I make my own salsa, but I do it largely via guesswork. This thread inspired me to see how authentically Tex-Mex I can get it.
Fire away!
(Though please note that I’m in the UK and therefore can’t get the name-brand ingredients you might suggest, so from-scratch ingredients would help.)
The authentic salsa makers don’t use recipes, either. They learned how to make salsa from the same grandmas who taught them how to make fresh tortillas. My grandma taught me to make biscuits–so I often use store-bought salsa. Here in Houston, we’ve got a big selection.
Here’s a pretty good looking basic red salsa from Homesick Texan.
Pico de gallo is sort of a chunky raw salsa. And Ninfa’s Green Sauce helped found a culinary empire. (Along with the Ninfaritas.)
Check out the other wonderful recipes available at the site.
You can’t ever go wrong with a basic Salsa Molcajete. Here’s a typical example:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=226778
Basically, you simply put garlic, onions, jalapeño peppers, and tomatoes under a broiler until they’re broiled, dump it all into a blender (you should use a molcajete, but a blender is faster!) and then blend until it’s blended. Add salt to taste, and chopped cilantro if you’d like. I like, so I do. Canned tomatoes can be used if you don’t have fresh (just don’t broil them, obviously). For home use, we throw in five or so whole jalapeños; for company, we drop it down to two or three.
Can you get tomatillas in the UK? When roasted they make a great salsa. They look a bit like gooseberries with a papery skin.
Seems like they’re available canned by mail order for a fortune, or from some specialist farms a long way away from me.
Are the canned ones any good?
I notice that few of those recipes use any sort of acid. I always throw in a bit of lime juice. Am I doing it wrong? For reference, here’s a typical jjimm’s improvised salsa:
Fry 1/2 onion, finely chopped, until browning, in a little olive oil. Add 1 clove garlic, crushed. Add 1 can (~12 oz) chopped tomatoes. Simmer for a little while, add 1 tsps cumin and 1 handful chopped cilantro, add lime juice & salt to taste. Chill.
Ummm…where are the peppers? Add a couple of chopped jalapenos to that and you are on your way.
Other than roasting Tomatillos, garlic, and peppers. I don’t like anything coooked in a salsa.
My basic is just Roma Tomatoes, Red onion, Garlic, Lime juice, corn(perfect little squirt of sweet when you bite into one), Seranos, Cumin, salt, Chipotles.
Make 6-8 hours earlier, so the flavors can meld perfectly.
Black Bean salsa is great too.
I think you need the acid personally. Lime or lemon juice or some other kind is a must.
and of course…
CILANTRO IS EVIL!!!
Others of us, of course, disagree. 
Sorry, forgot that: I do usually throw in a couple handfuls of chopped jalapenos too.
Then you have a decent salsa going. Now try some variations: add different peppers maybe. Personally, I don’t cook my onions. I like them raw, as I do my salsa. Pico de gallo is the almost perfect condiment for just about anything.
I’m pretty well convinced that in order to make a good salsa, heat must be applied somewhere down the line to concentrate the flavors. "Raw"and “Fresh” salsas have their place, but believe it or not, I think canned tomatoes are the way to go.
Anyway, when in Rome… Here’s a little Continental Salsa Recipe I came up with.
Continental Salsa
1 large can san marzano tomatoes
1 tin of Italian sun dried tomatoes in olive oil- 3 chopped sundried tomatoes or so with some of the olive oil
1or 2 fresh chopped red or green hot peppers from the local Tesco
Some kind of jarred pickled peppers 2 or 3 chopped (maybe Italian cherry hots or pepperoncini or somethin.)
2 cloves of chopped garlic
1 or 2 small chopped cioppolini’s
Juice of a fresh lemon to taste.
Salt to taste.
Blend all ingredients together to a chunky consistency. Taste, add more of any ingredient if needed or desired. Serve or let sit for sometime to get a good blending of flavors
Personally, I don’t know about cumin in Salsas, as some have mentioned. I’ve never really had a red, fresh, table salsa, Tex-Mex or Genuine Mexican, with cumin in it. Maybe some mexican oregano, but I think cumin is somehow wrong, or at least from my experience regionally. I think cumin is one of those Americanized touches to Mexican food. It might have been used in some mexican recipes, but since it was distinctive and “spicy” it became one of those “mexican spices” and was seized upon and overused to make something authentically “mexican”.
I’ve never tried them canned (or seen them, even – just green salsa in jars).
If you’re curious about them – do you garden at all? Tomatillas have about the same climate requirements as tomatoes but are a lot easier to grow in my experience.
You salsa recipe seems right on. Try roasted the tomatoes under the broiler for a different taste.