Now that hot is haute, everybody’s talking about salsa, picante and hot sauce. But precious few can describe the difference.
There are no simple answers, for one man’s hot sauce is another man`s salsa. And one man’s salsa is pico de gallo.
But there are distinctions among the tongue-torching condiments and even a new twist: salsa cocktails.
Hot sauce is the vernacular for the pulpy tomato-chili pepper melange served with tostadas at Tex-Mex restaurants.
“I can’t imagine a meal in a Tex-Mex restaurant without devouring three baskets of chips with a good hot sauce,” says chef Stephen Pyles, who grew up in West Texas. “For as long as I can remember, everybody had their own favorite hot sauce.” And a restaurant’s reputation could sink or soar on it.
But New Mexico chili aficionado David DeWitt says “hot sauce” describes a much broader category of fiery chili pepper sauces, such as Tabasco.
“The major distinction is that most hot sauces are combinations of peppers and other liquids, like water and vinegar,” says DeWitt, the editor of Chile Pepper magazine. “They are also intensely liquified. They can be poured, in other words.”
It’s in the chilies
The common denominator in salsas, hot sauces and picantes is chilies. Salsas and picantes combine the peppers with vegetables, often tomatoes, onions and garlic. Cilantro is a familiar herb in salsas. Innovative Southwestern salsas also use fruits, such as mangoes and melons. Pyles says the line between salsas and relishes can be a thin one.
But P.J. Birosik, author of “Salsa” (Collier Books, $10), says the difference is definite.
“An authentic salsa has to satisfy four out five of the following taste cravings: sweet, salty, sour, spicy and bland,” she says from her Phoenix home. “A relish only has to satisfy two, sometimes three.”
“Generally speaking, the hot sauces are hotter than the salsas and picantes,” says DeWitt. “The hottest hot sauce in the world is called Insanity Sauce.” He says it’s made with capsicum oleo resin, an extract of the active ingredient in chili peppers that produces their knee-buckling heat and what Birosik calls the “salsa sniffle.”
But Pyles, who wrote “The New Texas Cuisine” (Doubleday, $30), disputes even the notion that salsas must be spicy.
“A salsa in Mexican or Southwestern cooking doesn’t have to be hot,” he says. “It simply means `sauce.’ It can be myriad things, from any kind of infusion of chilies, the addition of fruit-anything acidic from tomatoes, tomatillos to oranges.”
Salsas generally are chunkier than the broad category of hot sauces. And in fact, many Tex-Mex restaurant hot sauces are really salsas.
But a classic Mexican salsa is simply a cooking sauce, according to restaurateur Mario Leal.
“In Mexico, we make salsas from ancho chilies or cascabel or chipotle . . . not to serve at the table, (but) to cook with.”
He remembers picante sauces in Mexico as canned products.
“A picante sauce is the commercial version of salsa,” DeWitt says. “Usually a picante sauce is thinner than a salsa, somewhere between a salsa and a hot sauce. Almost all picante sauces have a tomato base.”
“The tomatoes have been blanched and the onion has been boiled,” adds Birosik. “It’s the equivalent of pasteurizing orange juice.”
“I learned the expression `hot sauce’ in the United States,” Leal says, referring to the Tex-Mex condiment. His first memory of today’s ubiquitous chips and hot sauce was at an Austin restaurant where he worked in the late 1950s.
It was the beginning of a national snack attack.
“Commercial salsas and picantes are the easiest, least expensive appetizers you can find,” says DeWitt. “The dipping of chips into these things has become a part of the American culinary experience. You don’t see people dipping their chips in ketchup.
“They like it because it’s hot and spicy, and they like it because it’s easy,” he says.
“In the case of hot sauces,” DeWitt says, “they’re like having instant condiments for spicing up any kind of food you might have . . . meat, soup, vegetables.”
Call it pico de gallo
The hot sauce of Tex-Mex restaurant fame is virtually unheard of in Mexico, Leal says, unless the establishment is American-influenced. In most restaurants, he says, the rare diner wishing to add a little spiciness to his or her meal might request salsa Mexicana, also known as pico de gallo. Only in the smallest, humblest Mexican “soul food” cafes, “you could find a `molcajete’ on the table with salsa Mexicana,” he says.
Chile Pepper’s DeWitt calls pico de gallo, or salsa Mexicana, the salsa with six names.
The blend of diced tomatoes, onions, chilies, garlic, cilantro and lime juice or vinegar also goes by salsa fresca, salsa cruda, salsa frio and salsa picante.
