Aïgo-Boulido - Garlic Soup

To awaken even the most blasé appetites...

Everyone knows the smell of garlic, except the one who's eaten it and has no idea why everyone turns away at his approach. - Alexandre Dumas

“Garlic,” states Antoine Furetière in 1690 in his Dictionnaire Universel, “is intense and bitter. Not only does it stimulate the bladder, it is used for the plague, windy colic, and many other illnesses. For this reason it is called the peasants’ theriac. Its use is unpleasant because of the unbearable smell.”

It is thought that garlic was introduced to France by Godefroy de Bouillon, leader of the First Crusade, bringing it back from Asia about the year 1100. It is also said that Louis I, Louis the Pious, had it grown in the Royal Gardens at the recommendation of his doctor in the 9th century, well before Godefroy de Bouillon galloped across that vast foreign continent and picked some of the curious, fragrant bulbs. What we do know is that by the Middle Ages, garlic was cultivated in France and the Gauls - the French - were particularly fond of it. And much like the onion, garlic is cheap and easy to grow, happy anywhere in the garden and requiring little care, even, some claim, boosting the growth of the plants surrounding it. And so it thrived.

Garlic, it is said, flavored the Middle Ages. Les Enseingnemenz Qui Enseingnent a Apareillier Toutes manieres de viandes, Lessons Which Teach the Preparation of All Manner of Meats, dating from the 14th century, thought to be the oldest cookbook in French, has a curious recipe for a garlic sauce “to be served with ‘good roasted’ capons and hens in winter", a sauce made with garlic, cinnamon, and ginger, tempered with almond or sheep’s milk. Garlic, either green or white, was also recommended to flavor all kinds of meats and fish, much as it is today. Guillaume Tirel, better known as Taillevent, also includes a garlic sauce with milk, saulce d’aulx au lait, in Le Viandier published in 1486 (although thought to have been written by another author in 1300) with bread, milk, garlic, and ginger. For fish, he blends ground garlic with mustard, ginger, verjuice, and butter. His sauce cameline includes ginger, cinnamon, cloves, grains of paradise, pepper, vinegar, and salt with the garlic. Albertano di Brescia’s 1393 Le Ménagier de Paris also includes a White or Green Garlic Sauce for birds or beef in which garlic is mashed with bread, and soaked in verjuice, with the addition of parsley for the green version. Cooking in the Middle Ages, as we have seen in the past, was highly spiced and highly acidic, so it is easy to see why garlic was popular. 

The same recipe for a garlic sauce with milk (Saulce d’oulx au laict) in which bread is soaked in milk then mashed with garlic cloves, pepper, cinnamon, and verjuice vinegar to be served with geese and ducks is included in the 1555 cookbook Livre Fort Excellent de Cuisine. And for the first time, we are introduced to Souppe aux aulx, garlic soup. White wine, beef marrow, and crushed garlic are the base for this highly seasoned soup; ginger, cloves, and rosemary complete the dish. Cinnamon and ginger are served with the soup to garnish.

While garlic was a popular flavoring and condiment, the health warnings and benefits were long written about - I won’t even say “debated” because everyone seemed to agree - particularly about the adverse consequence on the breath. Pliny the Elder wrote about garlic in the year 77 in his Naturalis Historia (Natural History): “Garlic, like onion, makes the breath smell bad; however, once cooked, it no longer has this effect. For the rest, so that garlic doesn't smell on your breath, we recommend planting it when the moon is below the horizon, and harvesting it when it is in conjunction…..those who eat garlic have no bad odor if it is eaten with a chard root roasted over hot coals.” Centuries later, Jean-Antoine Huguetan published Le Thresor de Santé in 1607 and included a short chapter on garlic, aulx, writing “They're better for the phlegmatic than for the choleric… Relieves flatulence and incites urination…but frequent use is heavy on the stomach, damages the eyes, liver, and lungs…” He concludes: “They're better cooked than raw, and as they cook they deplete the wickedness of their juices. We eat them every month of May with salt and fresh butter. To eliminate the strong odor when eaten, eat chard root cooked under charcoal, or rue, or lovage, or parsley, or the fragrant root of angelica afterward.” His book is filled with recipes using garlic, both in sauces and as flavorings in cooking meat, fowl, and fish, or for sautéing vegetables and herbs.

