The butternut squash soup looked positively glorious, a shimmering bright orange pool centered with a white dollop of crème fraiche, a swirl of olive oil and a handful of toasted pepitas.
And though it hardly seemed possible, it tasted even better than it looked.
I think I know the secret. I think the chef did not just use cream in his soup — he used a cream base.
A common restaurant trick when making soup is to add cream. Cream instantly makes any vegetable soup taste richer and more satisfying. You feel like you are getting more for your money when soup has cream in it, and the chef can bask in your praise and repeat business.
Cream is a natural and almost necessary accompaniment to certain kinds of soup, too. The combination of mushrooms and cream is one of the happiest romances known to man, and asparagus and celery root cry with happiness whenever they are added to cream.