Bird’s-nest soup is a famous Chinese dish. The soup is made from the nests of swiftlets, certain southeastern Asian birds belonging to the swift family. The nests are held together by the hardened saliva of male swiftlets. When cooked, the nests take on a chewy consistency that adds a pleasing texture to the soup. The soup’s taste comes mainly from the type of broth in which the nests are cooked. In the best-known type of bird’s-nest soup, the nests are cooked in a thickened chicken broth mixed with velvet chicken (fluffy egg white and finely chopped chicken). Other kinds of bird’s-nest soups include a salty soup that is usually served as an appetizer and a sweet, dessert soup made with watermelon.
