Traditional Cawl Bara Lawr
“Ah, cold salt mutton. I must be home. When I break my fast on gulls’ eggs and seaweed soup, I’ll be certain of it.” -A Storm of Swords
Modern Egg Drop Seaweed Soup
Our Thoughts
Cawl bara lawr is popular with the coastal folk of Wales for more reasons than just ingredient availability- it’s creamy, hearty texture bolsters one up on cold, blustery, winter days. Though perhaps not the prettiest soup to grace our tables, the complexity of flavor was certainly surprising. The saltiness of the laver is well-balanced by the sweetness of the parsnips (always sweeter after the first frost!). As for the “gull’s egg”, we settled for quail. May is gull egg season, and they are even harder to come by here in the US than they are in the UK. Nonetheless, the addition of a fried egg to our hearty breakfast added the protein the soup lacked.
Our modern seaweed egg drop soup is a bit of a stretch from what is described in the book. However, it is a wonderful combination of flavors and textures. The soup is surprisingly hearty, the mushrooms, seaweed and egg combining to make a dish substantial enough to be a meal in itself. Low in calories and effort and high in nutrients, this is a winter time must!
Traditional Cawl Bara Lawr
Ingredients:
- 1 stick butter (8 Tablespoons)
- 30g laver
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 medium carrot, chopped
- 4 medium parsnips (or two large), chopped
- 5 cups lamb stock (or beef stock!)
- salt and pepper
- 1 gull egg (or quail, chicken, or duck egg)
Melt the butter in a large saucepan, and add parsnips and carrots. Cook over medium-high heat until vegetables are beginning to brown. Pour stock and laver into the saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 30 minutes, or until vegetables have gone soft. Using a sieve (if you have godly patience) or a blender, liquidise the soup and serve.
Fry the egg to your preference, we’ve chosen sunny side up.
Modern Egg Drop Seaweed Soup
Ingredients:
- 6 shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
- 6 cups vegetable stock
- 1/3 cup dried wakame seaweed
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 medium onion, quartered and sliced thin
- scallion greens to garnish
- pepper to taste
- 1 egg, beaten
Very intriguing soup. I can get wakame without any problem but I’m curious to try laver. I SHOULD be able to get it here in Canada even though I’m in the middle of the country. :)
If you can’t get traditional laver, Japanese nori is practically the same thing. My aunt makes cawl bara lawr fairly often with it, and she says it tastes the same. :)
I don’t recognize the quote. Is this an ASOIAF recipe, or one that you think should be in the next book?
It’s from A Storm of Swords!
Ironically, I just got to this point in my first read-through tonight. Recognizing the line gave me a pleasant surprise.
Hi there! I wanted to ask where you found this recipe for the modern version of the seaweed soup? I don’t think that the mushrooms and onions are supposed to remain in the “finalized product.” I’ve lived in Korea and Japan for quite some time, where both countries consume this soup, but I’ve never seen chunks of vegetables added in during my stays there. My understanding is that these ingredients are used to flavor the stock itself and then strained from the soup. The result should be a relatively clear broth with the seaweed remaining and/or the scallions sprinkled on top like garnish. The egg I’ve seen used in some households and restaurants but it is not considered a traditional ingredient, more like a modern addition.
Like most of our recipes, the seaweed soup is an amalgamation of recipes we’ve either read, tasted, talked about, or imagined. This particular one was, indeed, based on Asian soups. I left the seaweed, onions, and mushrooms in the soup rather than strain them out in order to make it a more hearty soup, suitable as a meal on it’s own. The broth on it’s own is very tasty, and could be strained and served alone if you chose to do so.
The Cawl Bara Lawr sounds delicious! No idea where to get fresh laver in London, but I saw some parsnips in the shop and I might give it a go!