Best Salsa: Your taste buds are fucked if you do not agree with these fine ladies.

[Smax 3800]

On 6/23/2023 at 10:30 PM, mchookem said:

the green is closer in heat to Tacodeli Dona sauce than TJ's is. love it. 

also... for some reason this one says 'mild' but that is a complete and utter lie lol. it's 🔥 and i absolutely love it...

i just brought three packs back in my suitcase from Austin 😁

there is literally NO hot salsa in Denver 😝

 

This stuff is great, the habanero has a nice kick and  goes well on breakfast tacos

[jimmyjazz 45880]

5 hours ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

Toss this in a boiling pot then blend.

 

5 roma

1/3 cup of chile piquin

3 cloves of garlic

boil the tomato’s and garlic and as tomato's start to peel toss in the chile piquin. Move to blender and blend up 3 tomato’s with garlic and chiles until smooth and then pulse the last two so you get some texture. Add your favorite salt pepper and garlic seasoning. About 2 tablespoons.

Holy smokes, 2 tablespoons broken down how?  5 roma tomatoes probably don't weigh 1.5 lb.  Anything more than a teaspoon of salt would seem to be overkill.  Did you mean 2 tsp?

[Rockethorn1978 6072]

10 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Holy smokes, 2 tablespoons broken down how?  5 roma tomatoes probably don't weigh 1.5 lb.  Anything more than a teaspoon of salt would seem to be overkill.  Did you mean 2 tsp?

Lol yea 2 tsp. My bad. I do one to taste then add another. 3 ingredients and it’s freaking amazing.

[jimmyjazz 45880]

19 minutes ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

Lol yea 2 tsp. My bad. I do one to taste then add another. 3 ingredients and it’s freaking amazing.

Whew.  I was about to advise you to get to your cardiologist.  

I've never cooked with chile piquins, I'll have to give them a spin.  Are they similar to chile de arbol in heat?

[Rockethorn1978 6072]

5 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Whew.  I was about to advise you to get to your cardiologist.  

I've never cooked with chile piquins, I'll have to give them a spin.  Are they similar to chile de arbol in heat?

Yea the recipe my friend gave me was his dads from Mexico and it called for 1/2 cup so I knew that would blow my ass out so I cut it to 1/3 cup. It’s a very common salsa roja recipe. I make another with chile de arbol and guajillo chile and it’s not as spicy and has a sweeter taste to me for whatever reason. Chile piquin was my favorite of both. I put that shit on everything now.

[jimmyjazz 45880]

I perceive guajillo as "fruity", so maybe that's the sweetness you're tasting.

[Rockethorn1978 6072]

4 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

I perceive guajillo as "fruity", so maybe that's the sweetness you're tasting.

Yea it wasn’t bad just not as amazing as the piquin.

[Celery Man 20931]

 

I’m making tortillas tonight and I saw a full thing of tomatillos at the store, so I decided to get my ninfa on.

[Celery Man 20931]

Having weaned on ninfa’s green sauce, this is just about heaven

[rage-a-holic 4373]

18 hours ago, Celery Man said:

Having weaned on ninfa’s green sauce, this is just about heaven

which recipe did you use? Some of them floating around out there are just fucking wrong.

[Celery Man 20931]

6 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

which recipe did you use? Some of them floating around out there are just fucking wrong.

Homesick Texan - https://www.homesicktexan.com/salsa-salvation-ninfas-green-sauce/

I’ve made that recipe a million times since I was a teenager. It calls for way the fuck too much sour cream - I just spoon some in but if I was guessing I’d say a half cup. This is the first time that I tried it with just tomatillos (no green tomatoes available, so I used ten tomatillos instead) and it turned out fine. If there’s a better version of the recipe somewhere I’m down to try it. 

[Radical Larry 28539]

https://x.com/mikeroach247/status/1695632594954498186

Posting this here since the recruiting thread has become food and travel talk.

[shadow_operative2.0 15944]

Pretty damn good from a grocery store.