It’s also a salsa of infinite variations, Leal says. The same ingredients produce a different flavor if they’re cooked. It also changes if the tomatoes and chilies are roasted. The chilies can range from relatively tame jalapenos to nuclear habaneros.
As popular as salsas have become, the fact that they outsold ketchup in 1991 isn’t quite the success story it might seem.
“On a dollar basis, Mexican sauces are bigger,” says Bob Bergenzer, spokesman for Information Resources, a Chicago company that tracks grocery sales. Mexican sauces also include products such as enchilada sauce. “On a volume basis, ketchup is bigger,” he says.
Mexican sauces leaped to the top position two years ago because they cost more than twice as much per unit as their tame tomato counterpart.
DEVIL’S DELIGHT SALSA COCKTAIL
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Yield: 2 servings
This recipe is adapted from P.J. Birosik’s book, “Salsa.”
4 medium red tomatoes
1 carrot, peeled, blanched, cooled, chopped
1/4 habanero chili pepper, see note
2 sprigs parsley
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
Pineapple wedges for garnish
Tomato juice, optional
1. Blanch tomatoes in boiling water for 2 minutes. Peel off skin and discard. Cut the tomatoes into wedges; remove and discard seeds. Place wedges in blender and process at high speed until liquid, adding water if needed. Add remaining ingredients except pineapple wedges and tomato juice. Process at high speed until smooth. If cocktail is too spicy, add tomato juice 1/2 cup at a time. Serve over ice and garnish with pineapple wedges.
Note: Habaneros will make this very hot. Substitute jalapenos or serranos for a less incendiary drink. If you wish to add alcohol, try a shot of gold tequila or pepper vodka.
Nutrition information per serving: 79 calories; 1 g fat; no cholesterol; 558 mg sodium.
JICAMA-MELON SALSA
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
This is adapted from “The New Texas Cuisine” by Stephen Pyles.
1 small mango, peeled, pitted
1 serrano chili pepper, seeded, deveined
Juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 tablespoons red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup cantaloupe, diced
1/2 cup honeydew, diced
2 tablespoons cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced
1/2 cup jicama, peeled, diced
2 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 teaspoon each: salt, black pepper
2 tablespoons sour cream
1. Puree mango, chili and lime juice in a food processor or blender. Place diced vegetables and fruit in a mixing bowl, add puree and thoroughly combine. Mix in cilantro, salt and pepper. Adjust seasoning to taste. Gently fold in sour cream. Serve with grilled fish or chicken.
Nutrition information per serving: 28 calories; 1 g fat; 1 mg cholesterol; 80 mg sodium.
PICO DE GALLO
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Yield: About 2 cups
This recipe is from chili aficionado David DeWitt.
3 ripe tomatoes, hand chopped
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 serrano or jalapeno chili peppers, seeded, minced
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon lime juice or wine vinegar
1. Mix all ingredients. Serve with tortilla chips.
Nutrition information per serving: 62 calories; 5 g fat; no cholesterol; 24 mg sodium.
RED SALSA
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Marinating time: 2 hour
Yield: About 2 1/2 cups
This is adapted from “Hot” (Willowisp Press).
3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup each, chopped: green onions, fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons minced serrano chili pepper
2 cloves garlic, peeled, chopped
1 tablespoon each: fresh lime juice, olive oil
Salt to taste
1. Combine all ingredients in a glass bowl and allow to marinate for at least 2 hours before serving. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and extra lime juice.
Nutrition information per serving: 26 calories; 1 g fat; no cholesterol; 66 mg sodium.
GREEN SALSA
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Yield: 2 cups
This also is adapted from “Hot.”
12 fresh tomatillos
1/2 cup minced shallots
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
1 serrano chili pepper, stemmed, seeded, chopped
2 teaspoons lime juice
Salt to taste
Pure maple syrup or sugar if needed
1. Remove husks from tomatillos. Wash well and wipe dry. Place tomatillos in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Cook, shaking pan, until skin begins to burst, about 5 minutes. Immediately remove from heat.
2. Put tomatillos, shallots, garlic, cilantro, chili and lime juice into a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process using quick on-and-off turns, until just chopped. Do not puree. Taste and adjust seasonings. If salsa is bitter, add maple syrup, 1 teaspoon at a time, until desired flavor is achieved.
Nutrition information per serving: 20 calories; less than 1 g fat; no cholesterol; 81 mg sodium.
