I LOVE salsa. I love them with chips, with meat or chicken, in sandwiches or even over rice or pasta. Each one is unique, and I’ve never had one I didn’t like. That said, I don’t care for salsas that are so hot that my mouth (and other sensitive body parts) curse me for days afterwards, but I definitely don’t mind a good spicy kick. I especially love smoky, almost BBQ-like salsas (usually made with chipotle peppers) and fruit salsas that balance the peppers and spices with peach or pineapple or other sweet tastes. I’m most used to the common commercial brands (Old El Paso, Pace, Paul Newman’s Own), so I’m wondering what great salsas people like and recommend. Any higher-end commercial brands I should locate? Any salsa recipes I should try? (I’ve never attempted making my own.) I’m just jonesing for salsa right now and wanted to share the love.
I love love love salsa, but the freshly made stuff (aka pico de gallo – at least the stuff most people usually call salsa)has very little resemblance to the stuff packed in jars. I’m not saying that all jarred salsa sucks, it’s just different to the homemade stuff. I prefer the latter.
Salsa is easy to make. All you need is fresh juicy summer tomatoes, onions, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice, and salt to taste. That’s it. I usually put garlic in mine, too, but it’s not necessary. If you can’t get good fresh tomatoes, but some canned Italian plum tomatoes. Trust me on this one. You can’t make good salsa with crappy greenhouse tomatoes.
As for proportions, go on instinct, but a good place to start is 2 tomatoes, one small onion (preferably red), one jalapeno, one lime and a bunch of cilantro. Adjust to your own tastes and heat level. Let it sit around for a couple of hours to let the flavors meld, but don’t wait more than a day or so to eat it all. Fresh is the key to good pico de gallo.
If you substitute tomatillos for the tomatoes (you’ll need about a dozen tomatillos, depending on their size, for the proportions given above), and add a bunch of garlic, you have salsa verde.
I too love salsa. My method for making it is to get four or five tomatoes and several peppers, an onion and cilantro. If you slice and roast the tomatoes, peppers, and onions, then blend it and add cilantro and salt to taste it’s really good. To “roast” the veggies the easiest thing is to fry them without any oil until the peppers are a little blistery and the tomatoes are, well, a mess. It’s easy to peel the tomato skins off of the slices then, which I recommend.
But get some mild-ass peppers. One jalepeno and a couple milder is best. Once I went to use a habenero pepper, and after slicing it I thought I’d check the heat before I added it. I spent the next several minutes in the fetal position on the floor.
Use gloves when handling the peppers if you can. If you touch your eyeball any time in the next 24 hours after handling peppers you’ll be sorry, and it’s even worse to touch, um , other places, especially if they are not your other places.
ZJ
Dawn diswashing liquid is a very good way to remove the hot pepper oils from your hands, just fyi. I cook my jalepenos in a little bit of water, then remove stems and seeds, and use a bit of the water to lubricate the food processor.
Great thread BBVL! Now you have me hungry for salsa. Thanks to pulykamell and Zjestika for their salsa making methods, too.
I have made my own salsa, from fresh homegrown, ripe tomatoes. The only thing I don’t put in it that’s been mentioned here is cilantro. For some reason I just can’t stand the flavor of cilantro, so I rely on other seasonings and ingredients.
I like salsa.
I make my own.
It is both hot and tasty.
I really like salsa, and am pretty good at making it. But my roommate would make the OP proud. The faster I make it, the faster he eats it, on everything. Seriously. I make a pint, he eats a pint. I make a gallon, he eats a gallon. A salsa eating machine, that one.
Salsa helped me to to kick a 15+ year smoking habit! It was the only thing that overwhelmed the oral fixation that I had from cigarettes. The hotta the betta, habanero no problema. My husband once bought a beef jerky laced with habanero called Chernobyl that he later thought needed to be renamed “Exit Wounds”.
Oh, I’ve been enjoying a batch of homemade salsa for the past two days! Breakfast (with an omelette), lunch or dinner - it disappears FAST. In fact I have friends request that I whip up a batch for parties and such.
The recipe isn’t anything special - tomatoes, chiles [blasphemy alert] I use Ro-tel when I’m lazy [/blasphemy alert], onion (1 med white), garlic and fresh parsley. Cook until onions are clear. Let cool, add fresh cilantro. Let sit for a few hours minimum for the flavors to mix.
Also, the key secret ingredient: Julio’s seasoning. This is strictly a SW Texas thing. I stocked up with $50 of the stuff when I left the Air Force, and I’m down to my last jar. People from San Antonio or San Angelo will know what I’m talking about!
The stuff has MSG in it, but Ohhhhh does it make the salsa taste good. It’s also amazing in guacamole. Try it and you’ll never go back.
If anyone wants to try the stuff, I can post the address and phone number (unless that violates the rules - then I’ll e-mail it to you).
I almost hate to admit this, but my favorite brand comes from Sam’s, Mi Abuela Salsa Fresca. It comes in a square, plastic, see-through jar. It is delicious. And since it’s from Sam’s, you get a lot of it.
Might I suggest the mexican brands: La Costeña and Hérdez.
Both are of high quality and they make just about every variety.
I absolutely love salsa too…will eat it with damn near anything. I enjoy homemade salsa, but I’m far too lazy to make it. The best I’ve found that can be bought in a store is Sadies…ummm thats good stuff!
I love’s me some SALSA!!!
I eat, sleep, and shit SALSA! I can never get enough of the stuff.
I love salsa, too! Praise be to Rick Bayless and his great Mexican cookbooks for teaching me how to finally make it really well. His method of blackening the tomatoes or tomatillos, the peppers and garlic sets his salsas apart. I won $50 once in an office salsa contest with his roasted tomato and serrano salsa recipe!
Y’all remind me I have a bunch of tomatoes in the fridge bought for this very purpose and I should be making salsa right at this moment. Ahhh, I’ll do it tomorrow morning.