[Celery Man 20931]

On 6/19/2023 at 8:48 PM, Carl Spackler said:

I picked up a jalapeno sauce (it's not really a salsa) recipe off Surly a few years ago.  I can't recall offhand which poster shared it, but whoever it was I tip my hat to him.  I've made it a bunch of times.  It's good and incredibly easy.  

 

6 jalapenos  (I sometimes substitute a habanero for one of the japs to kick up the heat, but I like it spicy)
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
Handful of cilantro
1 tsp kosher salt (original recipe called for a half teaspoon)

Boil peppers and peeled garlic for 20 minutes
Then take and put them in ice water to cool off.
Once cool, cut stems off peppers and put them, garlic cloves, oil , cilantro (stems and leaves), and salt in blender.
Liquefy.

Profit

 

 

 

 

i've started making this all the time and it is great.  my version is 5 japs 2 serranos. The first time I did it the garlic basically came apart in the strainer, so I toss the garlic in about 10 minutes into the boil. I have not been doing the ice water step - I drain then, cut off the stems, throw them in the bullet, mash them a little bit and drain out the water, add the olive oil and salt and cilantro, vrrrrrrrrrrr, I've started putting it in squeeze bottles.  I can double the recipe and still fit it in the large bullet cup.

[Al_4_ISU 12447]

On 8/26/2023 at 10:03 PM, Celery Man said:

Homesick Texan - https://www.homesicktexan.com/salsa-salvation-ninfas-green-sauce/

I’ve made that recipe a million times since I was a teenager. It calls for way the fuck too much sour cream - I just spoon some in but if I was guessing I’d say a half cup. This is the first time that I tried it with just tomatillos (no green tomatoes available, so I used ten tomatillos instead) and it turned out fine. If there’s a better version of the recipe somewhere I’m down to try it. 

I'm very interested in trying this, but my question is what you use to prevent the veggies from charring/sticking while you boil?  Will there be enough water/juice from the tomatillo to create the liquid?

[Celery Man 20931]

4 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I'm very interested in trying this, but my question is what you use to prevent the veggies from charring/sticking while you boil?  Will there be enough water/juice from the tomatillo to create the liquid?

Oh, a fuck ton of water. I boil a pot of water and then chuck the peppers in.

 

good question though lol, that ninfas salsa recipe you boil but just with the water from the tomatoes/tomatillos.

Edited November 21, 2023 by Celery Man

[Al_4_ISU 12447]

1 hour ago, Celery Man said:

i've started making this all the time and it is great.  my version is 5 japs 2 serranos. The first time I did it the garlic basically came apart in the strainer, so I toss the garlic in about 10 minutes into the boil. I have not been doing the ice water step - I drain then, cut off the stems, throw them in the bullet, mash them a little bit and drain out the water, add the olive oil and salt and cilantro, vrrrrrrrrrrr, I've started putting it in squeeze bottles.  I can double the recipe and still fit it in the large bullet cup.

I have a bunch of tiny japs that came in late from a buddy's garden.  This seems like a perfect use-up for them, but I wonder how the ratio computes.  These things are a fraction of a typical grocery store one.

[Al_4_ISU 12447]

9 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

Oh, a fuck ton of water. I boil a pot of water and then chuck the peppers in.

 

good question though lol, that ninfas salsa recipe you boil but just with the water from the tomatoes/tomatillos.

I assume this is in reference to the hot sauce I inquired about in Steel Shank?  I want to make that as well as the Ninfas sauce.  But I might just dick around with this recipe on Friday to kill off the baby japs my buddy gave me.  Or just sautee them and make breakfast with them, eggs, and what will likely be leftover ribeye from Thursday at my dad's.

[Celery Man 20931]

10 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I have a bunch of tiny japs that came in late from a buddy's garden.  This seems like a perfect use-up for them, but I wonder how the ratio computes.  These things are a fraction of a typical grocery store one.

