Are 汤 and 羹 used to refer to different kinds of soup or is 羹 merely a part of the full word for soup (汤羹)? For example, is one used to refer to light soups while the other is reserved for heavy broths?
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In my opinion, 汤 is a more common to be seen. When it refers to "soup", the "soup" is thin. I mean, most ingredient is water, and you can find other things such as meat, vegetables,etc. inside the water. 羹 is a thick soup. Generally, we will add some 芡粉(qiàn fĕn)(most composition is the starch) to the soup(We call this action "勾芡(gōu qiàn)"). The starch will absord the water, so it makes the soup "thick". |
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For 羹， have a look at this article at wikipedia. |
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In my opinion, 羹 is thicker in texture whereas 汤 is more watery like stock. for example: chicken stock: 鸡(chicken)汤 EDIT: interesting note: when you translate the book title "chicken soup for the soul", it's translated to 心灵鸡汤 (chicken stock of the soul), so chicken soup and chicken stock both translate to 汤。 |
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