Garlic Soup by Pilar González Tascón / Partially Blind / Spain

Hello, good morning, good afternoon, or good evening: my name is Pilar. On this occasion, I am here to present the traditional recipe for: “Spanish Garlic Soup.” With the aim of participating in the 2024 Golden Eye Chef International Cooking Contest, in the visually impaired category. This time I will present a soup that is very healthy. It is made with very humble ingredients that can be found in any kitchen of any family because they are very basic and traditional ingredients… And, it is also a sustainable recipe. It uses, for example, bread that is starting to harden, leftover from meals or dinners, but that can be perfectly used to make this delicious soup.

The final texture of this soup should be consistent, solid… unlike another very similar soup made with the same ingredients, which is more brothy (the Castilian soup). However, with garlic soup, the bread must absorb all the broth.

Well, with that said, I will now start with the ingredients I will be using.

The main ingredients I will use are: 300 grams of bread. I weighed it on this kitchen scale. These are pieces of bread leftover from family meals or dinners. This recipe is calculated for two servings. Next, we have four garlic cloves, one tablespoon of sweet paprika, and three tablespoons of olive oil. You also need a pinch of salt, measured with a small spoon. Additionally, we will need 1.25 liters of drinking water.

I will now begin the cooking process:

First, I will turn on the ceramic stove, set to high, level 8… There it is, level 8. Next, I will pour the water into this 30 cm diameter clay pot. This soup is very quick to prepare, thanks to the ceramic stove, which is a modern advancement… I will also add the salt, one teaspoon of fine salt. In the meantime, the salt will dissolve in the water.

Water, nutritionally, provides hydration and other essential elements like calcium and fluoride. Calcium is vital for bone health, and fluoride is important for dental care. Salt contains sodium, which is essential for maintaining body hydration, and it also gives people more energy to carry out daily tasks. At this moment, I am peeling the garlic cloves and removing the germ, as this makes the garlic easier to digest. Additionally, garlic provides antioxidants and is antibacterial. Its consumption is essential to strengthen the immune system.

What I’m doing now with the garlic is chopping it, and once it’s chopped, I’ll put it into this manual chopper to dice it. Once diced, I’ll place it in another tool, a mortar. This has been used since ancient times. My maternal and paternal grandmothers used it to crush garlic and mix it with sweet paprika and either olive oil or lard, depending on what they used. Once the garlic is chopped and in the manual chopper, I have to close the lid and pull this cord to crush the garlic quickly.

There it is! It’s chopped, and now I’ll transfer it to the mortar. After that, I will add the paprika. Once everything is removed, I’ll throw away the garlic skins and place the used utensils in a basin for washing later.

Now, I will add three tablespoons of olive oil:

One, Two, Three…

And I’ll immediately start pounding and mixing the garlic, olive oil, and paprika.

Sweet paprika contains essential nutrients such as plant-based proteins. Paprika is very beneficial for health as it helps control cholesterol and triglycerides. It’s also essential for controlling blood sugar levels and improves digestion.

Now, I will add the mixture of paprika, garlic, and olive oil. I’ll pour a little water into the mortar to make sure I get every last bit of the ingredients. Once mixed with the water, I’ll stir it all together. Olive oil, paprika, and garlic are the soul of this traditional recipe.

As soon as the mixture starts to boil, I’ll remove the pot from the heat and add the bread. Here is the bread, which I’ll keep cutting into medium-sized pieces. This traditional recipe has very humble origins. It has been known since before the Spanish Civil War and originated in the province of León. It was created by shepherds and farmers, who were poor, and the only things they had at hand were bread, paprika, and garlic. They used lard instead of olive oil, which I use today. They cooked this soup on a coal stove, making the cooking process much slower, whereas I am using a ceramic stove. So, the cooking time for this recipe is much quicker.

Well, I’ve cut up the bread, and now that the broth has reached boiling point, I’ll turn off the ceramic stove, and the soup will continue cooking with the residual heat. This traditional recipe is still relevant today, not only because it has been passed down from generation to generation but also because people continue to enjoy this delicious and traditional garlic soup.

I am pressing the bread down with a spoon to make sure all the bread soaks up the broth.

The paprika gives this soup its characteristic red color, which is very beautiful. The smell of garlic and paprika reminds me of when I was a child, and my grandmothers, and even my mother, would cook garlic soup. That distinctive smell of “garlic soup” brings back these memories.

Why did I cook this delicious, traditional recipe today? Because my husband was in the mood for it, and I told him, “Okay, I’ll make the first course, the garlic soup, and you can make the second one,” and he agreed.

At this point, the bread has fully absorbed the broth and is soft. The soup is now ready to serve. We will serve it in a 16 cm diameter clay bowl, which is enough for one serving, and I will use a metal ladle to serve the soup. As you can see, there is very little broth, and the bread dominates the soup. This soup is made with traditional and basic ingredients. And now, it is ready: the traditional garlic soup. I used very basic, inexpensive ingredients, and I cooked it in just 10 minutes. It’s delicious


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