Thick Soups

Cream soups are soups thickened with roux, beurre manié, liaison, or other added thickening agents, plus milk and/or cream. They are similar to velouté and béchamel sauces—in fact, they may be made by diluting and flavoring either of these two leading sauces.

Cream soups are usually named after their major ingredient, as in cream of chicken or cream of asparagus.

Purée soups are soups naturally thickened by puréeing one or more of their ingredients. They are not as smooth and creamy as cream soups.

Purées are normally based on starchy ingredients. They may be made from dried legumes (such as split pea soup) or from fresh vegetables with a starchy ingredient, such as potatoes or rice, added. Purées may or may not contain milk or cream.

Bisques are thickened soups made from shellfish. They are usually prepared like cream soups and are almost always finished with cream.

The term bisque is sometimes used on menus for a variety of vegetable soups. In these cases, it is really a marketing term rather than a technical term, so it is impossible to give a definition that covers all uses.