Hailing from southern China, wonton soup has been North America's favorite Chinese soup for decades. Wonton is derived from yun tun, Mandarin for "swallowing clouds." Peer into a fragrant bowl of clear chicken broth floating plump, billowing wontons, and it all makes perfect sense.

Chinese chicken soup is as simple as boiling a chicken in water with a few slices of ginger. The whole bird creates a rich, deeply-flavored soup, while the cooked meat can be used in everything from noodle dishes to fried rice.

The wonton filling is made from ground pork seasoned with scallions, rice wine, sesame oil, and soy sauce. Chopped shrimp and crunchy bits of water chestnut may be folded in. This mixture is wrapped in delicate skins of flour, egg, and water, and then boiled in water so they won't cloud the soup.

A sip of ginger-scented broth followed by a bite of a juicy wonton will transport you back to your first meal at a Chinese restaurant. Wontons may have lost some ground to hot-and-sour over the years, but a soup that tastes of childhood will never go out of style.