VICHYSSOISE RECIPE & HISTORY - all you need to know! (2024)

FAQs

What is the history of vichyssoise? ›

As I already mentioned, Vichyssoise is a variant of potato and leak soup that French people have been making for the last several centuries. The version that became a household name in the UK and North America was the creation of a chef named Louis Félix Diat from a small town near the famous French spa town of Vichy.

[viʃiswaz ] feminine noun. (Cookery) (= soupe) vichyssoise ⧫ cream of leek and potato soup. Collins French-English Dictionary © by HarperCollins Publishers.

There seems to be some debate about the true origin of soup made with potatoes and leeks. Evidence of soups featuring these ingredients appears in French, Irish and Welsh culinary tradition.

Soup was one of Julia Child's favorite things to eat, and reportedly, her absolute favorite was vichyssoise. Leek and potato soup, known as potage parmentier in French, is a classic base soup recipe. What sets vichyssoise apart is the addition of cream—and the fact that it is traditionally served chilled.

A cup of cream, an extra straining, and a sprinkle of chives, et voila, I had my new soup. I named my version of maman's soup after Vichy, the famous spa located not twenty miles from our Bourbonnais home, as a tribute to the fine cooking of the region.

The exact time period that soup was invented remains debatable. However according to archaeologist John Speth, our ancient Neanderthal relatives were likely to have begun boiling meat to render fat from animal bones – resulting in a meat broth that they would have drunk as soup.

Vichyssoise has, as its name suggests, distinctly French roots, but its soul belongs to Manhattan. The dish was created by a chef named Louis Diat, who modeled it after a beloved leek and potato soup his doting mother made him as a boy growing up in Montmarault, France.

Vichyssoise is generally much creamier than gazpacho and includes starchier vegetables such as turnips, parsnips or potatoes.

* Common problem with Potato Leek Soups that call for blitzing to death until completely smooth. Power of blender = activates starch in potatoes = gluey. Same thing that happens if you use a food processor or blender for mashed potato!

Why is my potato and leek soup slimy? ›

If you blend or puree the potatoes for too long, the starch inside the potatoes will leak into the broth and create a gelatin-like consistency. It's for this reason, we like to blend the soup in batches (so if we over-blend a little it won't ruin the whole thing!) and only until it's just smooth.

Why does my leek and potato soup taste bitter? A bitter taste in your leek and potato soup could come from a few possible sources. One common cause is overcooked or burnt leeks. Leeks, like onions, can become bitter if they're cooked for too long or at too high a heat.

Julia Child worked in advertising, media, and secret intelligence before writing her first cookbook when she was 50, launching her career as a celebrity chef in 1961.

Their first stop was a restaurant called La Couronne. Julia ordered the simple, classic French dish—fillet of sole cooked with butter, lemon, parsley and flour. The meal proved to be life-changing, sparking her culinary curiosity and a desire to learn French cooking.

Child's Boeuf Bourguignon recipe was featured in one of the earliest episodes of The French Chef and has become a classic among the many Child enthusiasts at GBH. In fact, GBH News host Henry Santoro concludes there's no better recipe for the dish.

As you've probably guessed, cold soups aren't typically Canadian, but European. In fact, they originated gazpacho was evolving, which was in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, located in southwestern Europe where the heat is really hot and stifling all-year round.

If you're wondering where French onion soup originated, you should know that the roots of this classic dish lie in the broths of ancient Rome. While it was first prepared over 8,000 years ago, it was only in the 18th century that it was served in restaurants across Paris.

Legend has it that this humble dish was invented by King Louis XV in the 18th century: upon returning to his hunting lodge late one night and being overcome by a ravenous hunger, he threw together the only ingredients he could find in the kitchen: onions, butter, and champagne, simmering the 3 together to create a ...

History. The earliest evidence for soup in human culinary practice dates to the Upper Palaeolithic period when thermally altered rocks became commonplace in the archaeological record. Small boiling pits are present on the Gravettian site Pavlov VI.