This thick French soup is made with puréed leeks, onions, potatoes, cream, and chicken stock. There is an ongoing debate about its origin – some claim it has French roots, while others insist that the soup is an American invention. One group of food historians say that the soup was invented by French chef Jules Gouffe in 1859, while others believe the original creator to be Louis Diat, a French chef who worked at the New York Ritz-Carlton. Inspired by the potato and leek soup of his childhood, he named the soup crème Vichyssoise glacée after his hometown of Vichy. Today, the soup is traditionally served cold and is often garnished with fresh chopped chives.
This refreshing, cold beetroot soup is a part of traditional Lithuanian cuisine. It consists of a creamy blend of pickled or boiled beetroots and tangy kefir or buttermilk, poured over grated cucumbers and hard-boiled eggs. The whole soup is generously seasoned with dill, and usually left to set until all the flavors are thoroughly combined. It is usually prepared in the summertime, and is best served chilled, preferably with potatoes on the side. It can be enjoyed as an appetizer or a light main course.
Found in various forms throughout cuisines of Southeast Europe and the Middle East, cacık is a refreshing Turkish dip made with strained or diluted yogurt mixed with finely chopped cucumbers and minced garlic. It is traditionally flavored with olive oil, dill weed, mint, either lemon juice or vinegar, and sometimes even oregano, thyme, sumac, and paprika. Cacık is served chilled and it is used for virtually everything from various appetizers to main dishes. It pairs especially well with classic Turkish meat fare such as köfte and kebabs of all kinds. As a side dish, cacık is typically enjoyed in place of a salad, diluted with water and eaten with a spoon, like soup.
Porra antequerana is a thick, chilled tomato-and-bread soup from Antequera, made from ripe tomatoes, firm bread, olive oil, garlic, pepper, salt, and usually a little vinegar. It is close to Córdoba’s salmorejo and belongs to the broader Andalusian family of cold bread-based preparations. Unlike other cold soups, porra is generally denser and commonly includes pepper, giving it a slightly more vegetal character. Consistency matters: this is not a drinkable soup but a substantial cream meant to be eaten with a spoon, and in Antequera the familiar test is that it should be thick enough to support the spoon rather than immediately letting it fall over. The city identifies bread, tomato, garlic, pepper, olive oil, salt, and vinegar as the basic ingredients, and the annual porra Antequerana competition still requires contestants to make it by hand with a mortar rather than with electric equipment. The dish did not begin in exactly the red form eaten today. Mixtures of stale bread, garlic, salt, vinegar, and olive oil pounded together are much older in southern Iberia, and bread-thickened foods date back to the Roman period. Before tomatoes and peppers became established in Andalusian kitchens, an earlier pale form could be made from bread, garlic, oil, vinegar, and salt, resembling other white gazpachos and majados of southern Spain. The modern red porra could therefore only have taken shape after American tomatoes and peppers were gradually incorporated into Spanish cooking, eventually transforming an older pounded bread preparation into the intensely colored cold cream now identified with Antequera. The name is commonly linked to the porra, or heavy pestle, used to pound the ingredients in a dornillo or mortar, and this manual technique is still deliberately preserved in Antequera’s public competitions. Preparing porra begins with good bread, preferably a dense country loaf that has rested for a day or more rather than fresh, fluffy bread. Settled, slightly stale bread is preferred because fresh bread can form lumps during pounding. Garlic and chopped peppers are worked into a paste first, then the crumb is added and thoroughly incorporated, followed by peeled, seeded tomato. Olive oil is then introduced generously and gradually while the mixture is worked until it becomes smooth and emulsified. Vinegar is added according to taste and to the sweetness or acidity of the tomatoes rather than necessarily in a fixed amount. Modern cooks usually achieve the same result with a blender, but the older mortar method produces the dish through repeated crushing and emulsification rather than simple puréeing. The bread proportion gives porra much of its identity. There should be enough to make the mixture noticeably thicker than gazpacho, while olive oil adds gloss and a soft, creamy texture without dairy. Tomatoes provide moisture and acidity, garlic brings pungency, and green or red pepper adds a flavor that is usually more evident here than in Córdoba-style salmorejo. Antequera’s municipal recipe standards allow bread, tomato, garlic, pepper, salt, olive oil, and vinegar, but household versions differ on whether the pepper should be green, red, or a mixture of both. Once blended or pounded, the porra is chilled thoroughly so the texture firms and the flavors settle. It is rarely served completely bare. Chopped hard-boiled egg and diced jamón serrano are among the most recognizable toppings, while tuna in oil is equally established in Málaga and Antequera. The soup can be served with cured