Thursday, July 2, 2009

Gazpacho

It was the bright juicy tomato of my garden, suddenly turned red overnight, that reminded me of gazpacho for the summer.

There are a million gazpacho recipes it seems and every restaurant has a version. So why is it so hard to get right? Part of the reason is that many cooks think it's just a cold tomato-dominated vegetable soup for summer and don't realize that what a cook aspires to is the harmonic balance of an orchestra of flavors that creates a culturally rooted and important soup. It is a soup from Andalusia and I have a wonderful recipe for gazpacho in my new book THE BEST SOUPS IN THE WORLD due to be published in December 2009 by Wiley.

Most gazpachos are, simply, made wrong.



[Photo: Kristin Mowry]

Take this photo to the left of a soup called a gazpacho. It is not gazpacho; this is a cold vegetable soup. The garnishes should never play a major role and never be served in the soup; they are garnishes always served on the side and used in miniscule portions.

Here's a photo of a true gazpacho; notice the orange and not red color, that's a mark of authenticity. The garnishes are not pictured because they are not the essential condition of a true gazpacho.

[Photo: Spanish-Town-Guides.Com]
Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. DevanyJuly 2, 2009 at 1:44 PM

    Nice post. A recipe would be great too, after all, that book is not coming out for quite a while yet and then it will not even be summer! So you are teasing us!

    I do know a woman who makes her gazpacho the "wrong" way, I call it soupy salsa. The Anduluisa version is supreme. I like it with crusty croutons and bits of onion and herbs.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Clifford A. WrightJuly 2, 2009 at 4:29 PM

    I am a tease.
    Try this www.cliffordawright.com/caw/recipes/display/bycountry.php/recipe_id/807/id/7/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chef EJuly 18, 2009 at 12:27 PM

    I have not had the opportunity to have even as a chef the 'right' method of gazpacho, and wonder why that is? Most I have had are pureed, but you still see a texture. Would this mean soups such as asparagus with other ingredients that are more pureed are considered gazpacho too? Like potato leek soup which I put carrots and other vegetables and have served cold, or because the ingredients are steamed it is not?

    I am going to spain and wonder if you have any restaurants you would recommend?

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)