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Magiritsa I

A Greek soup made with lamb offal, rice, and avgolemono sauce.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and dill match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 976 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Magiritsa I

serves 6
Time30 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the offal

  1. Rinse all the meat.

  2. Turn the intestines inside out with a thin stick and rinse them thoroughly.

  3. Rub the intestines with salt and lemon juice and rinse again.

  4. Cube the intestines, liver, lungs, and heart into small portions.

Make the soup

  1. In a large saucepan, sauté the onions in butter until they begin to change color.

  2. Add the chopped intestines, liver, lungs, and heart, and fry together for a few minutes, stirring.

  3. Add the shredded lettuces and all the fresh herbs, and sauté for a few more minutes.

  4. Add the hot water and seasoning, cover, and cook for 30 minutes.

  5. Add the rice and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Finish with avgolemono

  1. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes before adding the avgolemono sauce.

  2. Stir in the avgolemono sauce.

  3. Return to very gentle heat for 2 minutes, stirring continuously.

  4. The soup should now be quite thick.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

485Calories
15 gProtein
18 gFat
69 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 14 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Fennel1/2 bulb (87g)27
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5
Dill5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Livernot in our table0
Waternot in our table0
Saucenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lemon + dilltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together976 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Dill + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,630 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Lettuce + dilltop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together159 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + lettucetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,562 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lamb offal (liver, heart, lights and intestines)
Provides the main meaty body and rich flavour of the soup.
Rice
Thickens the soup as it cooks and adds body to the broth.
Eggs
Enrich the avgolemono sauce, giving the soup a creamy, thickened texture.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the soup and sharpens the egg sauce.
Cos lettuce
Wilts into the broth, adding soft texture and a fresh, green flavour.
Butter
Fat that softens and lightly browns the onions, adding sweetness and aroma.

The step that matters

Adding the avgolemono sauce. Eggs can curdle if the soup is too hot or boiling when they go in. Letting the soup stand first and then heating very gently keeps the egg sauce smooth and lets it thicken the broth evenly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lamb, liver, lemon, butter, lettuce, dill, pepper):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lamb, liver, lemon, butter, lettuce, dill, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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