China · Chinese
Sour-hot egg drop soup
The farewell soup that closes a Luoyang water banquet: broth with wood-ear and tofu threads, thickened until lightly viscous, then finished with ribbons of egg. Vinegar and white pepper set the sour-hot note. Public reference · home adaptation, not a historical original.
Public reference · Home adaptation Ruyi egg soup is the last of the four closing courses. In Luoyang banquet custom, says one public report, the arrival of the egg soup means all 24 dishes have been served and the feast is complete, with guests and hosts satisfied. In Henan the sour-hot egg soup is popularly nicknamed 'gundan tang'; that is children's teasing, not disrespect. Published menus record the name only; this version follows public reporting and home recipe sources and is not a one-to-one match to that menu. **This entry previously also cited a Zhihu column page (zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/492193137); in this pass Zhihu returned 403 to every non-browser client and the body could not be opened by either curl or web_fetch, so that source has been removed. The method here rests on the remaining openable sources listed above.****Name check and honest limits**: verifiable public material records the closing soup as 'quan yuan ru yi tang' or 'ru yi dan tang', describes it as essentially a bowl of egg drop soup, and reads it as signalling that the banquet is complete, with the custom of serving soup to send guests off; another source notes the egg soup signals all 24 dishes have been served. **Could not verify** whether 'ruyi' refers to a specific shaping of the egg in the bowl, so no claim is made and the recipe follows the verifiable dish: a sour-hot egg drop soup. This is **menu-evidence based**: menus record the name only, and the accompaniments and thickening are editorial for four. This version is lacto-ovo vegetarian using vegetable oil and water; using stock makes it non-vegetarian, and water keeps it plant-based. Hold the soup just below a rolling boil after thickening and serve immediately, or the egg disperses. Contains egg, soy (tofu, light soy) and sesame. This version uses water and vegetable oil and is lacto-ovo vegetarian; substituting stock adds animal ingredients. Raw egg must be cooked until fully set before eating. 顶端新闻：河南美食·如意蛋汤 — In Henan banquet custom the arrival of ruyi egg soup means all 24 dishes have been served and the feast is complete; it is the sour-hot egg soup children nickname 'gundan tang', carrying the region's understated hospitality. https://www.topnews.cn/news/145CDFE747B04972 美篇：宫廷名宴——洛阳水席 — The last closing dish, quan yuan ru yi tang, is essentially a bowl of egg drop soup, symbolising the banquet's completion, with the custom of serving soup to send guests off. https://www.meipian.cn/24v8ndrt 百度知道：在河南洛阳喜宴的最后一碗鸡蛋汤，俗称滚蛋汤怎么做 — A home version of the Luoyang closing egg soup: tomato, egg, salt, starch slurry, spring onion, sesame oil, ginger, oil, cooking wine and white pepper, with the tomato skinned and diced. https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/602964787.html FDA: Food Allergies — Basis for declaring egg, soy (tofu and light soy) and sesame allergens. https://www.fda.gov/food/food-labeling-nutrition/food-allergies AI-generated illustration; not kitchen-tested.
Ingredients
- water or stock1000 ml
- eggs3 piece
- dried wood-ear mushroom, soaked and shredded20 g
- tofu, cut into threads100 g
- dried daylily buds, soaked15 g
- cornstarch for thickening20 g
- vinegar30 ml
- light soy sauce15 ml
- white pepper powder2 g
- salt4 g
- ginger, shredded8 g
- spring onion, chopped15 g
- vegetable oil15 ml
- sesame oil5 ml
Directions
- 1
Soak the wood-ear and daylily in warm water, shred the mushroom and cut the tofu into fine threads. Beat the eggs well until the liquid is evenly yellow with no strands of white.
- 2
Heat a little oil, fry the ginger, then pour in the water or stock and bring to a boil. Add the wood-ear, daylily and tofu threads and cook 3 minutes.
- 3
Season with light soy, salt and white pepper, then thicken with the starch slurry until the soup lightly coats the back of a ladle; do not make it too thick.
- 4
Keeping the soup just below a rolling boil, pour the beaten egg in slowly with one hand while stirring gently in one direction with a ladle so it sets into thin ribbons, then wait 20 seconds before moving again.
- 5
Turn off the heat, pour vinegar down the side of the pot for a brighter flavour, scatter chopped spring onion, drizzle with sesame oil and serve in bowls while hot.
Source: WorldBite · public-reference adaptation · Source-attributed editorial adaptation; AI illustration; not an authenticated original recipe.