Aguaillo de la Sierra de Cadiz

Aguaillo is Andaluz, and more exactly from the Sierra de Cadiz: cold water, stale country bread, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and salt, stirred into a poor man's summer soup for the fields. It is not gazpacho. No tomato makes it red, no blender turns it silky, and no garnish dresses it up. It stays pale, cold, sharp and plain, tal como se hace alli.

The method that decides it is the majado, the garlic pounded with salt before the water goes in. Crush it properly until it turns to a paste, then loosen it first with vinegar and oil, and only then with very cold water. Do it in that order and the flavour spreads through the bowl instead of biting you in one hard piece of garlic. The bread goes in last so it softens but does not disappear.

If you are far from Cadiz, use a good day-old country loaf with a close crumb, not sweet sandwich bread. For the vinegar, vinagre de Jerez is the right one; if you cannot find it, use a clean white wine vinegar and know the soup will lose a little of that southern edge. Chill the water hard. This dish has almost nothing to hide behind, so the water, oil and bread must be good.

My Margin for this one is short: do not make it thick. Aguaillo should refresh, not sit in the spoon like salmorejo. Pesa el pan, no lo adivines, because too much bread turns it into another thing. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.