At this time of year we love the cold soups that prevail in summer, gazpacho and salmorejo. However, even if we make them at home following our favorite recipe, we often find that they do not end up with the same texture as when we try the same recipes in restaurants. That’s why today we tell you how to achieve an emulsified, fine and creamy textureprofessional level, even without having Thermomix.
In reality, these two elaborations are different dishes and do not have the same texture, although in many restaurants they are presented to us almost the same. Gazpacho is more a soup, thick but light, while salmorejo is usually prepared with a more emulsified texturemore similar to a mayonnaise.
On the other hand, the Antequera porra recipe, also similar, does not have such an emulsified and fine texture, but is more rustic and natural, as it is made from the traditional way in the mortarwithout being refined as much as the other two recipes.
To get a fine and creamy gazpacho or a very well emulsified salmorejo, there are several things you can do, even if you don’t have a powerful kitchen robot, simply knowing how to use the ingredients in their fair proportion and using for it a good blender of glass or minipimer type of hand.
How to get the emulsion texture of restaurants without using Thermomix
The secret of many of the restaurants that offer good gazpachos and salmorejos to make these cold soups very creamy, fine and highly emulsified is use a powerful robot to turbine or beat the ingredients, grinding at very high speed and introducing air microbubbles in the process. Something similar can be done using the Thermomix or a high-end robot that has enough power.
In fact, most professional kitchens have this type of robot that they use almost exclusively for this function of cooking. Turbinate creams and sauces to achieve a fine and creamy texture, also for hot creams or mayonnaise.
The ingredients used
It is very important to take into account -strictly- the proportions of the ingredients. If we go overboard with the waterwe will have a lighter and more refreshing gazpacho, but we will not easily achieve the desired texture, no matter how much we crush or beat.
If we fall short with olive oilin order to reduce calories, we will be left with a lighter gazpacho or salmorejo, but we will not be able to achieve the emulsified texture that we are looking for.
If we don’t use bread to reduce carbohydrates or because we think that this way it will be creamier, or we decide to use less bread and less water, then we will not be able to achieve the creamy textures of these cold soups. remember: the recipes have some ingredients and you have to respect the indications. If not, we will be doing something else, but it will not be the original recipe, the one that works and always turns out well.
The technique to achieve an emulsion
An emulsion is a mixture of two ingredients that cannot be mixed, which is achieved by beating or churningcausing small bubbles to form of one of the ingredients integrating into the other.
Thus, although it is not easy to mix water and oil, we can obtain a stable substance by beating them vigorously. EITHER mixing the sunflower oil with the egg white we can make a mayonnaiseamong other examples.
In the case of gazpachoOn the one hand, we have liquids similar to water, such as tomato water, pepper, cucumber, etc., and on the other hand, the olive oil that we add to dress the gazpacho. These two types of liquids do not usually mix well.
To get them to emulsify, in addition to keeping an adequate proportion and not reducing the amount of oil indicated in the traditional recipe, it is convenient to use the technique of add the oil very slowly, like a tricklewhile we turbine it.**
In the classic turmix or glass blenders American type, like the Oster Versa of professional power, it is easy to add the oil by thread, little by little, using the hole in the upper part. Giving it the necessary speed, we will achieve a fantastic texture in a few minutes.
If you use a kitchen robot, normally you will also have this possibility, slowly adding the oil so that it can emulsify with the liquids from the vegetables and the water that we have added, forming that creamy texture.
Oster Versa Performance High Performance Blender, 1400 W, 1.9 Liter, Plastic, Black
If you opt for a hand mixeryou can use a high power model and different speeds that include turbo, as well as good blades, with which you will obtain very good results when making this type of recipe, so you will be able to emulsify your gazpacho perfectly with it.
Bosch Hogar ErgoMixx MS61B6170 – Hand mixer, 1000 W power, 12+1 speeds with accessories, black color
In the case of traditional cordovan salmorejo, as it has a higher proportion of olive oil and does not contain cucumber, it has more fat and less water, so it is much easier to achieve that creamy and thick texture similar to mayonnaise, using a powerful hand blender or a food processor. foods. This thick and emulsified texture is what allows us to rest on its surface without sinking the complements -normally ham and hard-boiled egg- with which it is usually served.
Cecotec PowerGear 1500 XL Pro Hand Mixer. 1500 W, 21 Speeds + Turbo, Steel/Silicone, XL Stand, 4 Blade Blade, Titanium Coating, Metal Gear, Includes Accessories
Ninja Food Processor [BN800EU]3-in-1 with Auto-iQ, Black and Silver, 1200 W, 2.1 liters, Tritan/BPA Free Plastic, 3 Speeds
summarizing
The best thing is to faithfully follow the indications of our favorite recipe so that the ingredients keep the proper proportionwhich will facilitate the creaminess of the soups and their more or less emulsified texture depending on the chosen recipe.
For the gazpacho, we will not be looking for a thick emulsion, but rather a smooth creaminess that we will achieve by controlling the proportion of water, bread and oil. For the texture to be very fine, after grinding for a long time at high speed, we can pass the gazpacho through a “Chinese” or “fine”, that is, pass it through a good strainer while pressing with the back of a serving spoon, leaving the skins and seeds that have not been crushed in the strainer, and passing a gazpacho with a fine and creamy texture.
For the brinewhere we are looking for the thick emulsion, we will maintain the indicated amounts of oil and the rest of the ingredients, trying to add the extra virgin olive oil by thread, while beating at high speed with our hand blender, or if we have it, with a good glass blender.
With these keys, whether or not you have a Thermomix, you can get a fine and creamy texture like that of restaurants when you prepare your soups and cold creams at home.
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