�

When making salmorejo the arguments start over which kind of vinegar to use: from sherry, manzanilla-style, wine, apple or M�dena balsamic. I define salmorejo as a cold vegetable soup and not a salad. So whichever vinegar we choose, the soup should not just taste like vinegar, which would have people wincing at the dinner table when they should be enjoying.

�

The debate does not end with the vinegar. It continues with the olive oil, as I said. Don't use an overpowering oil or soy or walnut oil to make the soup exotic. Use one with a subtle flavor and low acidity.

�

Now we come to the subject of chopped, cured ham. If you have some that is really good, send me a few legs to sample. If it is mediocre, poor animal, what a pointless life it led. So it is best to use a ham that is somewhere in the middle, neither very good nor very bad. We deserve something decent. But we don't need ham that is exceptional. Another touchy subject is cucumber. Using it or not depends on the taste of the people eating the soup.

�

Since this is cherry season, you can make a very special salmorejo that replaces the tomatoes with cherries. It takes a lot more work since you have to remove the pits but the result is most satisfactory. Wear gloves to keep your hands from getting stained. With this kind of salmorejo I tend to add a bit of spearmint to tinker with the aromas and give the dish a bit of crunch. I've been making this kind of salmorejo in cherry season for 15 years.

�

I was so proud of it. Then, one day a customer tasted it and told me it was delicious but his grandmother used to make it from berries. And I thought I had invented fruit salmorejo!

�

You can make salmorejo of all different classes and colors, and in fact people do. When I get tired of eating fish or meat, and this happens quite often throughout the year, I go into a vegetable mode, which is very good for the body. And I tend to make salmorejo from lemon pears, which, while they lack the charm of other pears, give the soup a delicious flavor. Of course, I don't add chunks of ham but rather fried, chopped almonds.

�

In the end, salmorejo is less laborious than a vichyssoise and is delicious. Freshly cut spearmint or basil are delicious ingredients to add to the classical versions.

�

And what about using salmorejo as a sauce? Of course there are people who do it. I don't want to say the wrong thing because I don't remember if it was Abraham Garc�a who served it with a pickled partridge that was simply fantastic. The sauce also goes with smoked fish, and not just the traditional ones. For instance I make one with tuna, in season, and a lemon sauce or with a salmorejo of cumin and green anisette. It makes me positively quiver with Mediterranean pleasure.