The Best Salsa You’ll Ever Make | Epicurious 101

In this edition of Epicurious 101, professional chef Saúl Montiel demonstrates how to make three classic Mexican salsas–salsa fresca, salsa martajada, and salsa morita.

Director: Parisa Kosari
Director of Photography: Ben Dewey
Editor: JC Scruggs
Featuring: Saul Montiel
Director of Culinary Production: Kelly Janke
Creative Producer: Parisa Kosari
Culinary Producer: Mallary Santucci
Culinary Associate Producer: Jackie Park
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Oadhan Lynch; Sahara Pagan
Production Manager: Janine Dispense
Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila
Camera Operator: Aaron Snell
Sound Recordist: Michael Guggino
Culinary Researcher: Vivian Jao
Post Production Supervisor: Andrea Farr
Post Production Coordinator: Scout Alter
Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo
Assistant Editor: Fynn Lithgow

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I’m sa Montiel I’m a professional chef
and today I’m want to show you how to
make delicious Salsas Salsa fresa Salsa
marada and salsa Morita fresh salsa Char
salsa and cooked salsa there is so many
different kinds of Salsas up there all
different from each other from texture
color spiciness but these three Salsas
are the most common salsas in Mexico
let’s make some salsa this is salsa
[Music]
one1 the FR salsa I’m going to make is
going to be Salsa fresa Salsa Fresca
means fresh salsa and that means that uh
we can use vegetables fruit but we need
to keep them raw you can puree them or
you can dice them this case I’m going to
do puree I’m going to use raw tomatillos
um they’re green that are a little bit
more on the bitter size than a regular
tomato it’s very important to remove the
H out of the Tomos you don’t want to
blend this this will be a very bitter
flavor this is your classic taka salsa
the mild one you can make this salsa
without tomatillos if you can’t find
this these are very hard to find so
we’ll do three tomatillos when it comes
to Jalapeno if you want this jalapeno to
be extra spicy you have to kind of
rubber it kind of break veins so the
jalapeno will be a little more spicy but
if you don’t just cut it in half it’s
very hard to control the heat of any
salsa right if the recipe says three
jalapenos you do one you PR them you
taste it and then you find out if it
it’s an another one so half then we’re
going to do one garlic again everything
everything is
raw all and I’m going to do a little bit
of onion the reason why I using white
onion because to me has a a little mild
onion flavor and also when we puy this
with the green stuff it looks also nicer
now lime how do you know your lime is
going to be juicy it’s by the surface of
the skin it has to be smooth if you see
a lot of like little holes and thicker
skin and more greenier it’s going to be
dry but this is smooth it’s SL green it
has a little bit of yellow so this line
is going to be juicy and you can also
press them really
hard now why that I’m adding lime to
this cuz I’m using avocados so I don’t
want my avocados to oxidize I don’t want
them to turn brown cilantro adds a nice
refresh flavor to this now I’m using the
stamps and the leaves the stamps are
closer to the soil to Earth so it’s full
of flavor the last and main ingredient
of this salsa is the avocado the first
thing that I’m looking for is where is
the avocado from I have really good
experience from avocados from michan
Mexico so it has to be from Mexico the
stamp right here is to be more on the
yellow green size the skin of the
avocado has to be like a little rusty
like this one but dark brown without
being black this one looks perfect when
you making salsa Fresco we want the
avocado flavor to be 80% of the salsa
and then we want the tomatillo the onion
the alapo the cilantro the lime to be
part of the salsa we going to do a
little bit of salt a little bit of water
in the beginning and then if we think it
needs more We’ll add some more and we’re
going to start
slow it looks very buttery creamy fluffy
fresh again this salsa can be for
anything
the level of spiciness it’s there it’s
mile this is my mile salsa so it’s
perfect the salsa that we’re about to
make is going to be a medium heat salsa
I call it salsa marakada which is a semi
Crush semi blend salsa the way how I
prepar My Salsa marakada is basically I
Char the vegetables it will add this
Char Smokey flavor to My Salsa but also
the the same time keeping the vegetables
semi raw so it’s like a really Pleasant
balance of salsa when you’re eating it
so want to start with the onion the
reason why I use red onion for this
salsa is because it has a stronger onion
flavor I need that stronger flavor
because the salsa is going to be spicier
I’m going to put more Peppers so when
you put more spicy you have to use the
stronger ingredients to balance out the
spiciness too I’m just going to remove
the stems out of this jalapeno and do
this to it then the tomatoes these are
Roma tomatoes it’s the classic way but
you can use any other red tomatoes okay
now the garlic I’m not smashing this
because I want to char them I don’t want
this to burn I’m going to do six gloves
of garlic for this salsa I’m also going
to use some fresh cilantro I want this
salsa to be really tasty and also
colorful I’m also going to use some of
the stamps and now the avocado we’re
going to dice it because I want chunks
of avocado in My Salsa our Von plus is
ready now we’re going to char the
vegetables for our salsa marada and the
reason why I’m using cast item pen is
because it holds he for a longer time
and also it helps to char the vegetables
the way it should be and we’re going to
start with the vegetable that takes
longer to cook which
is onion Chef onion the neutral oil is
going to help the vegetables get a
better CH and a little faster we star in
with the red
onion and now the jalapeno and the
tomatoes this will probably take 10 to
15 minutes it all depends on how this
baset are becoming going to do a little
bit more oil so this is just turning
turning turning we’re going to throw
some salt it’s going to help get the
moist out of the vegetables it’s going
to cook a little faster and now we’re
going to throw our garlic this will
probably cook faster than the other one
