Authentic Mexican Restaurant Style Salsa Recipe
by Liv | Published on June 14th, 2007, 11:10 am | Food
So here's the dilemma. You go out to any Mexican Restaurant and they always have the same salsa. It's basic, but fresh and delicious. The problem though is that you can never, get it, anywhere. The stuff at the store is hardly authentic, and never comes close to the authentic Mexican restaurant variety. Why? Because Old El Paso has to add vinegar and other nasty crap like acidic chemicals to preserve the crap as it sits for months at a time on the shelves of your neighborhood grocery store.
Let's first sort out exactly what salsa is. Translated from Spanish it basically means sauce. More precisely it doesn't involve cowboys nor a "New York City" tag line. Real salsa is either red or green, and not chunky. Red Salsa is your normal variety of tomato based taco sauce. Green is called "Salsa Verde". Latin Cultures also have something called Pico De Gallo which is a combination of chopped tomatoes, onions, cilantro and seasonings. Perhaps combining Pico De Gallo (Beak of Chicken) with Salsa, you would have a familiar TeX-Mex Salsa, but the truth is it still would taste nothing like it's fresh original format because everything in the store has been boiled and processed.
So what is real salsa? Real Mexican Salsa is so simple, so easy, it's going to blow your mind when I tell you how easy it is to make. But unless, you grew up in Tijuana, or have a Hispanic friend willing to divulge the secrets of true Mexican cuisine, then you wouldn't know how to make it. The Internet is all but void of authentic Salsa recipes. No one has ever published a recipe for true, authentic, Mexican, Salsa.
Until now.
We had to help 4 Mexicans across the border to get ahold of this, and sold our child's social security number to get it, but here it is:
- Authentic Mexican Restaurant Salsa Recipe
Ingredient
Method
1) Food process everything. (or shove it all in a blender)
2) Check Hotness, and add more of what you want.
3) Done.
note: chilling overnight, can increase intensity and heat
Now wasn't that easy? Works great on Eggs (huevos), tacos, nachos, and does a great job at impressing your new illegal immigrant who moved in two doors down. The stuff lasts a few days in the fridge but I'd be surprised if it lasts through the night as good as it is.
A quick note, is while fresh Jalapenos seem like a great idea... they just don't work. Get the jar or canned jalapenos. The juice is as much apart of the recipe as any of it, so scooping them out a spoonful at a time until the proper heat level is reached is the perfect way of personalizing your Salsa recipe.
For my Gringo readers who don't cook with cilantro... it's in the produce section, not the spice isle. It's about $1.00 and has a very distinct smell. Remove the stems, and pick the leaves off.
- UPDATE:
- mexican_restaurant_salsa_4.jpg (22.77 KiB) Viewed 53751 times
Due to the questions that have arose, I thought I'd post a few more pictures. Unfortunately I couldn't find my good digital camera but here's a few snapshots to help you along in making the Salsa:
Here's the style and type of Jalapenos you need to buy. You can buy the "Americanized" version if you want, but generally in the Hispanic section these are cheaper, and somewhat more authentic.
This picture gives you an idea of about how many Jalapenos I use. I generally like the Salsa hot so I use a tad bit more. Notice the pickled Jalapeno juice which is liberally added in addition to the the peppers themselves.
Here's the cilantro, and again.... above average, as we love the taste.
And since there was some question about what kind and size tomato sauce to you.... Here's the brand I grabbed tonight. This whole size can make one batch.
