Hey everybody!
First time making a “smoked” salsa. Each small batch had roughly 2-3 tomatoes and 2-3 medium sized jalepenos. Also some cilantro, garlic, salt, and lime juice.
I got my cast iron just warm enough to boil water and tossed in jalepenos and tomatoes, adding bits of water when necessary until the skin peeled. Pulled the skin off and mashed them in my tiny molcajete with the garlic, cilantro and lime juice went in afterwards.
I didn’t quite get the char or smoked flavor I was looking for, I think next time I’ll get the iron a bit hotter and char them before I start adding water for the peel. I’ll also pull the tomatoes out after charring and put them back in later as the jalapeno skin was difficult to peel when I pulled everything out.
The flavor was pretty good, just really missing that smoked flavor. It also wasn’t hot enough so I think I’ll add some habanero next time. I also desperately need a larger molcajete lol.
Sorry for wall of text, it anyone has tips or advice I’ll gladly take it! Thanks.
by 16ozMouse
6 Comments
Hey everybody!
First time making a “smoked” salsa. Each small batch had roughly 2-3 tomatoes and 2-3 medium sized jalepenos. Also some cilantro, garlic, salt, and lime juice.
I got my cast iron just warm enough to boil water and tossed in jalepenos and tomatoes, adding bits of water when necessary until the skin peeled. Pulled the skin off and mashed them in my tiny molcajete with the garlic, cilantro and lime juice went in afterwards.
I didn’t quite get the char or smoked flavor I was looking for, I think next time I’ll get the iron a bit hotter and char them before I start adding water for the peel. I’ll also pull the tomatoes out after charring and put them back in later as the jalapeno skin was difficult to peel when I pulled everything out.
The flavor was pretty good, just really missing that smoked flavor. It also wasn’t hot enough so I think I’ll add some habanero next time. I also desperately need a larger molcajete lol.
Sorry for wall of text, it anyone has tips or advice I’ll gladly take it! Thanks.
edit: It also looked watery in the pictures, but it soaked up a bit after an hour in the fridge. I still think I’ll get the “guts” out of the tomato next time.
Loose the oil, make sure the pan is hot AF don’t cut the chiles or tomatoes. Something like this
https://preview.redd.it/h61k038dnmqa1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=e7e2901062f801e80a2ed5217ef15c6d56964de9
My personal recipe, inspired by a recipe i learned in Oaxaca, is to use a variety of the same ingredient prepared in different ways.
I blacken and char most ingredients, some I’ll boil, and some I’ll use raw.
This is just my personal preference for a cooked salsa… but here’s my go to…
Char ingredients in a cast iron pan or over charcoal (i tend to prefer charred over smoked). Add to molcajete or food processor, work to desired consistency with seasonings, lime, etc.
Now here’s the punchline:
Through my research and travels – i discovered this thing called ‘seasoning’ – where you heat a skillet or pan real hot and get a pour the salsa into the pan – let it season (cook) for a minute or two – fix any seasonings (salt, lime, etc) and then jar.
It’s ready once its cooled.
My only advice is to send me some for testing
I opt for no lime juice on mine. I use a mix of both tomato and tomatillo and recently I’ve been using a couple of chiles morita to get a bit of a smoky chipotle flavor in there. I char my fresh ingredients on the skillet, no water nor oil, and boil the morita in a sauce pan along with onion and garlic. Then throw everything in the blender and blend to desired chunkyness. Add salt to taste and that’s all.