Garlic soup photo courtesy of Smitten Kitchen
2 tbsps of chicken, goose, duck, or pork fat (or clarified butter/ghee if you prefer)
20 peeled garlic cloves
4-6 cups of chicken stock (adjust according to desired consistency of soup)
3 egg yolks
2 tbsps of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooking Directions:
Melt the fat or butter in a large saucepan and add the peeled garlic cloves. Don’t chop or mince the garlic, just add the cloves to the pan.
Lightly cook the garlic, shaking the pan so that it never sits for long. Don’t let it brown, as garlic quickly turns better if cooked to the point that it turns a dark brown.
Add the chicken stock to the garlic along with salt and pepper. Let it simmer for 20-30 minutes. After it has simmered you’ll need to either scoop out the cloves and run them through a food processor or run the soup through a sieve. Your goal is to puree the garlic cloves; however you’re most comfortable with accomplishing that will work.
Add the garlic back to the saucepan and let it come back up to a simmer. Add the olive oil to the egg yolks and stir it into an even consistency. Make sure your soup is just simmering and not boiling, as you’re about to add the egg yolks and you don’t want them to curdle.
Add a little of the soup to the egg yolks/olive oil to temper it. Very slowly add the egg yolks to the soup, stirring it slowly as you do so. Having the egg yolks heat up too quickly and curdle is a bad thing so take a little extra care to avoid that.
Continue to simmer until heated through and serve. This soup goes very well with homemade bread, which can be served on the side and dipped into the soup or toasted and added to the bowl, with the soup poured over it.