Salmorejo, sometimes known as ardoria or ardorío, is a traditional creamy

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot – though it is sometimes served chilled – made by cooking or otherwise combining meat or vegetables with Stock (food), stock, milk, or water. According to ''The Oxford Compan ...

originating from

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, southern

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, made of pear

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

bread Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...

, extra virgin olive oil and

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

. The salmorejo is served cold and may be garnished with diced Spanish ibérico ham and diced hard-boiled eggs.Teresa Barrenechea, Christopher Hirsheimer, Jeffrey Koehler, (2005), ''The cuisines of Spain: exploring regional home cooking'', New York, Ten Speed Press, , pag. 67

History

The recipe (according to Villegas, member of the Royal Academy of Gastronomy and director of the Salmorejos National Congress) has its origin in the word "aliño" (dressing) and in principle it was a sauce composed of water, vinegar, salt and oil to season the rabbit. It will be after the discovery of the New World when the tomato is incorporated. First references to the word "salmorejo" date back to the 17th century, being a transitional soup between the old and new world. According to another theory, the origin of the original recipe was brought from the region of

Alentejo Alentejo ( , , ) is a geographical, historical, and cultural region of south–central and southern Portugal. In Portuguese, its name means "beyond the Tagus" (). Alentejo includes the regions of Alto Alentejo Province, Alto Alentejo and Bai ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, after the Spanish prisoners were released in the aftermath of the Battle of Montes Claros.

Ingredients and preparation

The ingredients and proportions to make salmorejo are 1 kg of

tomatoes The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originated from and was d ...

, 200 g of

, preferably a special bread called ''pan de telera'',

and 100 g of extra virgin olive oil. Normally, the tomatoes are skinned and

purée A purée (or mash) is cooked food, usually vegetables, fruits or legumes, that has been ground, pressed, blended or sieved to the consistency of a creamy paste or liquid. Purées of specific foods are often known by specific names, e.g., appl ...

d with the other ingredients. The bread used for salmorejo is called '' pan de telera'', which is equivalent to Castilian pan candeal. This is a bread with a very dense and white crumb (as it is made with a variety of

wheat flour Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of common wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or ...

that has a high protein content and less water and gluten content than other flours) and thin crust. Using this kind of bread is important to give salmorejo its characteristic texture.

Differences with gazpacho and variations

Salmorejo is more pink-orange in appearance than

gazpacho Gazpacho () or gaspacho (), also called Andalusian gazpacho (from Spanish ''gazpacho andaluz''), is a cold soup and drink made of raw, blended vegetables. It originated in the southern regions of the Iberian Peninsula and spread into other are ...

, and is also much thicker and creamier in texture, because it includes more

olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

and

and this is of a different kind (in gazpacho, usually stale loaf bread soaked in water is used). There are several variations in

, including ''ardoria'' and ''porra antequerana'' (with bits of tuna as topping).

Other dishes called salmorejo

Salmorejo is also the name given to a

marinade Marinating is the process of soaking foods in a seasoned, often acidic, liquid before cooking. This sauce, called the marinade, can be either acidic (made with ingredients such as vinegar, lemon juice, or wine), or enzymatic (made with ingredien ...

typical of

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

cuisine. It is used to flavour meat before cooking, especially

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

(''conejo en salmorejo'') which is a speciality of the islands. Typical marinade ingredients include salt, garlic,

paprika Paprika is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers, traditionally ''capsicum annuum''. It can have varying levels of Pungency, heat, but the peppers used for hot paprika tend to be milder and have thinner flesh than those used to produce ...

and hot peppers. Salmorejo should not be confused with the southern Italian/Sicilian

salmoriglio Salmoriglio is a southern Italian condiment made of lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, and herbs (such as oregano and parsley).Rosetta Costantino with Janet Fletcher, ''My Calabria: Rustic Family Cooking from Italy's Undiscovered South'' (W.W ...

, despite both sharing the same etymology (from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''salimuria'' meaning "brine"). Whereas salmorejo is a tomato-based soup, salmoriglio is a sauce consisting of lemon, herbs, and olive oil.

History

Ingredients and preparation

Differences with gazpacho and variations

Other dishes called salmorejo

See also

References

Further reading