The Magic of Salsas - Monarch of the Mexican Table

salsa. (Latin salsa, salted.) fem. Composition or mixture of several edible substances, diluted, made to dress or season food

There is no doubt that the above definition was translated from the Royal Spanish Academy Dictionary. Had it originated in Mexico, the definition would have a lot more flavor, color and delight. Diluted, - a Mexican salsa? - Just for dressing and seasoning purposes?

Mexican philosopher José Fuentes Mares used to say that the notion of wine being the king on the table was wrong. “Wine does not accompany food: you plan your menu according to the wine available. Salsa, on the other hand, should be the rightful monarch: it is around them that we build that earthly paradise known as Mexican cuisine.

Salsa is a very significant expression of culture. Since the dawn of time, we’ve been making efforts to improve our condition on this Earth; culture is one of the most extraordinary results of this age-old endeavor. In the same way we seek to dignify and elevate things from their rustic and wild status, to the limits set by our own imagination and resources. We cannot deny the fact that a good steak, properly grilled, has its virtues. But a well prepared sauce, with all those ingredients and hidden secrets, patiently and cleverly accumulated through generations, ennobles and redeems foods that otherwise would be almost completely worthless.

A good mole, as any well-bred Mexican knows, possesses the virtue of transforming something so tasteless as white chicken breast into a real delicacy, worthy enough to be served on the most sophisticated and elegant table.

salsa. “Magic potion that adds excellency to almost everything that Nature presents in its original state, the sauce is so effective that it elevates the category of what is already good; corrects the insignificance of what is just mediocre, and hides the coarseness of what is bad”.

This quotation from don José Fuentes Mares defines in a very intelligent way the role of sauces in any civilized kitchen.

A very popular, but erroneous belief is that Mexican salsa, as it contains chile, must be unbearably hot. There is nothing farther from the truth. A reasonably educated diner will never permit an excess of chile to saturate his or her taste buds and other sensory organs; a healthy balance between flavor and pungentness will always have to be attained in order to fully enjoy the delights offered by a well prepared salsa.

The Mexican salsa finds its support and foundation in the vigorous, spirited, vehement, but at the same time sensual and subtle flavors of the chile. The variety of chiles found in Mexico is amazing: poblano, serrano, pasilla, morita, manzana, güero - chilpotle, chipotle or chilpocle; chiltepín, piquín, mulato, chileancho, mirasol, chilaca, chilchote, cuaresmeño, jalapeño, habanero, tornachile, cora, de árbol, cascabel, and a thousand more. In different regions of Mexico, chiles get different names; and the same chile bears different names if it is dried or in its natural condition.

Basic ingredients of Mexican salsas are jitomate, or red tomato; onion, garlic, chiles, and cilantro. Some salsas are based on little green tomatoes, tomatillos, or simply tomates, as they are named in Mexico. Many other elements may enter in the composition of a salsa, such as chocolate in the case of mole; seeds or nuts as sesame, pecan or almonds; and vinegar and lime juice.

History of the Chile

Chiles are the fruit of perennial shrubs belonging to the genus Capsicum and were unknown outside the tropical and subtropical regions of the Western Hemisphere before 1492 when Christopher Columbus made his epic voyage in search of a short route to the East Indies. The misconception of the origin of the chile stems back to Columbus’ time, who believed he had found a new type of black pepper, thus naming it pepper. What Columbus really found was referred to as ají by the local populations.

Several species of Capsicum were domesticated in tropical South America, although exactly where and when it originated is a subject of debate. Many believe chiles first grew somewhere in the area between central Bolivia and southwestern Brazil, but this remains to be fully substantiated. Chiles did not, despite popular belief, come from India or IndoChina.

Despite a European “discovery” of the Americas, chile peppers diffused throughout Europe in circuitous fashion. Following the fall of Granada in 1492, the Spaniards established dominance over the western Mediterranean while the Ottoman Turks succeeded in installing themselves as the controlling power in northern Africa, Egypt, Arabia, the Balkans, the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean. Venice was the center of the spice and Oriental trade of central Europe and Venice depended on the Ottoman Turks for goods from the fabled Orient. From central Europe the trade went to Antwerp and the rest of Europe. It was along these avenues that chiles travelled into much of Europe. They were in Italy by 1535, Germany by 1542, England before 1538, the Balkans before 1569 and Moravia by 1585.

The first European depictions of peppers date from 1542 when a German herbal, Leonhart Fuchs described and illustrated several types of peppers. It was not however, the Spanish who were responsible for the diffusion of New World foods; it was the Portuguese, aided by local traders following long-used trade routes, who spread the plants. Unfortunately, documentation for the routes that chile peppers followed from the Americas is not as plentiful as for other New World plants like maize, tobacco, sweet potatoes, manioc, beans or tomatoes. However, it is highly probable that capsicums accompanied the better-documented Mesoamerican food complexes of corn, beans and squash as peppers have been closely associated with these plants through history.

Well into the 19th century, most Europeans continued to believe that peppers were native to India and the Orient until Alphonse de Candolle, a botanist, produced convincing linguistic evidence for the South American origin of the genus Capsicum

Las Salsas de Hacienda de Vega

Mexico is home to over 150 indigenous varieties of chiles, which have been grown and cultivated for thousands of years. Since the days of the Aztecs, the use of chiles in their everyday cuisine created powerful flavors that, ever-enriched with the advent of the Spanish conquistadors and their European cuisine, yielded some truly amazing recipes that have been handed down through the kitchens of many generations of Mexican families.

Traditional Mexican Cuisine uses many varieties of tomatoes, onions, chiles and other herbs and spices as the basis for salsas and sauces alike, and the myriad of flavors, textures, colors and spice levels that can be achieved provide incredible depth and flexibility to match any feast.

Salsas may be used as the base for a meal; they may be used as a garnish or a topping. But salsas are truly meant to be used to incorporate, transform, enrich and highlight the specific flavors, aromas, colors and textures of the food they adorn.

The selection of a salsa, among the great varieties available, is truly an art form; decorating a table becomes an esthetic display. The enjoyment of traditional Mexican cuisine should be the culmination of a process that nourishes the body and satisfies the soul.

On the Menu

Salsas Tomatillo Chipotle Arbol Tomato Pico de Gallo

Sauces Mole Poblano Mole Verde Adobo Tomatillo Tomato