A century later, in 1702 Dr. Louis Lémery of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris and the Royal Academy of Sciences, wrote Traité des Aliments, Treatise on Foods, and covered garlic in his text. After a single sentence “garlic should be tender, well-nourished, strong-smelling, with an acrid, pungent flavor” he dives right into the practically miraculous medicinal qualities of this bulbous root: “it comes out in the urine, it breaks kidney and bladder stones, it arouses the ardors of Venus, it resists venom and bad air. It kills worms; it makes the voice clear and pleasant; it is incisive and penetrating. It stimulates the appetite, and consumes the viscosity of the stomach. It is crushed and applied to the wrist at the onset of fever during the phase of shivering.” Adversely, he warns, “it excites headaches, heats the body, makes moods more acrid and agitated, and is harmful to people suffering from hemorrhoids, and to nursing mothers.” But, “It is particularly suitable,” he advises, “in cold weather for the elderly and for those with an abundance of foul and coarse moods or whose stomach digests only with difficulty. But young people with a hot, bilious temperament should abstain.” He explains that garlic is useful for those traveling by sea or ocean as it calms nausea and vomiting (which, he explains, is caused not by the movement of the ship but by the salt air that one breathes in.) “it takes away the contamination caused by salty, foul waters and the bad food we're forced to eat in these times for lack of good food.” Ah, the bad food. 

Louis’ father, Nicolas, gives a much better explanation of what exactly one does with the garlic and what exactly the garlic does. He gives precise recipes for concoctions, poultices and liqueurs, plasters and elixirs, cooking, puréeing, and distilling garlic with honey or wine or mashing them with chickpeas, blending it with such medical ingredients as camphor or hyssop leaves, hellebore, pepper, and spider’s webs, ginger syrup and cinnamon oil, among other things, to cure such things as colic or asthma, to stimulate spitting up of thick mucus in the chest, to drive fever from the body, and, my favorite, protect one against the plague and other epidemics. (La Pharmacopée Universelle, 1716). 

“It arouses the ardors of Venus.” The idea that garlic is an aphrodisiac or is associated with virility has also long been a common thought. In medieval France, garlic soup was said to be given to newly married couples both the morning and the evening of the wedding for both its aphrodisiacal effects and to stimulate fertility. And Henri II, king of France, baptized his newborn grandson, the future Henri IV, with a clove of garlic in December 1553, rubbing the infant’s lips with the garlic to give him strength and protect him. Whether or not due to this early taste, garlic became a favorite treat of Henri IV, adding it to every dish he ate, and so much so, that he had the reputation of stinking of garlic; his entourage described him as having “breath that could knock down an ox at twenty paces.” It didn’t seem to turn off the 73 or so mistresses he kept company with during his lifetime, but the association of garlic with virility was most definitely reinforced. 

Et l’ail sert aussi quand vous n’avez pas,

Mesdames… ce que vous savez…

Rend vos maris chauds comme braise

Et fait que, bien mieux à votre aise,

Il vous caresse dans le lict.

And garlic is also useful when you don’t have any,

Ladies…what you know…

Makes your husbands as hot as coals

And make you much more at ease as

He caresses you in bed.

- École de Salerne, or Art to Preserve Health, 1671

Tacuinum Sanitatis @ 1450 and Flore Médicale by F. P. Chaumeton, 1815

The use of garlic (or garlic-infused vinegar) in cooking was quite common; despite or because of its medical indications we can’t be sure. We do know that chefs were using it in recipes often and much as it is used today, mixing one or the other with other seasonings or spices to infuse and cook all kinds of meats, fowl, fish, and vegetables. 

In his 1654 Le Vray Cuisinier François, François de La Varenne has a a wonderful, highly piquant ramequin d’aulx, a spread of minced or mashed garlic, salt and pepper, with the optional addition of anchovies “bien fondus” - well melted or ground into a paste in butter. He serves it on slices of bread that have been spread with either butter or oil and grilled. 

