Crème de Champignons

Crème de champignons is the French mushroom soup: mushrooms cooked down in butter, bound with a roux, simmered in stock, blended smooth and finished with cream.

What it really is

In classical French kitchen language a velouté is built on a white roux let down with stock, while a crème was thickened on a milk base. Both are finished with cream, and on modern menus the two words name the same bowl. The mushroom is usually the champignon de Paris, the cultivated white button.

Shallot and sliced mushrooms are sweated in butter without taking colour, flour is stirred in and cooked out, stock follows, and the soup simmers until the mushrooms have given up their flavour. It is then blended, often sieved, and enriched with cream off the heat. A squeeze of lemon keeps it pale; long cooking turns it grey.

How it is served

• Hot, as a starter, in a shallow bowl or a cup.
• Often finished with a few sautéed mushroom slices, chopped parsley or croûtons.

How to write it on the menu

• Say which mushrooms: button, wild, or a mix. Guests taste the difference.
• Name the stock. Chicken stock is common; only a vegetable stock makes the dish vegetarian.
• Butter and cream mean milk, and the roux means wheat.

The ingredients, allergens and dietary notes listed here describe a typical recipe. They are not a binding declaration for any particular restaurant: recipes, portion sizes and the products used can differ.