Wedding Soup

The recipe I am going to share with you today dates back to the Ottoman times. It is from my grandmother's recipe notes. It is called İstanbul Soup, Wedding Soup or Balcanian soup. This traditional Turkish soup is served at weddings and at other special occassions like bayrams or when entertaining. What makes it so delicious is the use of mutton or lamb neck broth in the soup which is obtanined after the meat and water simmers for a couple of hours and the lemon sauce which adds a refreshing flavor to the soup.

Ingredients:

• 1 mutton/lamb  neck on the bone
• 8 cups of water
• 2 large onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsps peppercorns
• 2 heaping tbsp.of flour
• 1/4 cup yogurt
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp. hot red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp salt

Lemon & egg sauce:

• 1 egg yolk, beaten
• Juice of 1/2 lemon

How To:

Peel the onions and put them whole into a large, covered pot. Add the mutton neck on the bone, garlic cloves, salt and peppercorns and 8 cups of water to the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil and cover the pan. Allow the meat to boil for 30 minutes, then simmer for another hour.
     
     
When the meat is cooked  remove the meat and bones from the broth and set them aside. Let them cool down until the meat is cool enough to handle. Discard the onions.
     
Remove all the meat from the bones and discard them. Separate the meat into smaller than bite-sized pieces removing any grizzle, bone fragments and large pieces of fat. Put the broth in a clean pot and bring it to a boil.
     
In a small bowl, combine the flour, yogurt and egg,  make a thin paste using a whisk, with no lumps. Stir in a ladle or two of the broth. Add the salt, then slowly drizzle the egg mixture into the boiling broth while stirring constantly.
     
Add the meat pieces to the broth and continue to simmer gently for about 20 minutes more.  
     
In another bowl, whisk the egg yolk with the lemon juice. Whisk in a ladle of the hot broth, then a second one. Drizzle the mixture slowly into the soup while stirring constantly so that the egg doesn't curdle.  
Bring the soup to a gentle boil once again for about one minute, then remove it from the heat.
     
Melt the butter in a small pan and stir in red pepper. Drizzle a spoonful of the pepper butter mixture over the top of each bowl of soup just before serving.

Enjoy

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