Joseph Menon, one of the most prolific cookbook authors of 18th century France, writes “I make little use of it (garlic) in my preparations because many people fear it. The reason is that it heats up and gives strong and unpleasant breath” in his 1757 cookbook Cuisine et Office de Santé Propre à Ceux Qui Vivent avec Oeconomie et Régime. Despite his reticence, he includes garlic in a multitude of recipes, from sausages to stews, from sauces for fish to flavorings for fried, roasted, or grilled meats. He does go on to explain “However, it has many good qualities: it awakens the appetite and makes sauces more piquant. Sailors make much use of it, claiming that it removes the stench and rot caused by stinking, salty waters; it is a great help in unfortunate times when they are obliged to eat bad food. It is also considered harmful to wet nurses and hemorrhoid sufferers,” repeating much that had already been written by other learned men. In his earlier work, La Science du Maître d'Hôtel Cuisinier in 1749, he admits that while it is “difficult to digest, successful use of this plant will enhance the flavor of sauces and stimulate the appetite."

The Dictionnaire Général de la Cuisine Française Ancienne et Moderne of 1853 exhorts: “Garlic must be used often in our culinary preparations; but as it is pungent and could impart too strong a flavor, one must always use it with extreme caution,” while charges “the use of a clove of garlic is an absolute must for all broths, soups and cooking sauces.”

Sophie Wattel’s 1886 Les Cent Mille Recettes de la Bonne Cuisinière Bourgeoise à la Ville et à la Campagne, both culinary dictionary and cookbook, describes garlic as both a seasoning and a culinary stimulant (the latter alongside onions, pickles, shallots, vinegar, and strongly flavored herbs), using it in recipes ranging from garlic butter and garlic infusion to mushroom entremets, meats and fish dishes. She writes “According to some doctors, garlic stimulates blood circulation, increases perspiration, stimulates the appetite and speeds up digestion. It is cordial, aperitif (opening the appetite) and digestive.” She then adds “Once barely tolerated in our kitchens, garlic now dominates; it's a stimulant that helps the culinary artist awaken and whet even the most blasé appetites.”

As we slowly move towards the end of the 19th century and into the 20th, garlic is everywhere, used as much as it is today and used like it is today. One thing that strikes me, though, is that as popular as garlic had long been, except for it being used as a flavoring or seasoning, or in making condiments like garlic butter, mayonnaise, sauce, or vinegar, the only recipe I can think of in which garlic is the main ingredient, the focus of the dish, is garlic soup. And in Provence, garlic soup is not only a staple but is legendary. And it is nothing like the highly seasoned preparation found in the Livre Fort Excellent de Cuisine

La foire à l’ail - the garlic fair - Tours, 1932

Garlic soup, or more specifically Aigo-Boulido, is described in the December 1, 1947 professional Culinary Review as “A distinctly Provençale potage. The people from the South consider this dish a kind of universal panacea - a sort of pick-up for physical and psychological upsets.” The October 12, 1947 regional newspaper La Lozère Libre declares: “In Provence, it is considered a good luck charm and l’aïgo-boulido “qué saouva la vido” (which saves one’s life) is practically an elixir of long life.”

What is aïgo-boulido? The 1875 Dictionnaire Analogique & Étymologique des Idiomes Méridionaux (Analogical & Etymological Dictionary of Southern Idioms) describes it simply as “boiled water; an economical instant soup made with boiling water, garlic, bay leaf, salt and oil.”  Aïgo-boulido literally translates into “boiled water”, and is, like onion soup, a soupe du pauvre, a poor man's soup. Water, garlic, found everywhere in the southern part of France, with easy to forage herbs, salt and pepper, olive oil, the local fat, and, of course, slices of bread, are all it takes to make this flavorful broth. In his 1897 La Matière Médicale Populaire au XIXe Siècle, 1897, Dr J.-M.-F. Réguis adds: “while it doesn’t seem like very much, it is very easy to digest and plays a major role in the diet of a convalescent. In Anduze (a town in southern France), its function is to kill fleas and bedbugs.” One isn’t sure if this indicates that it is applied to the body or, drunken, working from the inside out.

