French technique makes food creamy

Making what  chefs call a liaison is usually taught in French technique classes at culinary school. A liaison is nothing more than mixing a warm liquid with egg yolks so that the egg yolks coagulate slowly and thicken the sauce making it rich and creamy. The danger, of course, is that you add the hot liquid too quickly and you scramble the eggs. But with a little practice, a liaison is a useful technique every cook can master. It's great as a base for making ice creams and puddings and for thickening soups and sauces.

I learned to make a liaison some 30 years ago from a chef/professor in a Greek cooking class at the Culinary Institute of America.

Chef Dimitri, who was already 80 years old when I was a student, was a small gentleman with a huge moustache. He could whip up the perfect liaison every time and never ended up with scrambled eggs. He had us practice the technique making Greek Egg and Lemon Soup.

This creamy, tart, golden yellow soup is like slurping a bowl of warm sunshine. It is traditionally made from chicken stock, however it is equally delicious made with vegetable stock. It is also typically made with white rice but you can substitute orzo if you prefer.