4 salsas for a small gathering

My wife and I hosted friends of ours last night and I used it as a cheap excuse to make quadruple the salsa we really needed and try out a few new recipes. In addition to the salsas I made queso fundido and chicken tamales which were both exceptionally good.

From left to right:

La tastemada Cremosa (cookbook – Salsa Daddy)

Charred tomato, onion, garlic

Chipotle in adobo

Adobo sauce

Sour cream

Salt

The smokiness really came through from the chipotle but it was nicely balanced by the creaminess from the sour cream. The charred ingredients brought body and helped prop up the smoky char flavor profile. The original recipe calls for crema but our grocery store was out. The sour cream acted as a fine proxy. Silver medal.

Guacamole (mine)

Avocado

Cilantro

Lime

Garlic

Salt

An old standby. Not much to say other than the 3 avocados were in that perfectly ripe 6 hour window where they were neither decomposing nor too hard. I purchased them as the store yesterday’s morning. My theory is that with cinco de mayo coming up the stores are peaking on avocados. Similar to the perfect* strawberries that show up 2 weeks before Valentine’s Day then disappear again.

*perfect for a commercial grocery store. Which means extra large, red, juicy, and not bruised or moldy. I’m not comparing them to real strawberries you get in June.

Pico de gallo (mine)

Roma tomato

Onion

Jalapeño

Cilantro

Lime juice

Dash of cumin

Salt

Another weekly standby. This is our go to “homemade salsa” in the house. Quick, easy, and delicious. It was outshined by 2 of the other salsas yesterday, but that was expected. It did provide a nice fresh bite and almost acted as a palate cleanser between the other salsas. Bronze medal

No name salsa (cookbook – Nopalito)

chili de Arbol

Gaujillo

Toasted cinnamon, clove, allspice, ginger, sesame, and thyme

Diced canned tomatoes

Vinegar

Chocolate

Canola oil

This salsa was used as a sauce for the tamales I made and is part of the recipe for Tamales de birria con pollo in the Nopalito cookbook. It doesn’t have a name, but it doesn’t need one. It is arguably the best salsa I have never made, but also one of the most complicated. The depth of flavor was astounding. The spices were all toasted before being mixed with the softened chilis, tomato, and vinegar in a blender. The mixture’s was then reduced on the stovetop for 30 minutes before being flash fried in the hot canola oil. Lastly the chocolate was melted in off heat for yet another layer of complexity. Addicting, gold medal.

La Pina (cookbook – Salsa Daddy)

Charred pineapple, onion, jalapeño, garlic

Salt

Olive oil

Unfortunately this salsa was the loser of the day. In its defense, the original recipe called for habanero. After three separate stores without habaneros I was forced to sub in jalapeño. Who knew that the Philly suburbs would be a habanero desert yesterday. The salsa was overly sweet and the jalapeño struggled to have enough heat to bring balance. This ended up being a dessert salsa. All sweet no heat. The charring didn’t bring balance or depth, instead it brought a bitter off flavor to what should have been a bright summery salsa. This one needs a redo, but when my garden habs are ripe in the middle of August, not on a cold rainy spring day. Winner of the oft maligned participation award!