30 August 1957,

New York Times,

Creator of Vichyssoise Was 72

Artist of the Menu

Louis Diat, the great chef who created vichyssoise, died yesterday at New York Hospital. He was 72 years old. M. Louis was known for numerous culinary creations that have become a traditional part of the bill of fare in fine restaurants, but he will probably be most widely remembered for what he did with the lowly leek and humble potato: creme vichssoise glacee, a light and subtly tart soup he introduced at the Rizt-Carlton in 1917, seven years after the hotel opened.

41 Years at Ritz-Carlton

The hotel took special pride in its summer roof-garden restaurant, and M. Louis worked hard at dishes to tempt appetites stunned by New York summers. He remembered the leek and potato soup his mother made in France and how he and his brother Lucien - now the chef at the Hotel Plaza-Athenee in Paris - woulod take leftover soup and add chilled milk to it.

Experimenting in his New York kitchen, M. Louis came up with his modern version. The recipe had been modified by other cooks but M. Louis always insisted in making it the way he did when it became an immediate success:

CREME VICHYSSOISE GLACEE

4 leeks, white part

1 medium onion

2 ounces sweet butter

5 medium potatoes

1 quart water or chicken broth

1 tablespoon salt

2 cups milk

2 cups medium cream

1 cup heavy cream

Serves eight.

Finely slice the white part of the leeks and the onion, and brown very slightly in the sweet butter, then add the potatoes, also sliced finely.

Add water or broth and salt. Boil from 35 to 40 minutes.

Crush and rub through a fine strainer.

Return to fire and add 2 cups of milk and 2 cups of medium cream. Season to taste and bring to a boil. Cool and then rub through a very fine strainer.

When soup is cold, add the heavy cream.

Chill thoroughly before serving.

Finely chopped chives may be added when serving.Named for French Spa. Louis named it "Vichyssoise" after Vichy, then known simply as a watering spot where Frenchmen rested their livers, but also known for fine cooking for patients tired of resting the organ to which most French ills are ascribed. The chef had strong feelings about names for dishes. He thought it proper that they should keep the ones given them by their originators - even if it made menus a bit difficult for those not familiar with French. But M. Louis was not unbending. When it was pointed out during the depression that people might be more willing to spend money on French cuisine if they could read the menus, he agreed to a compromise, and henceforth his masterpiece appeared on Ritz-Carlton menus as "Cream Vichyssoise Glacee."