Rădăuți Sour Chicken Soup (Ciorbă Rădăuțeană)
Ciorbă rădăuțeană Say it: CHOR-buh ruh-duh-oo-TSYAH-nuh
At Romanian tables, ciorbă rădăuțeană usually arrives as the opening course, steaming and sharply aromatic, with a broth that feels velvety from sour cream and egg yolk yet stays light enough to leave room for what follows. The soup comes from Rădăuți in Bucovina; in the 1980s Cornelia Dumitrescu devised it as a poultry-based answer to hearty tripe soup. Expect tender shredded chicken, soft vegetables, a garlic-and-vinegar tang, and a clean finish. If you are cooking it for company, make the broth ahead and whisk in the liaison just before serving—that is the practical trick to keeping the texture smooth.
Rădăuți Sour Chicken Soup (Ciorbă Rădăuțeană)
Ciorbă rădăuțeană
Pronounced CHOR-buh ruh-duh-oo-TSYAH-nuh
- Serves
- 6
- Prep
- 40 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 20 min
- Total
- 2 hr
- Level
- Medium
Also nut-free.
Allergens: contains gluten, milk, egg. Check labels on packaged ingredients.
Ingredients
Amounts are scaled. Cooking times and pan sizes stay the same.
For the soup
For the sour cream liaison
Method
Place the chicken breast and cold water in a pot of at least 5 qt / 5 L. Add 1 teaspoon salt, set over medium-low heat, and bring slowly to the barest simmer. Remove the gray foam as it rises, repeating 3–4 times, until the surface no longer clouds.
Meanwhile, peel the onions, carrots and celery root. Keep one onion, one carrot, and one slice of celery whole; cut the rest of those vegetables and the bell pepper into dice. When the broth is clear, put the whole vegetables and peppercorns in the pot. Lower the heat and cook partly covered at a gentle simmer until the chicken is very tender, about 50 minutes.
Lift the chicken onto a plate to cool a little. Pour the broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pot; discard the whole vegetables and peppercorns. Return the strained broth to a gentle boil, then add the diced onion, carrots, celery, and bell pepper. Cook for 20–25 minutes, until the vegetables are tender but still slightly firm.
As the vegetables simmer, strip the cooled chicken from the skin and bones. Throw away the skin, bones, and cartilage; tear or cut the meat into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
In a heatproof bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sour cream and flour until completely smooth. Add about 2 cups (480 ml) hot broth in a slow stream, whisking all the time, to warm the mixture. Stream the tempered liaison back into the soup while whisking. Keep the heat low—no boiling—and cook for 5 minutes, until the soup thickens a little.
Add the shredded chicken, grated garlic, and vinegar. Taste and season with salt and black pepper. Heat through for 2–3 minutes; do not let it boil. Take the pot off the heat, fold in most of the parsley, and ladle hot, scattering the remaining parsley over each bowl.
Regional variant: Original turkey breast version (ciorbă rădăuțeană cu piept de curcan)
Use the same weight of bone-in turkey breast instead of chicken. Cook the turkey until tender, roughly 15–20 minutes longer than chicken, then follow the remaining method unchanged. The resulting broth is leaner and somewhat more delicate.
Cook's notes
- A bone-in, skin-on chicken breast is worth using here; boneless skinless meat will give a thinner-tasting broth.
- Temper the sour cream mixture patiently: whisk hard and add hot broth gradually so the yolks stay smooth instead of curdling.
- Before serving, check the sourness and garlic strength; the soup should have a clear tang without overwhelming the chicken.
Serve with
Offer crusty bread or warm polenta, plus a few pickled hot peppers on the side.
Make ahead and storage
Cook and strain the broth with the chicken up to 1 day in advance; chill it, then warm gently and add the sour cream liaison just before serving. Refrigerate leftovers for up to 2 days and reheat without boiling.
