Salmorejo

Salmorejo is a purée consisting of tomato and bread, originating from Cordoba in Andalucia, south Spain. It is made from tomatoes, bread, oil and garlic. The Normally, the tomatoes are skinned and then puréed with the other ingredients. The purée is served cold and may be garnished with diced Spanish serrano ham and diced hard-boiled eggs.

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 done with a variety of wheat flour 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.

Salmorejo is more pink-orange in appearance than gazpacho, and is also much thicker and creamier in texture, because it includes more olive oil and bread and this is of a different kind (in gazpacho, usually stale loaf bread soaked in water is used). In Salmorejo, per 1 kg of tomatoes, 200 g of bread and 100 g of olive oil are used. There are several variations in Andalusia, including ardoria and porra antequerana (with bits of tuna as topping).

Salmorejo is also the name given to a marinade typical of Canary Islands cuisine. It is used to flavour meat before cooking, especially rabbit (conejo en salmorejo) which is a speciality of the islands. Typical marinade ingredients include salt, garlic, paprika and hot peppers.