Belgian · soup

Waterzooi op Gentse Wijze (Ghent Chicken Waterzooi)

Waterzooi op Gentse Wijze (Ghent Chicken Waterzooi) reads richness 5.9, salinity 3.6 and allium 3.4 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Belgian soup, about 1 hr 34 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 3.9 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 3.5 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 1.2 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 2.1 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 6.0 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 3.8 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Richness 5.9 · Salinity 3.6 · Allium 3.4 · Sweetness 3.2 · Herbaceous 2.8 · Umami 2.7 · Earthy 1.9 · Bitterness 1.2 · Floral 1.1 · Sourness 1.0 · Fruity 1.0 · Warm Spice 1.0 · Heat 0.7

What's in it (16)

• chicken — 1600 g
• cold water — 2000 g
• onions — 300 g
• leeks — 400 g
• carrots — 300 g
• celery — 150 g
• celeriac — 200 g
• potatoes — 600 g
• butter — 60 g
• egg yolk — 400 g
• heavy cream — 250 g
• flat-leaf parsley — 20 g
• chervil — 10 g
• bay leaf — 1 g
• salt — 10 g
• ground white pepper — 3 g

Time & effort: about 1 hr 34 min · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 92 kcal, 6 g protein, 6.1 g fat, 3.3 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

1. Put the chicken pieces in a pot with the cold water, the halved onion, the green leek tops, the bay leaves and the salt. Bring slowly to a simmer, skim, and poach very gently for 45 minutes. The water should shiver, never boil — boiled chicken goes stringy and clouds the broth, and waterzooi is meant to be pale and clear beneath the cream.
2. Lift out the chicken. When it is cool enough to handle, pull the meat off in large pieces and discard the skin and bones. Strain the broth and return it to a clean pot; you want about 1.2 L.
3. Melt the butter in a wide pan and sweat the diced onion with the julienned leek, carrot, celery and celeriac for 8 minutes, until soft but with no colour at all. Everything is cut to matchsticks so that it stays suspended in the broth and cooks evenly.
4. Add the vegetables and the potato cubes to the broth and simmer 15 minutes, until the potato is tender.
5. Whisk the egg yolks and cream together in a bowl. Ladle two cupfuls of hot broth into them, whisking hard, then pour the mixture back into the pot with the heat off. This liaison is the definition of the dish — waterzooi means roughly boiled-in-water, and the yolk-and-cream is what turns that broth into something silky.
6. Return the pan to the lowest possible heat and stir until it thickens very slightly, about 3 minutes. It must not reach a simmer: at around 82°C the yolks set and the soup turns grainy, and there is no way back.
7. Return the chicken meat to warm through, season with the white pepper, and stir in the parsley and chervil at the last moment. Chervil is not a garnish here; its light aniseed note against the cream is a Ghent signature.
8. Serve in deep bowls with bread and a spoon, somewhere between a soup and a stew, which is exactly where it belongs.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Ajiaco Santafereño — Colombian
• Chicken and Dumplings — Southern
• Poblano and Corn Quesadillas — Mexican
• Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup — American
• Tomato Basil Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons — American

Keep reading: what richness, salinity, allium mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.