Salsa -- Lost in Translation
Salsa is just the Spanish word for sauce but in the Anglo world it seems to get used to mean mostly tomato-based "sauces" of a sort we associate with Latino cuisines. I have a mild tomato allergy, so it aggravates me when I go to a store, look for salsa and cannot find anything but tomato sauces with various flavorings.
That's not what salsa means. Chipotle's corn salsa has no tomato and it's one of the reasons I like eating there.
You can find copy-cat recipes online for trying to recreate Chipotle's corn salsa or you can use it as simply inspiration for doing a flavorful condiment with chunky cut fruits or veggies. I used to just lightly fry fresh corn and add a bit of onion and chopped Bell peppers (and salt and black pepper) to create a mild, simple corn salsa for use at home.
I would make my corn salsa and pair it with cooked beef strips and homemade flat bread or store-bought taco shells. Or I would add it to mashed potatoes.
I recently was at the store looking at salsa varieties and one of them described itself as pineapple salsa. It was basically tomato paste with pineapple juice added for flavoring.
In contrast, I used to eat a dish at a restaurant served with a side of pineapple and mango salsa that was lots of chopped pineapple and mango plus a little bit of some other ingredients. It was wonderful and that's the sort of thing I was hoping for when I picked up the jar labeled pineapple salsa only to find it was just another flavored tomato sauce.
Some years ago, I was able to find a store-bought corn-and-black-bean salsa that really included substantial amounts of corn, black beans and hot peppers and relatively little tomato. But at the moment, that is not something I am finding and I threw out at least half of the "corn and black bean" salsa I did buy that was mostly tomato sauce with the occasional kernel of corn swimming in it.
I like what I think of as authentic salsa because it adds flavor and variety to a meal using additional foods more than spices. I don't tend to eat extremely spicy foods but that doesn't mean I want to eat a boring, bland diet.
That's not what salsa means. Chipotle's corn salsa has no tomato and it's one of the reasons I like eating there.
You can find copy-cat recipes online for trying to recreate Chipotle's corn salsa or you can use it as simply inspiration for doing a flavorful condiment with chunky cut fruits or veggies. I used to just lightly fry fresh corn and add a bit of onion and chopped Bell peppers (and salt and black pepper) to create a mild, simple corn salsa for use at home.
I would make my corn salsa and pair it with cooked beef strips and homemade flat bread or store-bought taco shells. Or I would add it to mashed potatoes.
I recently was at the store looking at salsa varieties and one of them described itself as pineapple salsa. It was basically tomato paste with pineapple juice added for flavoring.
In contrast, I used to eat a dish at a restaurant served with a side of pineapple and mango salsa that was lots of chopped pineapple and mango plus a little bit of some other ingredients. It was wonderful and that's the sort of thing I was hoping for when I picked up the jar labeled pineapple salsa only to find it was just another flavored tomato sauce.
Some years ago, I was able to find a store-bought corn-and-black-bean salsa that really included substantial amounts of corn, black beans and hot peppers and relatively little tomato. But at the moment, that is not something I am finding and I threw out at least half of the "corn and black bean" salsa I did buy that was mostly tomato sauce with the occasional kernel of corn swimming in it.
I like what I think of as authentic salsa because it adds flavor and variety to a meal using additional foods more than spices. I don't tend to eat extremely spicy foods but that doesn't mean I want to eat a boring, bland diet.
