[HELP] I want to make the worlds best salsa

What kind of heat you want?

 

Youll need tomatoes, lots of tomatoes.

 

in my experience when it comes to salsa, the quality/freshness of the ingredients are far more important than the recipe

 

Best salsa is made with grilled/charred tomato’s &chiles. Add Garlic cloves/garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste.

ditch the food processor and get one of these bad boys lol

 

Yes. Roast everything. Also, a big bowl and the bottom of a pint glass works pretty well too. LOL.

 

1. Buy Rotel
2. Dump Rotel into food processor
3. Without running the food processor, pour the Rotel out into a bowl
4. Salsa

 

5. Profit

 

The best salsa to me is usually something simple. Serranos, tomatoes, cilantro, onions, lime juice, salt, maybe some garlic, and possibly some cumin. That's about it. If you want more heat, just add more serranos or go with habaneros. If you're a true chilihead, go with a trinidad scorpion variety or carolina reaper.

I've never made salsa verde, but it's just as simple, but you have to find some good tomatillos.

 

How will you know if it is the world's best?

 

Roast tomatillo, serranos, green onions, garlic. Blend with tiny bit of oregano, add salt, and ungodly amounts of oil as its blending.

Taco stand bottle green sauce recipe.

 

What this guy said . Serrano peppers are the ****.

 

A molcajete is the best option, but if you don't have one just use a blender or food processor.

This is pretty much my go to recipe (I double everything), but I add a bit of lime juice. I like a 2:1 combo of serranos and jalapeno. Also, it's hatch chili season, those go great in this, just add 1 to the hot peppers. Another tasty variation to the green sauce is to add a diced avocado and blend it until almost smooth. If you want red salsa, just replace the tomatillos (I like roma tomatoes), often grocery store tomatoes are under-ripe, may have to leave them on the counter for a couple of days.

Lime, salt and heat is pretty much a personal preference, so you'll have to do some tasting and adjusting.

https://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/roasted-tomatillo-salsa/

 

Don’t forget to salt!

 

This is exactly right and why bottled salsa is never good.

As others have said, roast or grill the tomatoes ( or tomatillos if you want to go green ), chiles onions, garlic etc. then throw or in molcajete ( or a damned food processor if you must ). Add salt, pepper, lime and cilantro to taste and you will win.

 

Start with this as a base recipe, and tweak it to your needs.

 

*tomatillos. Roast all ingredients and blend.

 

I second starting with the plethora of Rick Bayless recipes. (Note he recommends both styles of peeled/seeded tomatoes -- for just the meat -- as well as unpeeled tomatoes for rustic salsa.)

Start Simple (as many have said above)

Start simple so you know what ingredients you like. Some people like more garlic, some less cilantro (or none). Some prefer the flavor of roasted jalapenos over serranos, but jalapenos don't control the heat well enough, imo, without putting too many in (which changes the flavor too much). So I'll do charred jalapenos for my prefered flavor and rachet the heat with habaneros.​

Smokey Salsa (a repeat winning style at Austin Hot Sause Festival in early 2000s)

Once you get what you like down, try smoking a portion of your tomatoes/jalapenos in a weber, to create the smokey salsa flavor as a change of pace. Not all of them, though, just some is enough. Chipotle is not needed (nor recommended) to get that "Chipotle" flavor ... it's smoked jalapenos, afterall, you could say "fresh Chipotle."

At a bbq party back in 2002 or so, I once asked Robb Walsh what wins at the Festival. (He's Houston Press award-winning food criique and one of the organizers, long-time judges of the Austin Hot Sause Festival.) He refused to answer, thinking it would be unfair for me to know. But as the party was starting to wind-down we were alone, full and satiated, and he decided to answer the question... "Smokey wins."
​

Simmered Salsa (to meld flavors and create a silky finish)

Simmered salsa is also another change of pace. Char only half your tomatoes, and combine with all your charred peppers, onions, garlic (etc) and simmer them to meld the flavors together. (add chicken stock if needed.) Combine with raw tomatoes and cilantro to finish. I then chill before serving, but you don't have too.​

Simmer-then-chill method creates a silky smooth finish to the salsa ... but that requires prepping the raw tomato before adding, imo. You peel and seed your raw tomatoes, salt and let sit to draw all the water out. (Use that water in the simmer step.)​

 

Is that guy related to Skip Bayless?

EDIT: That's his brother. Cool.