akin to heightened states of being that are more typically prompted by mezcal tastings, prohibitively expensive perfumes, or cat shelters.

Other examples of aromatics: leeks, shallots, carrots, celery, chiles, lemongrass, fennel, and Le Labo products.

Q: Why the jasmine?

A: On my desert island, there’d be Earl Grey all day, but jasmine tea has a special place in my catalogue of favorites, despite that I don’t actually drink it that often. I just LOVE the smell. Adore. It transports me to the San Francisco Japanese tea garden of my childhood and evokes a crystal clear memory of tannic, tongue-singeing sips, never properly met with my desired quotient of those little sesame cookies with an almond in the middle. Why a happy memory would be associated with a skewed tea-to-cookie ratio is beyond me. I’ll attribute it to the jasmine.

Q: What’s the coolest thing about this soup?

A: The egg drop element. No doubt. The way that the egg clings to the chicken somehow creates an impression of faux-dumplings with a flavor and feel I can only liken to matzoh ball soup.

And here’s what I discovered during many multiple rounds of testing: un-aerated eggs yield a better consistency when drizzled into soup. Frothy, well-whisked eggs result in wispy, soulless strands that don’t hold their shape.

Wispy eggs from over-whisking nearly disappear into broth; Eggs with less aeration will hold their strands when dropped into soup

I have instructions in the recipe for how best to combat this.

WHY DROP THE MIC WHEN YOU COULD DROP THE EGGS?

Q: How many trials of this recipe graced the burners of NOODLE HQ before you got it just right?

A: Six

Q: How stocked is your chest freezer?

A: Very

Q: I see that this recipe calls for a broken down chicken. What if I don’t know how to do that? Can’t I just buy a few rando pieces of chicken at the store?

A: You totally can, but I’m a firm believer in using a whole clucker. Buying chicken in pieces is more expensive than buying an entire bird. But more importantly, buying just breasts and legs won’t provide you with other crucial elements: the wings, the back, the neck. All of these parts add more flavor and body: collagen from bones, good chicken fat, and additional pieces of tender meat. You’ll also often be gifted a bag of livers and the heart when buying a whole bird, which you can cook up for yourself or your animals.

I get that breaking down a whole chicken can be intimidating, but it really doesn’t have to be. Armed with this skill, you’ll be able not only to make recipes that call for a whole bird cut into pieces, but also to cook with different pieces as you wish, using different parts for different recipes.

WANNA LEARN?

Worry not, because I’ve got you covered, with NOODLE’s VERY FIRST tutorial vid, in which I break down a chicken! And while you’re at it if you haven’t already,

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And now, for…

JASMINE EGG DROP CHICKEN SOUP WITH GINGER, MINT, AND SPINACH

Makes 10 cups; Serves 6-8