Vichyssoise
 | |
| Type | Soup |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | France or United States |
| Serving temperature | Cold |
| Main ingredients | Leeks, onions, potatoes, cream, chicken stock |
 Cookbook: Vichyssoise  Media: Vichyssoise | |
Vichyssoise (/ˌvɪʃiˈswɑːz/ US dict: vish·ē·swäz′; French pronunciation: [vi.ʃi.swaz]) is a thick soup made of puréed leeks, onions, potatoes, cream, and chicken stock. It is traditionally served cold but can be eaten hot.[1]
Origin
The origins of Vichyssoise are a subject of debate among culinary historians; Julia Child calls it "an American invention",[2] whereas others observe that "the origin of the soup is questionable in whether it's genuinely French or an American creation".[3]
Louis Diat, a French chef at the Ritz-Carlton in New York City, is most often credited with its (re)invention.[4] In 1950, Diat told New Yorker magazine:
In the summer of 1917, when I had been at the Ritz seven years, I reflected upon the potato and leek soup of my childhood which my mother and grandmother used to make. I recalled how during the summer my older brother and I used to cool it off by pouring in cold milk and how delicious it was. I resolved to make something of the sort for the patrons of the Ritz.[5]
The same article explains that the soup was first titled Crème Vichyssoise Glacée. Then, after the restaurant's menu changed from French to English in 1930, Cream Vichyssoise Glacée. Diat named it after Vichy, a town not far from his home town of Montmarault, France.
Earlier, French chef Jules Gouffé created a recipe for a hot potato and leek soup, publishing a version in Royal Cookery (1869).[6]
In popular culture
In the 1962 war film Hell is for Heroes, PFC Driscoll (Bob Newhart) monologues on a field telephone, saying that the new cook is working out except for "One problem, his vichyssoise tastes a little too much like potato soup... Oh, they're supposed to taste like potato soup."
In the 1963 film Fun in Acapulco, Mike Windgren (Elvis Presley) is eating vichyssoise when Maximilion Dauphin (Paul Lukas) dips a thermometer into the soup, to which Windgren responds "is it catching?" referring to the cold of the soup. After that a small debate ensues about the serving temperature of vichyssoise, [40 degrees always!] according to Dauphin.
In a 1973 season 4 episode of All in the Family, Archie's neighbor Frank Lorenzo prepares Vichyssoise as a delicacy for the Bunkers, much to Archie's dismay.
In the 1985 musical comedy "Nunsense", the Little Sisters of Hoboken stage a variety show in order to raise the money needed to bury fifty-two of their sister nuns. The fifty-two dead nuns were accidentally poisoned by the vichysois soup served to them by their cook.
In the 1992 film Batman Returns, the butler Alfred (Michael Gough) brings a bowl of vichyssoise to Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton), who complains that the soup is cold. Alfred then explains that vichyssoise is "supposed to be cold".
In the 1994 film The Mask, "I will dip my ladle in your vichyssoise" is a famous quote from the protagonist, Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey). It is used as a sexual innuendo.
The eponymous character of the 2006 film V for Vendetta refers to his alliterative declaration of purpose a "veritable verbal vichyssoise."
In the 2011 film Jumping The Broom, There is a scene after the rehearsal dinner where Gregory (Brian Stokes Mitchell) tells Claude (Angela Bassett) they are broke and she comments, "Well, if the sofa hasn't been repossessed, please find yourself on it tonight". His response includes, "..I'm gonna have some leftover vichyssoise and I am gonna pour myself a Scotch. Then I'm gonna go up to our bedroom, get into our bed, go to sleep, and snore.".
In the 2013 film Movie 43, the first non-frame sequence, The Catch, features Kate Winslet and Hugh Jackman eating vichyssoise as a course in their meal and, more specifically, Jackman's characters "neckballs" dipping into the soup at one point in the meal.
In Downton Abbey (BBC TV) series 4 episode 5 (aired 26 January 2014), the French sous-chef of the Ritz hotel London has job applicants making vichyssoise as a test of employment, citing its popularity at the Ritz New York.
In the 2015 anime series Food Wars Zenji Marui presents his White Potage Curry Udon, an original curry dish which has a roux constructed in the vichyssoise style of creaming potatoes and cream, during the Totsuki Autumn Election.
In the video game Tales of Vesperia, Vichyssoise is a cookable dish for the characters and is featured in a skit when one of the characters has mastered making it. However, her companions keep calling it potato soup rather than Vichyssoise.
In the classic video game Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (LucasArts, 1991) the protagonist Guybrush Threepwood slips a rat into a pot with Vichyssoise. When the restaurant's owner discovers the rodent, he fires the cook and hires Guybrush instead.
See also
References
- ↑ Some like it hot
- ↑ Mastering the Art of French Cooking, p. 39
- ↑ Cooknkate.wordpress.com
- ↑ Kamp, David. The United States of Arugula, New York: Broadway Books, 2006
- ↑ Hellman, Geoffrey T. (1950). "Talk of the Town". The New Yorker (12/02). Archived from the original on 14 November 2006.
- ↑ Thenibble.com