Believe me you need this guide to making your own restaurant-quality salsa. Making your own salsa is easier than you think. There are thousands of different jars of salsa sitting on the shelves of your local grocery stores. There are a few good ones and a bunch of very bad ones. The problem is you have to buy a whole jar to figure out if it’s even any good and if it’s edible. (I have thrown out more jars than I care to admit). I have been thru seems like hundreds of jars and come to one conclusion. I can do better myself. In this information age, you can learn very quickly how to do something (hell I changed my own spark plugs not long ago). This is the Modern MetroNeck’s guide to making your own mac daddy, bomb salsa that is so much better than that grocery store jar.
This is in a sense a love story. My love affair with chips and salsa. That’s right I will admit it. I LOVE me some good light tortilla chips and some restaurant-style salsa. Why is it that when we go sit down at the local Mexican restaurant and they right away bring you that vessel of spicy goodness to the table, is it so much better at that moment? They make it with LOVE! That and fresh ingredients made to exact specifications (or not but close enough). Now I am down for a good recipe. Especially one that someone else has made before and perfected to their exact taste. Here’s the thing, everyone’s tastes are different. That means you have to try it and change it up to fit your taste and preferences. That is the beauty of a recipe. They are not exact (unless you are baking which a whole different conversation).
Like I said before I have tried a ton of salsa’s looking for that one holy grail concoction of heaven that I could call my favorite “sto-bought” brand salsa. Guess what? I FOUND IT! One day I was in a certain grocery store that I never, ever go in and I saw this jar of organic double fire-roasted salsa from a brand name I had never heard of before. Looked interesting and appetizing so I pulled the trigger. Let me just say it was all that I was looking for and more in salsa in a jar. This was it. I could stop searching the world for the perfect salsa. This was it and I loved it. I went back and bought five more jars. (It was that good). Everything was straight and life was good. Whenever I wanted to break out those chips, BAM! reached in the cupboard and pulled out the best dang salsa (in my opinion) that money could buy.
Now usually in a true love story, there is a point where the main characters encounter some form of diversity. Some conflict always rears its ugly head. Here is where the story takes that ugly turn for the worst. Strolled back into said grocery store (rhymes with baldy) and rounded the corner onto the condiment aisle and my heart sunk. There in the place of salsa heaven was a foreign object of a salsa brand in the same space. This imposter was stacked almost to the ceiling! Now you can imagine my shock and terror all at the same time. (I believe I uttered WTH?). My immediate thoughts were they have moved my stuff somewhere else. Perhaps they needed a bigger space to accommodate stocking more magic in a jar. This is good I said. We needed to make sure we didn’t run out in this place. I immediately set out on a discovery mission to find the new spot they set up for our stuff.
I searched the place high and low to no avail. WTH I said again. Then I found a worker bee and asked where they had moved my muse. Then I heard the words that no one ever wants to hear: “I think they have stopped carrying that kind”. This is where things kinda went black and what followed is still a little fuzzy to this day. I believe my reaction was as follows: What do you BLANKETY BLANKETY mean you have stopped BLANKETY carrying my BLANKETY salsa that we BLANKETY love so much. I think I may have scared the poor girl. What followed was me wandering aimlessly back down the aisle and out the door back into a cruel, harsh world that had changed for the worst. What would I do now? How would I fill this sudden void in my life? The reality of again searching for good salsa was now very real and tragic to me.
This is the part of the story that is the turning point to redemption. I immediately began searching for the brand online. Ah yes, the information highway will bring us home. I will find another supplier and be able to get my fix again in short order. WTH? again. Can’t find it. My heart sunk once again when I finally realized that said salsa was a store brand (rhymes with baldy). Made by rhymes with baldy for rhymes with baldy. WTH? What to do? Let’s do a deeper dive into the interwebs perhaps on the dark side to see what we can find. Nothing. Did find some fellow salsa lovers that were on the same journey as me (my people). Well, this is when the story gets interesting. I had a picture of the jar (empty) on my phone. There was also a picture of the ingredients label on the web. I quickly pulled up the ingredients list and jotted them down on a paper towel. Then I searched for recipes for double fire-roasted salsa. BAM! I knew what had to be done. I will make my own double fire-roasted salsa. What followed changed my view of the world when it comes to salsa. Never thought of making my own salsa. Boy was I wrong. This is the Guide to making my own restaurant-quality salsa.
When you make your own salsa, it is a somewhat cumbersome task. But what comes from it is simply amazing. I now understand why the salsa at the local Mexican restaurant tastes the way it does. You have heard the tagline “Better ingredients make better pizza”? Well, better fresh ingredients make some pretty dang good salsa too Papa John! I researched several recipes and formed my game plan on making what I hoped would be a cloned version of that same double fire-roasted salsa. I figured if I used those same ingredients and went by a variation of those recipes I found, not much could go wrong. Turns out that I nailed it on the first try. I dare say it may be even better than the sto-bought. Thus here is a Guide to making your own restaurant-quality salsa.
Here is the recipe exactly as I made it. I promise you if you make it to the letter, you will be in love with this salsa as I am. This is as close to the double fire-roasted salsa that I fell in love with. maybe even better. Follow this guide to making my own restaurant-quality salsa.
Guide to making your own restaurant-quality salsa – Ingredients:
2 each 15 oz cans Hunts or other fire-roasted diced tomatoes with garlic
2 each 28 oz cans Whole peeled tomatoes
1/4 cup bottled lime juice (about 2 oz)
3 large Anaheim Peppers
2 jalapenos diced without stems and seeds
1 whole large white onion diced
1 clove garlic diced
1/2 cup water
1/2 to 3/4 cup fresh cilantro lightly chopped
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
Guide to making your own restaurant-quality salsa – Directions:
Start by roasting Anaheim peppers on your grill until blackened on the outside all over. (most important step). Put them in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap to steam. This helps when peeling the skin off. Once they cool, peel the burnt skins off the peppers. Put the peeled pepper back on hot grill and lightly brown the outside off the peppers again. This is the double fire roasting needed for taste. let peppers cool and then dice.
Dice up white onion, jalapenos, and garlic. Lightly chop fresh cilantro. Start with putting all of the tomatoes in a large pot. Then add all liquid ingredients, all dry ingredients, peppers, and cilantro. Bring the pot to a boil while stirring occasionally and reduce heat to simmer for 10 minutes.
Working in small batches transfer salsa into a blender or food processor. Use a cup or dipper as it will be hot. Pulse the blender or food processor until salsa is the desired consistency. (I like mine blended well and no large chunks remain). Transfer mixture into sterilized mason jars. This salsa can be stored in jars following proper hot water canning guidelines. I put mine in sterilized jars and refrigerate them after completely cooling down. I allow the sealed jars to cool for 24 hours.
To make this recipe hot, I leave the seeds in the Jalapenos and add 2-3 diced habaneros and a couple of shakes of crushed dry red pepper. You can add more but trust me this will do the trick.