The Culinary Review stresses “Do not attempt to prepare the aïgo-boulido with vegetable oil, peanut oil, or colza oil - that would be disastrous - for it is precisely the aroma of the olive, subtly blended with the garlic, which makes this dish a gourmet’s delight.”

For my recipe, I referred to Curnonsky’s Recettes des Provinces de France (1962), La Cuisinière Provençale (J.B. Reboul, 1926), L’Art Culinaire Français (1950), Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961), and La Cuisine Régionale from Modes de Paris, undated, possibly the 1960s. The flavor is delicate, but beautiful. I was surprised at how extraordinary and good this soup was. I’ll be making it often.

Aïgo-Boulido - Garlic Soup

Serves 2 or 3 people - this recipe can be doubled

The garlic broth is very delicate; do not be tempted to replace the water with vegetable or any other kind of broth - what makes aïgo-boulido so good, special, and authentic is the delicate flavor of the garlic and olive oil that comes through and any flavored broth will smother it. But such a delicately fragrant broth must be served with croutons - simply thin slices of good bread fried in a little olive oil until golden - topped with grated cheese (not too much as to overpower the soup) to complete it.

And don’t be afraid of stirring all of the mashed garlic cloves into the broth; once boiled for 20 minutes, the sharp bite is gone, leaving only a beautifully delicate and subtle hint of garlic. 

I head garlic, about a dozen or so cloves

3 small or medium sage leaves

1 small branch thyme, fresh or dried

1 small or ½ large bay leaf

3 tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon salt, more to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

3 ½ cups (scant liter, about 825 ml) water

***

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons olive oil

Croutons - I rubbed 4 thin slices of baguettes in olive oil on both sides per person

Grated cheese - gruyère or comté

Pepper to garnish

Separate the head of garlic into cloves; peel and trim each one. No need to remove the germ running through each clove, you want the cloves to remain whole. Using the blade of a large knife, crush each clove (they should, however, remain intact). 

Place the crushed cloves in a medium saucepan with the sage, thyme, and bay leaf. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add salt and a good amount of freshly ground black pepper. Pour the water into the saucepan and place over a medium or medium-high heat or flame.

Bring the liquid to a boil, lower slightly to a low rolling boil and let it boil for 20 minutes.

Note: I tasted the broth two-thirds through the cooking and found the flavor of the sage and other herbs was coming through rather strongly so, using a slotted spoon, I removed them from the broth. That’s up to you.

While the broth is cooking, pour some olive oil in a plate or shallow soup bowl and rub both side of fairly thin slices of baguette or loaf of some sort, a country or sourdough loaf will work, in the oil. Heat a frying pan or sauteuse and “fry” the bread on each side until a nice deep golden. 

Remove the pan from the heat. If you like and have the time: place the browned croutons on a baking sheet, place grated cheese on each crouton and run under the grill or broiler until the cheese is lightly browned.

Place the 2 egg yolks in a soup tureen - I used a terra cotta risotto tureen - and whisk until smooth. Whisk the 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the yolks until creamy. 

When the broth is nearing the end of the 20 minutes, use a slotted spoon and lift all the solids out of the broth onto a plate or bowl (the garlic but also the sage, thyme, and bay if you left them in). Take the garlic cloves, which are now extremely meltingly soft, and mash or purée them, either with a fork or, as I did, using my garlic press, and add the garlic purée to the egg yolk/olive oil mixture, whisking as you add the warm garlic. 

Continue whisking the yolks as you slowly add the hot broth a soup ladle at a time, gradually pouring it onto the eggs as you whisk. Do this slowly, whisking, until you have added 3 or 4 ladles of the broth. You can now add the rest of the broth.

Serve immediately (if you need to reheat the soup, do so over a low heat/flame while whisking, only until hot through - do not let it come to a boil once the broth has been added to the yolks. 

Ladle broth into soup bowls, add your bread croutons, and sprinkle with cheese. Dust with a bit more pepper.  

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