Chill Out?

Saucyman – Is vichyssoise an authentic soup? - What is the Soup of the Day?

Yes, it fits in a bowl, it is liquid and it can be spooned in the most loving way. Serving the combination of potatoes and leeks chilled should disqualify the dish from the soup category – I have just never been able to get behind the concept of chilled soups – Ever notice how gazpacho would make a real good drink base. But vichyssoise doesn’t have to be served cold – it isn’t revenge, it is soup.

Maybe the more specific question at hand - Is the soup authentically Vichy? Vichy is a town in South Central France - For centuries the town was famous for its waters, both mineral and holy. For about 4 years Vichy was the seat of the collaborative Nazi Government in France. Guess which one Vichy is currently associated with?

Vichy was so identified with the Nazi, that various expat chefs attempted to rename the soup Crème Gauloise in the early 1940s - if they had only chosen Freedom Soup. The soup’s creator, Louis Diat, avoided using the name Vichyssoise in his own cookbook. But it didn’t matter, the name had stuck; potato leek soup is vichyssoise, vichyssoise is potato leek soup. Although the word has evolved since it was first used in the early 20th century, vichyssoise now has a more generic use to describe any chilled, pureed soup…a vichyssoise of white beans and sweet onions. BTW – not defending the usage, only reporting on it.

Maybe the bigger question is: Is vichyssoise even French? Chef Diat, was the rarest ingredients in America’s melting pot, A Franco-American, making he and Boyardee the odd émigrés. Diat was born in the greater Vichy area but created his soup while serving at New York’s Ritz-Carlton. Second hand sources report Diat was inspired by a hot soup his own dear Mama made when he was a young Frenchman. Diat’s contribution to this new soup was the chilling and the chive garnish.

A French Chef, inspired by French ingredients reinvents a dish from his French youth. This means of course that vichyssoise is…American, or thought of largely as an American preparation. Diat began serving the dish in New York either in 1914 or 1917. By 1923 La Revue Culinaire identified the dish as an American soup. This isn’t a case of giving credit where credit is due, here American means a bastardization of French technique and style.

As the rain outside my window and the shortening days reinforce, summer is gone and with its departure goes the temptation to chill soup. Potatoes, leeks and cream is a pretty winning combination - go straight to the source, Diat’s mother and serve the soup hot, on a chilly day – Makes more sense than chilled on a hot day.