Garbure, Pot-Au-Feu, and other Soups

Appears in

Published 1987

About

“Faire bien la soupe!” (“Make a good soup!”) That’s what mothers teach their daughters in Southwest France. If France is a country of soup-eaters, the Southwest is the land of soup-lovers. Here soup is often eaten more than once a day, and an entire evening meal might well consist of only a fine, rich soup.

The soups of the Southwest range from very simple, to extremely hearty, to ravishingly elegant. I believe there are more varieties of soups eaten here than in all the other regions of France. The Périgord cooks are the most famous soup-makers in the region. Theirs are rich in nutrients, medicinal qualities, and the fortifying powers attributed to the classic chicken soup of Jewish mothers.