I’ve made this a bunch of times over the past few months and I don’t think it’s a very precision recipe. These are some big ol japs but are about what I usually use

[Celery Man 20931]

3 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I assume this is in reference to the hot sauce I inquired about in Steel Shank?  I want to make that as well as the Ninfas sauce.  But I might just dick around with this recipe on Friday to kill off the baby japs my buddy gave me.  Or just sautee them and make breakfast with them, eggs, and what will likely be leftover ribeye from Thursday at my dad's.

yeah - the hot sauce in the squeeze bottle (salsa dona with some mexican rice on freshly made tortillas is pretty good btw) is the recipe here where you boil a bunch of peppers in water with some garlic and then blend them up with salt, oil, and cilantro. The Ninfas recipe you cut up a bunch of tomatoes and tomatillos in addition to some.... japs and whatever else, and in that one you bring it to a boil with the water that comes out of the tomatoes/tomatillos. I think I posted about making that up thread but I recently made it it with just tomatillos (instead of both tomatoes and tomatillos) and it was just as good. Finding green tomatoes is always the hardest part of making that for me, so that was an exciting discovery.

[Al_4_ISU 12447]

23 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

yeah - the hot sauce in the squeeze bottle (salsa dona with some mexican rice on freshly made tortillas is pretty good btw) is the recipe here where you boil a bunch of peppers in water with some garlic and then blend them up with salt, oil, and cilantro. The Ninfas recipe you cut up a bunch of tomatoes and tomatillos in addition to some.... japs and whatever else, and in that one you bring it to a boil with the water that comes out of the tomatoes/tomatillos. I think I posted about making that up thread but I recently made it it with just tomatillos (instead of both tomatoes and tomatillos) and it was just as good. Finding green tomatoes is always the hardest part of making that for me, so that was an exciting discovery.

I personally prefer tomatillos to tomatoes, and can pretty much always find them, so it's a no brainer on my end to just go full tomatillo.

[ChickenSandwich 9824]

13 hours ago, Celery Man said:

yeah - the hot sauce in the squeeze bottle (salsa dona with some mexican rice on freshly made tortillas is pretty good btw) is the recipe here where you boil a bunch of peppers in water with some garlic and then blend them up with salt, oil, and cilantro. The Ninfas recipe you cut up a bunch of tomatoes and tomatillos in addition to some.... japs and whatever else, and in that one you bring it to a boil with the water that comes out of the tomatoes/tomatillos. I think I posted about making that up thread but I recently made it it with just tomatillos (instead of both tomatoes and tomatillos) and it was just as good. Finding green tomatoes is always the hardest part of making that for me, so that was an exciting discovery.

Green tomatoes always a pain the in ass so adapted/eliminated 

NinfasGS

12 tomatillos 

3-6 Serranos (your Heat preference)

Boil 7-10 min until soft. 
 

Blend, put in fridge to cool. 
 

Add 3-4 med diced avocado, blend. Transfer to large bowl. Add 1 bunch cilantro diced finely stems and all. 
 

Add aprox 1 cup sour cream. Salt to taste. Chill at least 4 hours. 

Edited November 22, 2023 by ChickenSandwich

[Hermanator 7032]

If you live in a major Texas city there's a taqueria or tortilleria close to you that makes fresh salsa better than what you're getting in a jar. One by my house makes rojo, verde, and habanero. 

If not then put some tomatoes, onion, cilantro, jalapeno or pepper of choice, fresh garlic, cumin, black pepper, and salt into a blender with some water. Boom, instant homemade salsa. 

[Celery Man 20931]

On 11/23/2023 at 12:35 AM, Hermanator said:

If you live in a major Texas city there's a taqueria or tortilleria close to you that makes fresh salsa better than what you're getting in a jar. One by my house makes rojo, verde, and habanero. 

If not then put some tomatoes, onion, cilantro, jalapeno or pepper of choice, fresh garlic, cumin, black pepper, and salt into a blender with some water. Boom, instant homemade salsa. 

i miss the shit out of Tortilleria Rio Grande's avocado salsa.

