The chilly charms of cool summer soups
I CONFESS that I am a recent convert to the charms of cold soups. As the weather heats up, they offer welcome respite from a hot kitchen, but you’ll find that cold soups are refreshingly satisfying all year round.
One of the best known chilled soups is vichyssoise, the leek and potato soup that was invented, or re-invented, as the case may be, by French-born chef Louis Diat of the Ritz-Carlton in New York. “In the summer of 1917,” Diat told The New Yorker in 1950, “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.”
He named it Crème Vichyssoise Glacée, after Vichy, which is near his home town of Montmarault, France.
Another well-known cold soup is gazpacho, which is most often tomato and water based, and includes a variety of fresh vegetables.
Asparagus and rhubarb are particularly tasty, but my favourite ingredient to use as a base for chilled soup has to be fruit. Blackberry, raspberry and strawberry soups are all particularly refreshing.
Inventing a chilled soup is really quite simple. Choose a fruit and an herb that complement one another—watermelon and mint, or blueberry and basil, for example—and purée them together with a liquid of your choosing.
I like to use white wine or even champagne if I’m feeling extravagant, but if you are preparing a soup for kids, you can use sparkling grape juice. Serve cold soups “as is” or finish them with cream.
Following are some of my favourite chilled soups.