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Smoked Salsa

Salsas are an integral part of Southwestern cuisine.  Tomatoes, tomatillos, dried cherries, and more make an excellent foundation for a tasty salsa. Salsas bring heat and flavor to any dish.

This smoked salsa is easy to make. It’s great as a dip with tortilla chips, and even better as a garnish to your taco or huevos rancheros. Give it a try.

Smoked Salsa

4 Roma tomatoes

6 cloves garlic

1 white onion

1 jalapeno pepper

1/2 cup cilantro

1 tsp. salt (or more to taste)

2 tsp. lime juice

Set your smoker at 250*.  If you don’t have a smoker, you can roast the vegetables in your oven, but the salsa will not have a smoky flavor.

Quarter the tomatoes and cut the onion into large chunks. Remove the stem from the jalapeno pepper. Cut the pepper in half lengthwise. Leave the seeds in the pepper if you want spicier salsa; remove them if you want a milder sauce.

Place the tomatoes, garlic, onion, and jalapeno on a grilling mat. Smoke the vegetables for 60 to 90 minutes.

Peel the skin from the quartered tomatoes. Place the smoked vegetables and the cilantro in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the salt and lime juice, and pulse to blend. Add more salt and lime juice to taste, if needed.

Makes about 2 cups.

Click to download a .pdf copy of the recipe: Smoked Salsa

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Pickled Red Onions

A number of years ago, I was in charge of the food for about 250 young people and their adult leaders at a church-sponsored youth conference. As we got close to the date of the conference, the conference chairman looked over the menu.

“Pickled onions?” he asked in disbelief. “The kids aren’t going to eat that!”

“Just trust me,” I replied.

He did. The pickled onions were a hit.

Pickled onions are sweet, sour, and crunchy. They bring a crispy bite of acid that complements fish tacos and smoky meats, nachos and burgers, salads and beans.  You just can’t go wrong. Serve them in a bowl at the table, and people will gobble them up.

Pickled Red Onions

  • 2 large red onions
  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 tsp. salt

Slice the onions in half through the root end. Trim the ends of the onions, and slice the onions into 1/8 inch wide half-moon pieces.

Blanch the onion slices in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain the onions in a colander. Dissolve the sugar and salt in the vinegar in a heavy non-reactive pan. Return the onions to the brine, and add enough cold water to just cover the onions.

Bring the brine to a boil over high heat. Simmer the onions for 1 minute.

Transfer the onions and the brine to a large glass jar. Store the jar in the refrigerator. The onions will become crisp and turn bright pink as they cool. They are as beautiful as they are tasty.

Variations:

  • Different types of vinegar bring different flavors to the table, so feel free to experiment.
  • Add 2 tablespoons Mexican oregano and 2 bay leaves to the brine to vary the flavor.
  • Add 6 to 8 cloves of peeled garlic to the onions in the brine to bring a richness to the brine. (Garlic makes just about everything better.)
  • If you want to bring some heat to the onions, add jalapeno slices or red pepper flakes to the brine.
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Dr. Pepper Barbecue Sauce

Dr. Pepper Barbecue Sauce

My culinary journey has taken me down the pathway of barbecuing and grilling. My pellet smoker has become a critical part of my cooking equipment We’ve smoked our Thanksgiving turkey, ribs, pork shoulder, and more. And the brisket . . . mmmm, brisket . . . is out of this world.

But smoking meat is only part of the process. Great barbecue requires great sauce. So I’ve gathered recipes from the masters, made some adjustments of my own, and developed a repertoire of “go to” sauces that can put burgers, ribs, and brisket over the top with flavor.

Steven Raichlen is a master of barbecue. His book Barbecue Sauces, Rubs and Marinades outlines the critical components of a good barbecue sauce.

Base: While most barbecue sauces use some sort of a tomato base, you can make a great sauce with mustard, vinegar, beef or chicken stock, or even mayonnaise as the base.

Sweetener: Sugar, honey, molasses, jams, jellies, syrups, and soda provide a sweetness that helps counter the acidity of the vinegar or other souring agent.

Souring agent: Vinegar or sour juices give barbecue sauce its distinctive punch.

Seasonings: Every sauce needs a salty component to help meld the sweet and sour ingredients.  Soy sauce, Worchestershire, fish sauce, miso, olives, and others bring the needed saltiness.

Heat: Many sauces include a heat factor. Chile peppers, ginger, black and white pepper, cayenne, red pepper flakes, wasabi, mustard, horseradish, and more. Choose a heat index that resonates with your taste buds.

Aromatics: As Raichlen notes, “Aromatics give barbecue sauce its personality.” Onions, garlic, fresh peppers, herbs, spices, liquid smoke, and more. For my money, few things whet my palate as well as the smell of garlic and onion sauteeing in butter.

Enrichers: Butter, olive oil, lard, bacon, beef stock, and others help round out the flavor of your sauce.

I smoked some pork ribs this weekend and needed to make some sauce to go with the ribs.  This sauce is one of my favorites.

It uses ketchup as a base and Dr. Pepper as a wild card sweetener. I like to up the flavor a bit by using Cherry Dr. Pepper. It’s flavorful and surprisingly easy to make.

Sautee your aromatics in butter, then add the remaining ingredients and bring everything to a boil.  Stir the sauce occasionally to keep it from burning. But otherwise, it requires little attention. Once you try it, you’ll never buy your barbecue sauce again.

Dr. Pepper Barbecue Sauce

From Soaked, Slathered, and Seasoned

  • 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 3 Tbsp. tomato paste
  • 12 oz. Cherry Dr. Pepper
  • ½ cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
  • ½ cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 2 tsp. Ancho chili powder
  • 1 tsp. fine ground white pepper
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Melt the butter in a heavy pan. Saute the onion and the garlic in the butter until translucent, about 10 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients and simmer until the flavors are well blended, which will take about 15 minutes. Continue cooking until the sauce begins to thicken, about 20 to 30 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper if desired.

When it has cooled, blend the sauce in a blender until it is smooth. Store in the refrigerator.

Make about 5 cups.

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Tomatillo Sauce

Tomatillos are a staple in Mexican and Southwestern cuisine. They have a bright, acid flavor that adds a kick to any meal.

And they are versatile. Tomatillo sauce can be made from raw, boiled, or roasted tomatillos. Each has its own virtue.

This recipe highlights the smoky flavor of roasted tomatillos. It brings a mild spiciness to pork, chicken, eggs, and chips. And it’s easy to make.

Before making any sauce, remove the papery outer skin on the tomatillos. Tomatillos are sticky, so wash them carefully.

Tomatillo Sauce

  • 12 to 14 tomatillos
  • 1 white onion, cut into chunks
  • 6 to 8 cloves of garlic
  • 2 Hatch chiles
  • 1/2 cup cilantro
  • salt and pepper

Heat the oven to broil.

Place the tomatillos, onion, garlic, and chiles on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Roast the vegetables until charred, turning the vegetables every few minutes to ensure coverage on all sides.

Peel, seed, and stem the chiles.

Blend all ingredients in the blender until smooth. If the sauce is too thick, thin it with water, one tablespoon at a time.  Salt and pepper to taste.