This Chinese delicacy is made by soaking and cooking the nests of a type of swift. The bird makes its nest with saliva.

Bird’s nest soup is also a delicacy in the Philippine province of Palawan, specifically in the northern town of El Nido, which aptly translates to “the nest.” It was there in this laid-back beach-resort town that I was curious to sample the controversial soup — sort of a “when in Rome” moment. To my surprise, only a few of the dozens of restaurants in El Nido actually served bird’s nest soup. Most Filipinos don’t eat it; it’s mainly a dish they prepare for curious tourists who’ve likely heard about it from Zimmern or Bourdain. Local restaurants might not even prepare it at all if not for the main ingredient being conveniently “local”; surrounding El Nido and the nearby islands of Bacuit Bay are hundreds of limestone rock formations, where daring Filipino climbers ascend sharp cliff sides to harvest the nests from caves high above.

Pieces of the nest are stored in a cool, dry place, but then are soaked in cold water overnight before they are stewed with chicken stock and a little cornstarch. The result is a thick and hearty soup that looks, tastes and feels like egg drop soup from a Chinese takeout joint, only with soft bits of nest pieces (that don’t require much effort to chew) in lieu of egg. The thickness of the soup might suggest that the base is actually saliva, but when you realize that’s just the cornstarch in the stock, it mentally goes down easier. In fact, it goes down really easy because, to my surprise, it actually tasted quite good — minus that aftertaste of guilt for having stolen a bird’s home to enjoy it.

Credit : Cooking Channel 

Picture Credit : Google