 

Ok, so yesterday I attempted to make this recipe, because I love the regular roja salsa from Tacodeli. I'll straight up drink all of the leftover cups of salsa like shots - https://www.fox26houston.com/houstons-morning-show/salsa-roja-from-tacodeli

Quote

Ingredients

3 tomatoes

3 serranos

¼ white onion

4 garlic cloves

¼ Cilantro Bunch

2-to-3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of salt

Directions

Char/blacken all veggies on a medium-high skillet (tomatoes, serranos, onions, garlic) with the olive oil.

Add the charred veggies to a blender with the cilantro and add salt.  Blend to incorporate, add a little water to loosen up if necessary.

Add or delete serranos to adjust for your desired heat level.

I fucked it up a little bit I think, although I feel like these instructions aren't quite right. It was a mess with that much oil and the tomatoes (although it's possible I didn't completely dry the veggies after washing which would have contributed to the splatter) but mostly the garlic got charred to shit really fast. The resulting salsa is actually.... still pretty tasty, but the extra roasted garlic is a heavy flavor

I'm thinking I shouldn't have the garlic in there when I'm trying to blacken the other veggies. I also found this on reddit (maybe from someone who worked there?) - 

Quote

Tomatoes are blackened on both sides on a flat top grill with lots of oil. Cook down white onions, then garlic, and serranos/ jalapenos. Combine and blend with an immersion mixer/ food processor. Add fresh cilantro, salt / pepper, blend some more.

There's probably a few more ingredients but that will get you 90% there. I think the blackened tomatoes are key to salsa roja.

You can also buy the salsa in bulk at Tacodeli or Whole Foods.

So I'm thinking I might try that next time - blacken the tomatoes like that, cook down the other veggies (starting with onions) on a lower heat in a different pot or pan, then either immersion blend or more likely chuck it all in a blender with the salt and cilantro. But I'm curious for you all who have more salsa making expertise if there's something else obvious I should be doing differently.

[jimmyjazz 45880]

I make a very basic salsa where I oven roast 3-4 roma tomatoes, a small quartered onion, and a jalapeno or two, then blend with some garlic and salt.  20 minutes in the oven seems to put a nice char on things in spots and brings out some sweetness in the tomatoes.

[Celery Man 20931]

1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

I make a very basic salsa where I oven roast 3-4 roma tomatoes, a small quartered onion, and a jalapeno or two, then blend with some garlic and salt.  20 minutes in the oven seems to put a nice char on things in spots and brings out some sweetness in the tomatoes.

Temp?

[jimmyjazz 45880]

2 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

Temp?

Usually 375 F or so.  Not a big factor, I just watch 'em and make sure they're not getting overly charred.  You want the tomatoes to blister, and maybe the jalapenos.

Edited November 27, 2023 by jimmyjazz

[Celery Man 20931]

On 11/21/2023 at 9:18 AM, Celery Man said:

i've started making this all the time and it is great.  my version is 5 japs 2 serranos. The first time I did it the garlic basically came apart in the strainer, so I toss the garlic in about 10 minutes into the boil. I have not been doing the ice water step - I drain then, cut off the stems, throw them in the bullet, mash them a little bit and drain out the water, add the olive oil and salt and cilantro, vrrrrrrrrrrr, I've started putting it in squeeze bottles.  I can double the recipe and still fit it in the large bullet cup.

[Guest]

I'm here celebrating Celery's entire catalog. I think I could eat Ninfa's green sauce by the gallon.

[Guest]

On 11/21/2023 at 11:06 PM, ChickenSandwich said:

Green tomatoes always a pain the in ass so adapted/eliminated 

NinfasGS

12 tomatillos 

3-6 Serranos (your Heat preference)

Boil 7-10 min until soft. 
 

Blend, put in fridge to cool. 
 

