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Soup

Beid Bi Lamoun

A lemon-flavored soup thickened with beaten eggs, served hot.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Beid Bi Lamoun

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Make a rich chicken stock with leftover chicken bones or giblets. If it is not strong enough, add a stock cube. Season with salt and pepper.

  2. Add the rice, pastina, or tapioca to the boiling stock and simmer until tender.

Make the soup

  1. Beat the egg yolks or whole eggs and add the lemon juice, beating constantly.

  2. Add a ladleful of the soup to the egg mixture and beat well.

  3. Pour this back into the pan slowly, still beating constantly.

  4. Keep the heat under the pan very low, and cook the soup gently, stirring all the time, until it thickens.

  5. On no account allow it to boil, or the eggs will curdle.

  6. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more lemon juice if necessary.

  7. Garnish, if you like, with chopped parsley or chives, and serve immediately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

469Calories
42 gProtein
10 gFat
51 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Chicken100g cooked165
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Chive1 tbsp (3g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  2. Chicken + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  3. Rice + parsleytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,762 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,366 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  5. White pepper + parsleytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks or whole eggs
Thicken the soup and give it a silky, custard-like body when gently heated.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the soup and balances the richness of the eggs.
Rice, pastina, or tapioca
Adds body and substance, becoming tender as it simmers in the stock.
Chicken stock
Forms the flavorful liquid base that carries every other ingredient.

The step that matters

Keep the soup below a boil when adding the eggs. Egg proteins set and curdle when overheated, so the soup must thicken gently over very low heat while being stirred constantly. Tempering the eggs with hot soup first also prevents them scrambling on contact.

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, white pepper, rice, egg, lemon):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Turmericfits about as well
  4. Thymefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, white pepper, rice, egg, lemon. 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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