🇮🇹 Italy · Rome and Lazio (also Marche and Umbria)
StracciatellaItalian egg drop soup
A Roman soup of meat broth into which beaten egg and grated Parmigiano (with nutmeg and often lemon zest) is stirred so that it sets in soft shreds ('stracci').
Origin and history
Stracciatella alla romana is a frugal Roman soup of meat broth with egg and Parmigiano stirred in until it sets in rags, which is the meaning of its name. According to Turismo Roma it was created to reuse leftover broth from the days before Christmas, with cheap ingredients, for the poorer classes of Papal Rome. It is a Christmas and Easter first course across central Italy.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4 servings
- Total time
- 20 min
- Hands-on
- 15 min
Ingredients
- 1 litre4 1/4 cups good meat broth, beef or capon, strained and hot; see notes for making it
- 4 eggs
- 100 g1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly grated, plus more at the table
- 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 lemon, zest only, finely grated
- salt and chopped parsley, to taste
Method
-
1. Bring the broth to a gentle boil in a wide pot and taste for salt.
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2. In a bowl beat the eggs with the Parmigiano, a pinch of nutmeg and a pinch of salt until smooth.
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3. Lower the heat so the broth bubbles gently, and pour in the egg mixture in a thin stream while stirring slowly with a fork in one direction.
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4. Keep stirring for 2 to 5 minutes until the egg sets into soft shreds (stracci) floating in the broth.
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5. Take off the heat, add the lemon zest, and serve very hot with parsley and extra Parmigiano.
Notes
- For the broth, simmer 500 g (1.1 lb) beef brisket or a chicken with 1 onion, 1 celery stalk, 1 potato and a garlic clove in 2 litres of cold water for about 2 hours, then strain. Turismo Roma's broth adds a second litre of water and another hour; strain and salt it.
- Leftover broth is what the dish was made from.
- Make the broth in advance; the soup itself takes minutes.
- Traditional Christmas and Easter first course in Rome and central Italy (also made in Umbria and Marche).
- Seasoning varies: one recipe uses lemon juice and parsley, another nutmeg and lemon zest; the lemon can be omitted.
- Do not confuse it with Italian wedding soup or the ice cream flavour of the same name.
Adapted from Turismo Roma, Stracciatella and Giallozafferano, Stracciatella alla romana.
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.