Cook this
The working recipe — the Market List, the Method, and where it lives or dies
I
Origin
Tuscany
II
Description
The ancient soup of the Maremma — literally 'cooked water' — built from whatever was available to the shepherd or woodcutter: onion and celery cooked long in olive oil until almost dissolved, then water added and cooked again, finished with a poached egg on a thick slice of stale bread and a grating of aged Pecorino. Some versions add wild mushrooms or tomato when available. The poverty of the ingredients contrasts with the depth of flavour achieved through technique.
III
The Thread
—Caramelised onion soup with bread and cheese — the more elaborate French version of the same soup-over-bread-with-cheese concept French
—Bread and garlic cooked in water or broth with poached egg — the Spanish peasant soup with the same poverty-food-elevated-by-technique philosophy Spanish
—Bread dissolved in olive oil and garlic water with a poached egg — the Portuguese version of the same ancient Mediterranean bread-in-water-with-egg tradition Portuguese
IV
Flavour Context
Sweet onion broth, olive oil richness, runny yolk and salty Pecorino — a soup where water tastes of extraordinary depth because technique has extracted everything from simple ingredients
Pillars V — VII
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