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Spanish · Andalusia

Gazpacho

Gazpacho is Andalusia's cold raw vegetable soup — a liquid salad of ripe tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, garlic, sherry vinegar, and best-quality olive oil, emulsified to a smooth, silky consistency and served ice-cold. Its origins predate the tomato's arrival in Europe, when white gazpacho (ajo blanco) fed field workers in the Guadalquivir valley; the red version emerged only after the Columbian exchange but now defines the form. The soup demands ripe, sun-warmed tomatoes — supermarket fruit picked green will never yield the necessary sweetness and acidity. Sherry vinegar (not wine or cider vinegar) provides the characteristic Andalusian sharpness. The soup is blended raw and forced through a fine sieve, then chilled at least four hours so flavours integrate and the olive oil fully emulsifies.

‹Swipe for the next dish›
ServesFour portions
Total30 minutes active; minimum 4 hours chilling
Sourced2of 12 in BC
Cook
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I

The Market List

The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.

1 kg
ripe tomatoes
sun-ripened, at room temperature, cored
Origin · ItalyBosa Foods · Vancouver →
1
small clove garlic
peeled
Your own market
1 medium
cucumber
peeled, roughly chopped
Your own market
1 medium
green pepper
deseeded, roughly chopped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
30 ml
sherry vinegar
plus a little extra to soak the bread
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
60 ml
best-quality extra-virgin olive oil
added in a slow stream while blending
Your own market
1 slice
day-old white bread
crust removed, torn, soaked in sherry vinegar before blending
Your own market
fine sea salt
Your own market
For the garnish
1 small
tomato
finely diced
Origin · ItalyBosa Foods · Vancouver →
¼ small
cucumber
finely diced
Your own market
¼ small
red onion
finely diced
Your own market
croutons
small, from day-old white bread
Not yet stocked in British Columbia

Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.

II

The Method

1
Tear the bread and submerge it in the sherry vinegar. Allow it to soak until fully saturated and soft throughout — the bread must be limp, not merely damp, before it enters the blender; dry fragments will resist emulsification and produce lumps.
2
Place the tomatoes, garlic, cucumber, green pepper, and the soaked bread with its vinegar into the blender. Blend at high speed to a coarse purée, then, with the motor running, pour the olive oil in a slow, steady stream. This is where the dish lives or dies: a rushed pour breaks the emulsion and leaves an oily, separated surface; the finished blend must be uniformly smooth, with no visible oil pooling.
3
Pass the entire contents through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing firmly with a ladle to extract all liquid. Discard the dry solids of skins and seeds retained in the sieve. The strained soup should run clean and glossy, with no visible fragments.
4
Season with fine sea salt. Taste and adjust the sherry vinegar. Refrigerate for a minimum of four hours. The soup is ready when it is chilled to 4–6°C and the flavours have married into a single, coherent profile — the sharpness of the vinegar no longer standing apart from the oil.
5
Serve in chilled bowls. Arrange the diced tomato, cucumber, red onion, and croutons on the surface. The soup should arrive at the table ice-cold; any warmth collapses both the emulsion body and the aromatic freshness.
III

Quality Hierarchy

01
Reserve — Sun-ripened tomatoes sourced at peak Brix from a named grower; a single-estate, cold-pressed Andalusian extra-virgin olive oil of marked fruitiness; aged gran reserva sherry vinegar.
02
Estate — Vine-ripened market tomatoes at full colour and fragrance; a quality Denominación de Origen extra-virgin olive oil; a reliable reserva-grade sherry vinegar.
03
Market — The best available ripe tomatoes — grown under glass if necessary, provided they are fully coloured and aromatic; a sound extra-virgin olive oil; standard sherry vinegar.
04
House — Any fully ripe tomato, including tinned whole plum tomatoes at a pinch; a clean extra-virgin olive oil. Sherry vinegar remains mandatory — substitution with wine or cider vinegar removes the Andalusian character the dish is built upon.
IV

Sensory Tests

◇Smell. The raw blend should release a bright, intensely sweet tomato fragrance with a sharp vinegar lift — any flat or fermented note signals underripe or damaged fruit.
◇Sight. After sieving, the soup runs glossy and uniformly deep red with no streaks of oil on the surface and no visible seed or skin fragments.
◇Touch. The strained soup coats the back of a spoon lightly but not starchily — the barely-there thickness provided by the soaked bread, not by flour or cornflour.
◇Sight. After chilling, no oil layer forms on the surface; the emulsion holds clean, confirming the oil was incorporated correctly.
◇Where it lives or dies. The olive oil must be added in a slow, unbroken stream while the blender runs; a rushed pour breaks the emulsion and the soup never recovers its silky cohesion.
Pillar V
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The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
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VI

What to Pour

The pairing
Bushmills Malt 10 Year Old
Old Bushmills Distillery · County Antrim — Bushmills Distillery
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Whisky
From British Columbia
Fort Berens Riesling
Fort Berens Estate Winery · Lillooet
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol

No pour without alcohol holds against this yet.

Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →

The whole pairing
Pillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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Sourced through Provenance

The hands behind the plate.

Bosa Foods
Vancouver · ripe tomatoes, tomato
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