Welcome to Whisk Wednesdays! I've joined Shari of Whisk: a food blog and a bunch of other intrepid bloggers in the weekly adventure of working our way through a classical cooking curriculum from Le Cordon Bleu at Home.
This week's lesson was to prepare Billy Bi, a soup made with mussels, onions, wine, cream and seasonings. Though there are several stories of the soup's origin, the most popular is that Maxim's chef Louis Barthe named it after a regular patron who particularly loved the soup, American tin tycoon William B. (Billy B.) Leeds.
As I made this soup I found myself wondering if it's a bisque or a velouté-based soup. The nice thing about cooking along with a group is that you can send out an email with these sorts of questions. Shari came up with a great response:
"Is it a bechamel or a velouté base? Béchamel is similar to velouté, but the liquid that's added is milk not stock. This soup has both stock and cream with a roux. I would say that it starts with a velouté since that's the order the ingredients are worked in..."
Billy Bi is surprisingly easy to make, given its rich and complex flavor. The ingredients list is short and sweet, consisting of butter, shallots, celery, white wine, water, mussels, black pepper, heavy cream and chives. The recipe did not call for any salt, but I added a pinch when I tasted it before serving. Preparing the soup was a breeze and consisted of these three basic steps:
1) Make the initial broth by cooking the shallots in a little butter before adding water, wine and some celery... and then steam mussels (in their shells) in the broth. Collect the cooked mussels and set aside. Strain the broth to remove any sand, as well as the shallots and celery.
2) Shell the mussels and divide them into two portions. Put the strained broth back in the pot along with half of the mussels and cook until reduced by about a third. Strain the broth a second time, mashing up the mussels to extract all of their briny goodness, and then discard the poor dear things (kitchen culture can be so brutal).
3) Make a roux, and whisk in the strained broth. Let it simmer for a bit to develop it's full mussel-y flavor, and then add heavy cream and the remaining mussels. Sprinkle with chives.
Simple, right? The recipe called for a new pot with each step, a concept I immediately rejected. I found it simpler to just strain the broth into a bowl set aside for that purpose and then to re-use the same pot I'd started with. Even so, I had a shocking amount of washing up to do later.
Were all those dishes worth it? Decidedly so! I would never have tried making this soup if it hadn't been assigned to me and I'd have missed out on a really wonderful experience. Billy Bi tastes like pure essence of mussels, or perhaps like mussels in their Platonic ideal form. Indeed, Jack paid me the highest compliment, remarking, "This is of restaurant quality, and I don't mean just any restaurant, I mean a good restaurant."
Next Week: Julienne Darblay (Creamed Leek and Potato Soup with Julienned Vegetables) page 133-134
This soup does sound delicious! Looking forward to the further adventures of Whisk Wednesdays.
Posted by: Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) | July 09, 2008 at 06:43 PM
Oh, Jack was right...this was one very good soup...and I think it had something to do with all those pots and pans and dishes used to make it...LOL! My biggest question was what size to use, so I got out my big ones as I thought maybe those were the "medium" they called for and they were huge, so I really had a huge stack, but at least now I know how to gauge the size a little better. It was so worth it.
I laughed at your comment about the cruelty of cooking...too funny.
I'm so happy you joined us...your post was wonderful and fun and I learned some things, too...a perfect combination!
Posted by: Kayte | July 09, 2008 at 07:03 PM
I think it's funny that we all found the stack of dishes incredible after this soup. Your idea of straining into a bowl instead and reusing the bowl is brilliant. Why didn't I think of that!?! I'm glad you enjoyed the soup, and I love your picture. So glad you joined us too!!
-Shari
Posted by: Shari | July 09, 2008 at 08:42 PM
Yum! This looks really delicious. I can certainly imagine eating this... just not on a night like this one when it's SO hot!!
Posted by: Sophie | July 09, 2008 at 08:53 PM
Hah! "This is restaurant quality!" Best line from First Wives' Club. Thanks, Sarah Jessica Parker!
I love the taste of mussels so I'm just aching to have this soup now despite the warm weather! The one thing I can't make my peace with is throwing away those mussel meats! Nooooooo! :P
Posted by: Manggy | July 09, 2008 at 11:01 PM
how sophisticated and elegant! i don't think i'm civilized enough to eat something like this. :) it looks sensational!
Posted by: grace | July 10, 2008 at 05:32 AM
this soup looks like what i needed to cheer me up :-) .looking forward to your whisking adventures..i'll probably join the group too :-)have a nice day Ann
Posted by: dhanggit | July 10, 2008 at 08:10 AM
Oh this is a good one! I haven't made it in a while but I remember the perfect taste. Delicious! You should collect all these 'restaurant quality' recipes and open a restaurant one day. Ha! Okay, just kidding... You have to be completely mad to open a restaurant and I know you're not. :-)
Posted by: zenchef | July 10, 2008 at 08:18 AM
That is a soup my Billy (husband) needs to try, so does his father (Bill). It does sound delicious and looks super smooth! Great group event!
Posted by: Tartelette | July 10, 2008 at 01:51 PM
It looks completely delicious! I'm glad that you did the bad*ss thing though and used the same pot :-)
Posted by: Cakespy | July 10, 2008 at 06:16 PM
I love that group, it's like a training program, but I'm sad because I can't join...the lack of many ingredients is "killing" me. This soup looks gorgeously smooth.
Posted by: Lore | July 12, 2008 at 07:33 AM
That soup looks divine and I cannot wait to see the one you are making next week!
Posted by: Veronica | July 12, 2008 at 09:39 AM
That sounds like a terrific group. And we'll all get to learn thanks to posts like this. That soup must have been deliciously velvety.
Posted by: Susan from Food Blogga | July 14, 2008 at 10:51 PM
Over 4th of July we were doing a concert (community chorus and band) in which we sang, "Billy Boy"...and yes, I went there with this soup! I love your explanation of the soup...and how you both felt about it. I'm a bit put off by mussels, not discouraged, but anxious in a nervous way. And I haven't been able to score reasonably fresh mussels yet, but I'm still working on it! Can see it now...I'll be having mussel soup in the middle of some kind of dessert lesson! Enjoy the Julienne Darblay! It's wonderful!
Posted by: Glennis - Can't Believe We Ate | July 16, 2008 at 12:29 AM
Hi,
Nice soup.I love the taste of mussels so I'm just aching to have this soup now despite the warm weather!
Posted by: tin whiskers | December 23, 2008 at 12:06 AM
Just discovered your site today while looking for mussel recipes - and this sounds delicious! My only question is how much flour and butter for a roux; I mean, is there a basic rule of thumb for those two measurements based on the amount of liquid? Looking forward to more Whisk Wednesdays!
Posted by: Betty | December 21, 2010 at 03:12 PM