Add 3-4 med diced avocado, blend. Transfer to large bowl. Add 1 bunch cilantro diced finely stems and all. 
 

Add aprox 1 cup sour cream. Salt to taste. Chill at least 4 hours. 

For clarity, what are you boiling the ingredients in? Do you need to add water or something?

[ChickenSandwich 9824]

12 minutes ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

For clarity, what are you boiling the ingredients in? Do you need to add water or something?

Just a pot of salted water until softened. 
 

Then remove tops of Serranos before blending. 

Edited December 5, 2023 by ChickenSandwich

[Celery Man 20931]

1 hour ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Just a pot of salted water until softened. 
 

Then remove tops of Serranos before blending. 

 

ohhhhhh every time I've made that (tomatillo version or green tomato) I've chopped everything up and then boiled it with no water (liquid comes from the tomatos/tomatillos). You're saying... I could not be chopping 50 goddamn tomatillos and instead just throw everything in a pot of water to boil and then drain/blend?  Fuck, man.

 

Are you at all missing any garlic in that recipe?

[ChickenSandwich 9824]

49 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

 

ohhhhhh every time I've made that (tomatillo version or green tomato) I've chopped everything up and then boiled it with no water (liquid comes from the tomatos/tomatillos). You're saying... I could not be chopping 50 goddamn tomatillos and instead just throw everything in a pot of water to boil and then drain/blend?  Fuck, man.

 

Are you at all missing any garlic in that recipe?

Yes my man. No dice. Peel the tomatillos, throw them whole into the boiling water with the japs/serranos. If they start to split pull them. Just need to get soft. (6-10mins)
 

Ive used garlic and or jalapeños in the past and just prefer it this way. To my brain it is closest in flavor profile I remember and prefer, but easy to adjust to your taste. 

This recipe can’t be much less on prep and labor and great for making large batches quickly

*add sour cream slow as the level varies slightly depending on the tomatillo’s size and water content.  
 

Doesn’t taste right until fully chilled. 

[Guest]

On 12/5/2023 at 3:05 PM, ChickenSandwich said:

Yes my man. No dice. Peel the tomatillos, throw them whole into the boiling water with the japs/serranos. If they start to split pull them. Just need to get soft. (6-10mins)
 

Ive used garlic and or jalapeños in the past and just prefer it this way. To my brain it is closest in flavor profile I remember and prefer, but easy to adjust to your taste. 

This recipe can’t be much less on prep and labor and great for making large batches quickly

*add sour cream slow as the level varies slightly depending on the tomatillo’s size and water content.  
 

Doesn’t taste right until fully chilled. 

Did not read this. Just made it, but it is still chilling. Tried a bite and the first half of the bite tasted exact, the second half of the taste was too tangy like I put in too much sour cream. I did 1 cup. Think I should have used 3/4ths a cup.

[elfenix 34223]

On 12/5/2023 at 3:05 PM, ChickenSandwich said:

Just need to get soft. (6-10mins)

braggart

[Guest]

Final take was that after it chilled, it was pretty dang close to Ninfa's. I'd say 8/10.

Not sure what was missing, but it just tasted a touch flatter. 

[ChickenSandwich 9824]

On 12/11/2023 at 7:59 AM, FirstTimeCaller said:

Final take was that after it chilled, it was pretty dang close to Ninfa's. I'd say 8/10.

Not sure what was missing, but it just tasted a touch flatter. 

did you blend the cilantro or chop (including stems) and not sure if I mentioned to add salt to taste at the end

[Celery Man 20931]

I tried that recipe too and wound up too high on the avocado side - will err higher on tomatillos and lower on the avocados. Of course, it was still delicious, just more creamy/solid than I meant to do. I think I might have lost some tomatillo from overboiling as well.

 

you find it makes a difference to chop the cilantro? I also kicked myself for using the food processor when I think the bullet would have done it. Such a pain in the ass to clean.

