Gazpacho (Chilled Tomato Soup)

Variations

• Salmorejo: A thicker Córdoba version of mostly tomato and bread, topped with egg and jamón.
• Ajoblanco: A 'white gazpacho' of almonds and garlic instead of tomato.
• Watermelon gazpacho: Add watermelon for extra sweetness and chill.
• Drinkable: Thin with more water and serve in a glass.

Tips

• Season it again once it is properly cold. Šaltibarščiai names this dish while stating the rule: low temperatures suppress saltiness and sweetness, so anything seasoned lukewarm tastes flat once it is chilled. This recipe has you adjust the seasoning and then chill for two hours, which means the adjustment is not the last step — taste it out of the fridge and add salt and vinegar a little at a time (serving temperature).
• It is an emulsion before it is a soup, and that is what the final blend with the olive oil is for. Why sauces split says an emulsion is always trying to separate, and what holds this one together is neither egg nor mustard but the vegetables' own fibre and pectin plus the starch from the soaked bread. Put the oil in at the start and those particles have not been broken down fine enough yet to do the job. Vegetables smooth first, oil last.
• So the bread is there for stability as much as for body. More bread gives a thicker soup and a more stable one, and salmorejo in the variations is that direction taken as far as it goes. Leave the bread out altogether and you get a slick of oil on the surface an hour later.
• Why the bread should be stale is explained on another page. Fattoush is the opposite case — its bread "is here to resist, not to drink" — and it names gazpacho as one of the dishes that use bread as a body a liquid is built onto. Lablabi sits on the same side.
• The garlic gets stronger while it chills. Garlic's pungency does not exist in an intact clove; an enzyme makes it when the cells rupture. Blending starts that reaction and the two cold hours continue it, so an amount that tastes right in the blender is too much at the table. Start a clove short.
• Ripe tomatoes are everything — the soup is only as good as them.
• Chill thoroughly (2+ hours); gazpacho is meant to be served cold.
• Blend in the olive oil last to emulsify it creamy, not oily.
• Balance with vinegar and salt to taste — it should be bright and savory.
• A little soaked bread gives body; sieve it if you want it silky-smooth.