Rinse the mushrooms in cold water and wipe them dry and free of grit with a soft damp cloth. Do not peel them or remove the stalks. Cut them in small pieces.

Melt the butter in a heavy soup saucepan, put in the mushrooms and let them soften; when the moisture starts to run add a very small piece of chopped garlic, chopped parsley, a little salt, freshly milled pepper, grated nutmeg or mace, and let the mushrooms continue to stew in the butter for several minutes.

A thick slice of crustless white bread should have been soaked in a little of the stock while the mushrooms were being prepared. Now squeeze out the moisture and add the bread to the mushrooms. Stir until the bread amalgamates with the mushrooms.

Now add the stock, and cook for about 15 minutes until the mushrooms are quite soft.

Put the soup through the coarse mesh of the mouli, then through the next finest one. Or better still, sidestep these two operations by blending the soup in the electric liquidiser. You will not get the thick or smooth purée usually associated with mushroom soup, but rather a mixture of the consistency of thin cream broken by all the minuscule particles of the mushrooms.

Return it to the rinsed-out saucepan and when it is reheated add the boiling cream and another tbsp of parsley, this time chopped very fine indeed.