A velvety chilled soup of leeks and potatoes puréed smooth and enriched with cream, served cold with a scatter of fresh chives. Delicate and pale, it tastes of sweet leek and silky potato with a clean, refreshing finish. A summer classic of the haute-cuisine repertoire.
Created in the early 20th century by French-born chef Louis Diat at the Ritz-Carlton in New York, who named his mother's leek-and-potato soup after the spa town of Vichy near his birthplace.
Cold and impossibly smooth, it slips across the palate with the gentle sweetness of softened leek and the body of creamy potato. The chives add a fresh oniony snap that wakes up each spoonful. Elegant and cooling, it feels far more refined than its humble ingredients.
Sweating the leeks without browning preserves their pale colour and sweet, mellow flavour, while the potato starch gives the soup its body. Sieving after blending removes any fibre, producing the signature silky texture, and chilling mutes saltiness so it is seasoned a touch more boldly.
Variations
It can also be served hot as a leek-and-potato soup (potage parmentier); some garnish with crème fraîche, and luxe versions float a spoon of caviar on top.
On the Palate
Where Vichyssoise sits in the French flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
8 steps · 20 min
- 16 min
Trim and thinly slice the white and pale-green parts of the leeks.
- 28 min
Melt butter in a pot and sweat the leeks gently without colouring.
Watch outSweat the leeks soft over low heat but keep them pale — no colour at all; any browning muddies both the ivory colour and the sweet, mellow flavour.
- 33 min
Add peeled, diced potatoes and stir to coat in the butter.
- 420 min
Pour in chicken or vegetable stock and simmer until the potatoes are very soft.
- 55 min
Blend the soup until completely smooth, then pass it through a fine sieve.
Watch outBlend until dead smooth, then push it through a fine sieve — feel for any grit or fibre left behind; that straining is what gives the signature silky body.
- 62 min
Stir in cream and season with salt and white pepper.
Watch outSeason a touch bolder than tastes right while warm — chilling mutes the salt, so an under-seasoned soup turns flat and bland once cold.
- 7180 min
Chill the soup thoroughly for at least three hours.
- 82 min
Serve cold in bowls with a generous sprinkle of snipped chives.