2 year old approves and also fucking loves “rice with peas” these days

[Guest]

51 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

did you blend the cilantro or chop (including stems) and not sure if I mentioned to add salt to taste at the end

No stems, just leaves. Chopped it a couple of times to break it up a little and then in the blender. 

What's the correct process?

[ChickenSandwich 9824]

Just now, FirstTimeCaller said:

No stems, just leaves. Chopped it a couple of times to break it up a little and then in the blender. 

What's the correct process?

NO!  Blender kills the Cilantro flavor, and stems should be included.  (we have tried it all ways in the kitchen and while blending saved time, the flavor difference was big)

 

Once tomatillos, Serranos and avocados blended, poor in bowl, then add cilantro, salt and sour cream.  Doesn't seem like much but the process matters.

[jimmyjazz 45880]

Any of y'all ever use these?  

[elfenix 34223]

On 12/13/2023 at 1:44 PM, jimmyjazz said:

Any of y'all ever use these?  

i'd imagine that's what most taquerias and maybe a lot of better mexican restaurants are using

[Carl Spackler 3479]

On 12/5/2023 at 5:08 AM, Celery Man said:

I haven't had the issue with the garlic disintegrating on me, but throwing 'em into the boil a bit later than the japs makes sense to me.  I also haven't tried the recipe without doing the cold water bath, but I assume a big reason for that step is that it makes the peppers easier to handle when you're cutting the tops/stems off.  I can't imagine skipping that step makes a difference in taste. 

And, yeah, squeeze bottles are great for this stuff.  I don't double the recipe because I'm the only one eating it (the wife isn't big on spicy food), but it still goes quick.   

Edited December 15, 2023 by Carl Spackler

[Gene Parmesan 4002]

What is the benefit of canned tomatoes/tomatillos other than convenience and cost?  Does it taste better than fresh or just different?

[jimmyjazz 45880]

17 minutes ago, Gene Parmesan said:

What is the benefit of canned tomatoes/tomatillos other than convenience and cost?  Does it taste better than fresh or just different?

I'm no pro, but I don't use boxed or canned goods unless I'm cooking them.  In that case, they tend to be more consistent than fresh.

[utee94 15804]

11 hours ago, Gene Parmesan said:

What is the benefit of canned tomatoes/tomatillos other than convenience and cost?  Does it taste better than fresh or just different?

I know it's not really what you're asking, but there is some SCIENCE indicating that canned tomato products have some health benefits compared to fresh...

Quote

canned tomatoes provide lycopene, a phytochemical or natural plant compound that provides health benefits (and gives tomatoes their gorgeous hue). The antioxidant lycopene has been shown in over 700 studies to have a positive impact on breast cancer, heart cancer, inflammation and prostate cancer. Canned tomatoes have much more lycopene bioavailable compared to fresh tomatoes, which means you get more.

 

https://www.foodnetwork.com/healthyeats/healthy-tips/2010/08/canned-tomatoes-good-or-bad

[Buzzrock 14902]

Cooking the tomatoes makes it taste like tomato soup IMO. But I don’t know shit about fuck.

Any thoughts on Mateo’s from Costco? Salty but kind of addictive. 

 

[Zepol87 9185]

Threw a little something together for some chicken flautas later. Tomatillos, garlic, tomatoes, onion, serranos cooking. When ready for blender add cilantro,  consome, chile arbol, pepper, garlic salt. Perfect everytime

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by Zepol87

[shadow_operative2.0 15944]

1 hour ago, Buzzrock said:

Any thoughts on Mateo’s from Costco? Salty but kind of addictive.

Can’t beat the price, but the blended consistency is a little weird for me. 

[Celery Man 20931]

8 minutes ago, Zepol87 said:

Threw a little something together for some chicken flautas later. Tomatillos, garlic, tomatoes, onion, serranos cooking. When ready for blender add cilantro,  consome, chile arbol, pepper, garlic salt. Perfect everytime

 

Does the aluminum enhance the process or is it just a highly Mexican griddle condom?