Why It WorksUsing ripe, in-season tomatoes bred for flavor rather than shape and shipping qualities yields the best gazpacho.Salting vegetables in advance draws out flavorful internal liquids, which are then used to soften the bread.Freezing and thawing the salted vegetables breaks down their cell structure further, which extracts more of their inherent flavor.As anybody who's seen thebest episode of The Simpsons everknows, gazpacho is tomato soup, served ice cold,* right? Well, sort of. True, these days pretty much every gazpacho you find in restaurants stateside is made by puréeing tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, and garlic into a soup ranging from smooth to chunky, but that's notreallywhat gazpacho is all about.*I know, I know... Go back to Russia.Here's what most people think when they hear the word:But here is where gazpacho started:That's right.Stale bread and olive oil.It's not quite clear exactly where the origins of gazpacho lie—some folks say it's the Moors, others the...