so right now I’m just going to keep my
eye on the garlic I want the vegetables
to be ched halfway without losing their
shape and without cooking all the way
through so it looks like we’re almost
done the onions are ready so we’re going
to remove the onions and the garlic okay
this tomato you see how sad it looks
that’s ready think he’s telling me take
me out of there the name of the salsa is
marada that means the the tomatoes the
onions are crushed it’s no puree and
it’s no MH it’s something in between we
have our vegetables already cooled down
now what we’re going to do is going to
semi P them going to do one jalapeno
then we leave this two the last just in
case if we need more heat cuz once the
heat is here and already mix it there’s
no way how you can go back in time see
save this two just in case now we’re
going to do a little bit of salt I
typically use M A Mor pesel but I don’t
have that today but I have this food
processor which is going to do almost
the same job we’re going to do
one
two three oh more little
more okay that’s perfect you going to
test this see if it needs more salt more
heat it’s perfect medium heat is there
without OV powering and then I taste the
Char it’s kind of fresh at the same time
but Char now every salsa needs some kind
of acidity I have the acidity from the
tomatoes but I didn’t put no lemon so
I’m going to put red wine vinegar and
this is going to Bright the flavor of
all the vegetables going to have that
kick and now we’re going to do a little
bit of cilantro now some avocado this
outsa looks amazing it looks chunky
without being too chunky and I can see
the avocados I can see most of the
ingredients let’s see if it tastes as it
looks little spicy
is the medium salsa the vinegar helps
the salsa come up together and texture
Wise It’s just on point scratch but not
to being too over scratched and it’s
delicious perfect
salsa this is the final Salsa Salsa
Morita the main pepper is the Morita
it’s very similar to a Chipotle it has
that kind of smoke element but also
spicy but it’s a medium spicy so this is
when the chili daral comes in cuz this
it’s spicy so we’re only using two a
little bit of spicy and flavor heat and
then also another kind of spicy sanos
sanos has a pepper spicy flavor and
guajo guajo for two things texture and
color it’s going to make it more red my
first step cut my vegetables deceit my
guos and then put on a tray and broil
them the reason why I use a red onion
for this is because like I say has
stronger flavor it will also help the
balance of the heat then the
tomatoes Sano okay so we have the garlic
I’m going to add a little bit of nutral
oil and some salt the salt is going to
sweat them my vegetables are broiling in
the meantime I’m going to work on my dry
chilies so we going to start with the
guajillos when to remove the stamp the
reason why I’m removing the seeds
because the seeds of the guajillo since
it’s a long pepper it has bigger seeds
and it has a lot of seed we’re going to
go low low heat medium Kat something in
between you’re dealing with dry Peppers
right this is like paper cuz it’s dry so
you can burn it really easy and what
happens when you burn it they taste
bitter so this texture and color Morita
is the main chili it adds smokiness
flavor and spiciness spiciness of this
is kind of a little bit sweet for some
reason because this is being dry so it’s
nice and sweet and now for spiciness
Chile AR so I’m going to ble these
Peppers cuz I want the flavors to bloom
if you burn it they will be bitter so
that’s why you start with low heat so
basically I want to make sure everybody
gets the same Heat this a very quick
process like you see here how easy was
almost burn even the color look the
color is like waking up this is ready
this is
ready this oil right here I’m not going
to just toast it I’m going to save it
because it has the chili oil flavor our
vegetables are Broiler our peppers are
blister all right so I want to start
with the
Tomatoes again the ingredients are very
similar on all the salsas but this is a
little more complex because we cooking
it twice we broil them and then we’re
going to simmer it I’m going to put all
the SOS here because this Sala is the
spicy one I’m going to take that chili
oil that was there I don’t like to waste
and then I’m going to do all the
chilies a little bit of white vinegar I
want the salsa to last longer and also I
want the vinegar to bring the flavors
out of this even better a little bit
water the water is going to help to
blend all this together a little bit of
salt even though I already put now we’re
going to P
this that’s it let’s try it a I feel
like it’s going to be too
spicy I way the consistency is perfect
very similar to a mole the spiciness
it’s right on point almost little to
spicy but here’s the thing with the
salsa when you let it sitat overnight
and you it the next day for some reason
the heat level goes lower so what I’m
going to do right now I’m going to sanar
the salsa I’m going to refry the salsa
because this salsa has to be complex and
by cooking it on a medium heat it will
bring those flavors even stronger and
deeper going to do a little bit of oil
shut the heat off you see that little
smoke that’s going to add some smokiness
this process is added another
level of Flavor now that our salsa at
simmering we’re going to do this for 15
minutes and then it’s going to be ready
it’s been 15 minutes our salsa is
looking pretty good the color already
changed it’s darker so that means it’s
going to have a lot of flavor the
texture it’s right on point it’s smooth
without being too dry it will hold
perfectly on a Taco on a tostada I’m
going to let this cool down and then I’m
going to taste
it use the complexity it’s so different
for the other salsas this salsa has the
perfect consistency the perfect level of
spiciness for salsa Morita the color and
the texture it’s just WIIL it all right
we made it I just show you how to make
three different kind of Salsas and if
you learn how to make these Salsas with
every single different technique you can
become a salsa Maestro or Maestra when I
see these Salsas it reminds me of when
you go at taco stand on you go to
Mexican restaurant each salsa place a
different Bron into your taco
m