Super Salsa: Hide the food processor to make great Mexican-style tomato salsa

By: TANYA BRICKING LEACH - For The Associated Press | Wednesday, July 18, 2007 11:52 PM PDT ∞

It may go head to head with ketchup as America's favorite condiment, but that doesn't make finding a great tomato salsa easy. For starters, don't look in the jarred food section.

If you want great salsa, the sort that bursts with the flavors of chunky tomatoes, vibrant cilantro, pungent garlic and the tingling heat of jalapeno, you're going to have to head to the produce section.

The good news is that an authentic Mexican-style tomato salsa is quick and simple to prepare, calls for no unusual ingredients or fancy equipment, and pays serious dividends in flavor. Here's what you need to know.

The basic ingredients for a quick, classic Mexican-style salsa are tomatoes, chile peppers, onions, cilantro and lime juice, says Nicole Curtis Ammerman, manager of New Mexico's Santa Fe School of Cooking.

"It's very rustic food," says Ammerman. "It's not exact, like some French cooking."

Americans are most familiar with salsa as blend of chopped tomatoes, chiles, onions and garlic, and use it mainly for dipping chips, says Rick Bayless, chef and owner of Chicago's Frontera Grill and host of the PBS show "Mexico: One Plate at a Time."

"The best salsa is going to have the least number of ingredients," he says.

In Mexico, it's known as "salsa Mexicana," a table sauce that's used on numerous foods, from eggs to tacos. Its role in Mexican cuisine, Bayless says, dates to the earliest record of Mexican food being a tapestry of color, texture and flavor.

The texture: Great salsas rely on layers of flavor and a hearty texture.

This is why so many jarred salsas fail to impress. The time in the jar robs the tomatoes of their meatiness. The tomatoes often are too finely chopped, resembling a puree more than a salsa.

"The biggest problem with most salsas is they're insipid, they're watery and not very flavorful," says Susie Middleton, executive editor of Fine Cooking magazine.

Lack of texture usually can account for most of those problems. Pureed tomatoes exude more moisture. Tomato size also lends aesthetic value.

"The bigger the chunks are, the bigger the perception of freshness," says Dennis Ferris, a food scientist at Cal State Fresno, who has studied how to maintain the fresh taste of cilantro in processed salsas. "So the size does matter."

He uses egg-shaped Roma or plum tomatoes, which have firmer, meatier flesh than other varieties, and are more acidic. The size of the tomato chunks also is key -- 1/16-inch dice is ideal to make the flavors meld, says Bayless.

Layered beneath the tomato taste, the heat of the chiles, aroma of cilantro and mellow pungency of garlic should come through. Lime juice, a more traditional choice than vinegar or lemon juice, rounds out the salsa with a touch of acidity.

Just a splash of olive oil will hold these flavors together, says Middleton.

The heat: Whether you like a gentle tingle or a full frontal attack, it all comes down to capsaicin, the chemical that provides the heat in peppers.

Controlling the heat of a salsa is easy. Capsaicin is concentrated in the white ribs and seeds inside the pepper. The outer flesh of the pepper has some heat, but mostly offers more nuanced pepper flavors.

Most Americans don't tolerate salsas much beyond mild, says Dirk Rambo, chief operating officer of Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy, an upscale-casual chain that has restaurants in 15 states.

Abuelo's solution is to place a container at every table filled with the hot parts of the pepper. Diners can mix some into their salsa to make it as hot as they'd like.

To get the most pepper flavor while controlling the heat at home, scrape out the seeds and ribs of the pepper. Finely dice them and set them aside. Add just the flesh of the pepper in the salsa.

To increase the heat, add some ribs and seeds. (And wear rubber gloves while working on the peppers.)

In the United States, the most widely available chiles are jalapenos, which have a mild taste and heat. Serrano peppers have a bit more heat, and habaneros are super-hot, says Ferris. Generally, the smaller and darker the pepper, the more intense its heat.

The onion and garlic: Onions and garlic add pungency to salsa. The garlic should be finely minced or crushed. This ensures the garlic flavor is uniformly distributed through the salsa.

Garlic variety is somewhat a matter of taste. Because Mexican garlic is a bit stronger than American, Mexican salsas usually contain just a bit of it. Increasing the amount of American garlic just a bit is a fine substitute.

For the onions, Bayless opts for the crisp, clear flavor of white onions. But even then, he likes to tone down their pungency.

He chops the onions, places them in a strainer and runs cold water over them for about 5 seconds before shaking out the excess water and adding them to the salsa.

The method: While many people use a food processor or blender to make salsas, hand-chopping is the best way to get a chunky Mexican-style salsa, or salsa cruda, the sort good for scooping on a chip, says Bayless.

A sharp knife produces small pieces of vegetable that better retain their juices, he says. Food processors and blenders can leave ingredients battered and frothed.

And here's another easily overlooked equipment issue -- the type of bowl matters. Thanks to the tomatoes and lime juice, salsa is particularly acidic. Which means a nonreactive bowl is key to avoid off flavors from plastic. Stick with glass or stainless steel.

Once you've chopped and mixed, it's time to rest -- give it about 15 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.

But after that, the clock starts ticking. Fresh salsa is at its best for an hour or two. After that, the tomatoes lose their moisture, making the salsa watery, and the potency of the onions can overwhelm the other flavors.

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