Salmorejo Cordobés

Cold Cordovan tomato and bread soup with olive oil, jamón and hard-boiled egg

Origin: Córdoba, Andalusia, Spain

From the journey of Olive.

Salmorejo is one of the most ancient forms of olive oil cookery in the western Mediterranean. Hispania, the Iberian Peninsula, was under Roman rule from 218 BCE, and within a century it had become Rome's most productive olive-growing province. The Baetis valley, flowing through what is now Andalusia past Córdoba and Seville to the sea at Cádiz, was lined with Roman olive presses. Millions of amphoras of Hispanian olive oil were shipped to Rome, stamped with the names of the estates that produced them. The presses, the stones, and the amphoras have been excavated throughout the valley. The early predecessor of salmorejo was a Roman-era sauce called posca or morretum; bread, oil, vinegar, and pounded aromatics thinned to a cold liquid. The Moors who ruled Andalusia from 711 to 1492 CE refined this preparation into the ajoblanco tradition (bread, almonds, garlic, oil), and when American tomatoes arrived in the sixteenth century, the Cordovan cooks gradually adopted them into this ancient cold bread-and-oil structure. The result was salmorejo: a thick, velvet-smooth cold soup of extraordinary depth, the bread giving body, the olive oil an emulsified richness, the tomatoes colour and acidity. Salmorejo cordobés uses a very high ratio of bread to tomato and a remarkable quantity of olive oil; typically one part oil to three parts tomato; emulsified into a dense, pourable cream that holds its body when chilled. It is served in shallow bowls garnished with finely diced jamón ibérico and hard-boiled egg: the Iberian landscape in a single bowl.

Ingredients

Soup

1 kg very ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped (no need to peel or seed)
200 g stale white bread, crusts removed, torn into chunks (ideally a day-old sourdough or pain de campagne)
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tsp sherry vinegar
1 tsp fine sea salt
150 ml cold-pressed Andalusian or Spanish extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to finish

Garnish

2 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and finely diced
80 g jamón ibérico or jamón serrano, finely diced or torn into small pieces
good olive oil, to drizzle over finished bowls

Method

Place the bread chunks in a bowl and pour a little water over them; just enough to moisten. Leave for 5 minutes to soften slightly. Squeeze out most (but not all) of the excess water.
Combine the chopped tomatoes, soaked bread, garlic, sherry vinegar, and salt in a powerful blender. Blend on high speed for 2–3 minutes until completely smooth. The mixture should be quite thick.
With the blender running on medium speed, pour in the olive oil in a slow, thin, steady stream. The soup will transform as the oil emulsifies; it will lighten in colour, increase slightly in volume, and take on a silky, creamy consistency that is distinctly different from the pre-oil mixture.
Taste and adjust seasoning; it may need more salt, a touch more vinegar, or more garlic depending on the tomatoes. Transfer to a covered container and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, ideally 2. The soup thickens and the flavours intensify as it chills.
To serve: ladle the cold salmorejo into shallow bowls. Scatter the finely diced jamón across the surface. Add the diced hard-boiled egg. Finish with a thin drizzle of good olive oil in a spiral over the top.

Notes

The tomatoes must be very ripe and sweet; this is a summer dish. In Córdoba, local varieties such as the pimiento de agua and tomate de Barbastro are used. Outside Spain, use the ripest, most flavourful tomatoes available. The ratio of bread to tomato is a matter of preference; more bread gives a thicker, more substantial soup; less gives a lighter, more tomato-forward result. Salmorejo keeps refrigerated for up to 2 days, covered with cling film pressed directly to the surface to prevent discolouration. For a vegetarian version, omit the jamón and substitute with diced cucumber and toasted pine nuts.

The Gastrographer

Name: Salmorejo Cordobés
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Spain
Ingredients: 1 kg very ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped (no need to peel or seed); 200 g stale white bread, crusts removed, torn into chunks (ideally a day-old sourdough or pain de campagne); 2 cloves garlic, peeled; 1 tsp sherry vinegar; 1 tsp fine sea salt; 150 ml cold-pressed Andalusian or Spanish extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to finish; 2 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and finely diced; 80 g jamón ibérico or jamón serrano, finely diced or torn into small pieces; good olive oil, to drizzle over finished bowls

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control