ham, hard-boiled egg, and tuna, turning what begins as bread and vegetables into a fairly complete meal. Other local variations broaden the garnish considerably. These include chopped tomato, figs, pomegranate seeds, or oranges in some communities when those fruits are in season. Towns closer to the Málaga coast may add anchovies. Those additions show how flexible the basic preparation can be without changing its underlying structure. Porra also differs from gazpacho in the way it is eaten: gazpacho can be thin enough to drink, whereas porra is closer to a cold vegetable-and-bread purée and can carry substantial toppings without them sinking immediately to the bottom. It is often compared with salmorejo because both share tomato, bread, garlic, and olive oil, but porra commonly includes pepper and vinegar and is characteristically very dense. In Antequera it is especially associated with the hottest months, when it is served cold as a first course, lunch, tapa, or light main meal, and it remains one of the foods most strongly identified with the city. It needs little alongside it because bread and olive oil already make it more filling than most chilled soups. Jamón, egg, and tuna provide the classic savory accompaniments, while olives, anchovies, or a simple plate of cured meats can extend it into a larger meal. Extra bread is possible but hardly necessary given how much the dish already contains. Dry Andalusian white wine pairs well with the tomato, garlic, and vinegar, while fino or manzanilla handles versions topped with ham or tuna particularly well; a cold lager is an easier informal option. For a non-alcoholic pairing, chilled sparkling water, unsweetened iced tea, or a lightly acidic citrus drink keeps the meal refreshing without adding more sweetness.
Tarator is a Bulgarian cold soup made with Bulgarian yogurt, cucumbers, garlic, chopped dill, sunflower oil, walnuts, and a bit of water or ice. However, there are numerous varieties of this refreshing soup (especially in North Macedonia), so some ingredients might be omitted, while others might be added – nuts are sometimes replaced with bread and cucumbers are sometimes replaced with carrots or lettuce. A variety known as simple tarator is made with vinegar and water instead of yogurt. The soup is always served well-chilled, and it is especially popular on hot summer days.
This Andalusian cold almond soup is known as the precursor of gazpacho; it originated during the Moorish middle ages, predating the arrival of tomatoes and peppers by several centuries. Ajoblanco traditionally consisted of a puréed mixture of stale bread that was moistened with vinegar and water, a hefty amount of fresh garlic, and almonds — the region's most abundant crop, but modern recipes also often include ingredients such as milk and green grapes. If available, always use Marcona almonds when making ajoblanco. The perfect starter for a summer lunch, this creamy soup is best enjoyed well chilled, drizzled with olive oil, and topped with toasted almonds.
It is enough to read this combination of ingredients to make a gourmet salivate: buckwheat and starch noodles placed into a cool beef broth accompanied by pickled radish, slices of hard-boiled eggs, and Korean pear, all of the ingredients seasoned with mustard and vinegar. That's naengmyeon, a cold noodle soup and a favorite summertime treat in Korea. In the past, the dish was typically consumed during winter with radish kimchi, obtained from the pots buried in the yard where kimchi was left to ferment. Buckwheat noodles originate from North Korea, since it was the main production center of buckwheat, but after the Korean War, the dish became popular throughout the country and was consumed regardless of the season. According to local customs (and a bit of superstition), these long noodles should be consumed without cutting, as they are a symbol of good health and longevity. More than just a flavorful dish, naengmyeon is a cultural and gastronomical bridge between two divided Korean countries.
Khaladnik is a cold beet soup that has been a staple of Belarusian cuisine since the late 18th century. It is made with boiled beets mixed with kefir, cucumbers, spring onions, and dill. The soup is traditionally served with a dollop of sour cream, a sprinkle of chopped dill, and often a hard-boiled egg on top. This refreshing summer favorite has a distinctive pink color and a fresh, sour taste that is perfectly contrasted by a side of boiled potatoes.
Salmorejo is a refreshing Andalusian soup that is traditionally served cold. It is especially popular during the warm, summer days. The soup consists of puréed tomatoes, bread, garlic, oil, and vinegar. Thick and creamy, salmorejo is often garnished with ingredients such as hard-boiled eggs or Spanish ham. In some cases, it can be served as a tapa dish or as a sauce accompanying toasts or omelets.
Kongguksu is a Korean summer classic that combines noodles and a cold, soy milk broth. Traditionally, the broth is made from scratch by cooking and puréeing soybeans, occasionally with the addition of sesame seeds or different nuts. The dish is usually prepared with somyeon noodles, and it is finished off with the addition of different toppings such as finely sliced cucumbers or tomatoes. Occasionally, ice cubes can be added to chill the soup.
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