Vichyssoise ( , ), also known as potage Parmentier, velouté Parmentier, or crème Parmentier, is a thick

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ing ...

made of boiled and

purée A purée (or mash) is cooked food, usually vegetables, fruits or legumes, that has been ground, pressed, blended or sieved to the consistency of a creamy paste or liquid. Purées of specific foods are often known by specific names, e.g., apple ...

leeks The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of ''Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus ''Alli ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es,

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

, and

chicken stock Stock, sometimes called bone broth, is a savory cooking liquid that forms the basis of many dishes particularly soups, stews, and sauces. Making stock involves simmering animal bones, meat, seafood, or vegetables in water or wine, often for an ...

. It is traditionally served cold, but it can be eaten hot.

Origin

Recipes for soup made of pureed leeks and potatoes were common by the 19th century in France. In 19th-century cookbooks, and still today, they are often named "Potage Parmentier" or "Potage à la Parmentier" after

Antoine-Augustin Parmentier Antoine-Augustin Parmentier (, , ; 12 August 1737 – 13 December 1813) was a French pharmacist and agronomist, best remembered as a vocal promoter of the potato as a food source for humans in France and throughout Europe. His many other contrib ...

, the French nutritionist and scholar who popularized the use of potatoes in France in the 18th century. The French military cookbook of 1938 includes a recipe for "Potage Parmentier for 100 men" using milk instead of cream but with proportions and directions that are similar to the recipe for "Vichyssoise Soup" given later by Julia Child. The origins of the soup are a subject of debate among culinary historians; one version of the story is that

Louis XV of France Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

was afraid of being poisoned and had so many servants taste the potato leek soup that, by the time he tried it, the soup was cold, and since he enjoyed it that way it became a cold soup. Julia Child called it "an American invention", whereas others observe that "the origin of the soup is questionable in whether it's genuinely French or an American creation".

Louis Diat Louis Felix Diat (May 5, 1885 – August 29, 1957) was a French-American chef and culinary writer. It is also believed that he created vichyssoise soup during his time at the Ritz Paris. Biography Childhood Diat was born in 1885 in Bourbon-l' ...

, a French chef at the

Ritz-Carlton The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC is an American multinational company that operates the luxury hotel chain known as The Ritz-Carlton. The company has 108 luxury hotels and resorts in 30 countries and territories with 29,158 rooms, in addit ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

who grew up in

Montmarault Montmarault (; oc, Montmaraut) is a commune in the Allier department in central France. Population Tourism The ''Petite Valette'' campground has been named the best camping of the Auvergne by the German ADAC ADAC, officially the Al ...

in the

Allier Allier ( , , ; oc, Alèir) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region that borders Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire to the east, Puy-de-Dôme to the south, and Creuse to the south-west. Named afte ...

department near the

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

resort town of

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a Spa town, spa and resort town and in World ...

, is most often credited with its reinvention. In 1950, Diat told ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' magazine: The same article explains that the soup was first called ''Crème Vichyssoise Glacée'', after the spa town. In 1930 the restaurant's menu changed from French to English, whereupon it was called ''Cream Vichyssoise Glacée''. Earlier, French chef

Jules Gouffé Jules Gouffé (1807 – 28 February 1877) was a renowned French chef and pâtissier. He was nicknamed ''l'apôtre de la cuisine décorative'' (french: The apostle of decorative cuisine). He had a deep impact on the evolution of French gastr ...

created a recipe for a hot potato and leek soup, publishing a version in ''Royal Cookery'' (1869).

References

External links

Traditional recipe for Vichyssoise soup
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518094643/http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Classic-Vichyssoise/Detail.aspx , date=2011-05-18 Cold soups French soups Occitan cuisine Potato dishes Leek dishes

Origin

See also

References

External links