Good Taste
You say gazpacho, I say salmorejo . . . On the hunt for gazpacho, we spotted something called salmorejo on the lunch menu at Garces Trading Company. Listed as "chilled tomato soup, with egg yolk and Serrano ham," it sounded a lot like the origin
You say gazpacho, I say salmorejo . . .
On the hunt for gazpacho, we spotted something called salmorejo on the lunch menu at Garces Trading Company. Listed as "chilled tomato soup, with egg yolk and Serrano ham," it sounded a lot like the original item. Turns out, it's a richer, smoother version with a velvety texture, and a soft-pink blush. Chef Gregg Ciprioni takes care to add the sherry vinegar just before serving, to avoid gazpacho's worst flaw - an overly-tangy pucker brought on by dousing it with vinegar too early, before the flavors marry. There are other wrinkles to the Cordoba-bred version: the olive oil quotient is upped (in fact, three different oils are used - extra virgin, a garlic-infused oil, and, to finish, a peppery oil.) Also, there's more fine-ground bread, stale baguettes first soaked in tomato juice.
Lastly, the soup is twice-pureed, giving it the creamy texture, and that lush complexion. No lemon. No cucumber. No onion. No cream. Plain gazpacho gone lazily decadent, it's ripe-tomato notes singing solo beneath a shred of Serrano ham, hard-cooked egg yolk, and brown-butter croutons.
Salmorejo, $8 at lunch, Garces Trading Company, 1111 Locust St., 215-574-1099, garcestradingcompany.com.
- Rick Nichols