Julia Child's 3-Ingredient Potato Soup Was One Of Her Favorites

Over the course of her career as a foundational cooking show host, Julia Child exhibited some of the finest dishes of her time. Renowned for bringing many of the culinary traditions of France to television audiences in the United States, Child has imbued everyday households with a litany of excellent dishes and top-shelf cooking tips to make every meal seem like a work of art. But for all the dishes that she showcased over the years, one of her favorites — vichyssoise, a cold potato soup — was actually one of the simplest.

Vichyssoise is a classic French dish which essentially boils down to a potato-leek soup that has been pureed and served cold. It's a dish that stands up perfectly well on its own, but it can also serve admirably as a base for you to throw in other vegetables and ingredients — and Child has a few great tips for additions that will bring your vichyssoise to the next level. There's just something about the potatoes and leeks that blend so perfectly together, making a soup that's both enjoyable and completely stress-free. And as if it couldn't get any better, Child's preferred recipe only uses a few select ingredients.

On the second season of her show "The French Chef," Child demonstrates the making of her own vichyssoise, and you might be taken aback at first over how effortless this soup seems. But this isn't any kind of deception from the cameras — Child's vichyssoise really is as simple as it appears. All you really need are potatoes, leeks, and some water, and you're ready to start your very own vichyssoise.

Child is no stranger to elevating potato dishes – like her simple hack for dressing potato salad – and she's at it again here. As Child elaborates on her show, you can mash this soup once the vegetables are tender. If you don't have a way of turning this soup into a puree, you can use a potato masher or something similar to make a soup "the peasant way," to use Child's own words — although this is less of a vichyssoise and more of a traditional potato-leek soup meant to be served hot. But whichever way you make it, this is a foolproof recipe that yields a product equating way more than the sum of its parts.

While this three-ingredient soup is incredibly satisfying in its own right, there's definitely room to make some alterations and put your vichyssoise a notch above the baseline version. Child herself outlines a few extra optional ingredients in the same episode, remarking how a bit of cream can add a luxurious boost to your soup both in terms of taste and texture. As well, she also (rightfully) recommends adding some freshly-chopped chives as a garnish for your vichyssoise once it's in its serving bowl. This not only adds a lovely pop of green to your dish, but also provides that subtle onion-like flavor that compliments the soup so well.

If you plan on serving this soup cold in the traditional vichyssoise method, then Child gives you one more crucial tip. Both on her show and in her cookbook, Child recommends over-salting your vichyssoise. She explains that soup tends to lose some of its "savor" once it cools, so an over-salted hot soup should become a perfectly balanced cold soup. With these tips in hand, you're sure to make an exceptional vichyssoise that Child herself would be proud of. And if you still have some potatoes leftover, try out another exceptional soup dish with this creamy lohikeitto recipe, or continue down the French traditional route by experimenting with a cheesy French onion soup!