At 11 a.m. sharp, a line has already formed at El Güero Canelo’s North Oracle Road location.
Like clockwork, as soon as a customer’s number is called out, they head straight to the salsa bar, loading up on slices of limes and cups of pico de gallo.
The vibrant, tangy smell of pico de gallo surrounds you as you try to decide which salsa will be spread across your carne asada tacos. You’ll find yourself intensely staring at the different shades of greens and reds that fill the metal tubs, trying to make the choice between a smoky salsa verde or a spicy red salsa.
Those smoky and spicy flavors can either make or break a taco. A great salsa will not only taste delicious, but will elevate a taco or tortilla chip and add an extra layer of heat and freshness to the dish. But a bad salsa will do the opposite, leaving you with a mouthful of dull, bitter mess.
I mean, could you imagine pulling up to a friend’s carne asada dinner with a bowl of bland, watery pico de gallo? Or even worse — bringing a canned salsa that comes straight off a grocery shelf? You’ll be the laughingstock of the party.
El Güero Canelo is famous for its flavorful salsas.
Unfortunately, you can’t go to the El Güero Canelo salsa bar and shovel spoonfuls of the iconic salsa verde into Tupperware in hopes of passing it off as your own. Thankfully, the marketing chief Gregorio Contreras, son of owner Daniel Contreras, is sharing a few tips on how to up your game.
At El Güero Canelo, the prep cooks come in before the restaurant opens in order to make huge amounts of fresh salsa to restock the bar. The recipes used come from both sides of Contreras’s family. In fact, they just updated their red salsa, and are now using one of his mother’s recipes, which packs a spicier punch.
There’s a simple reason why people tend to gravitate toward El Güero Canelo’s salsa, emphasis on simple — he considers simplicity key to a great salsa. Contreras said all the recipes only use four to five ingredients and are straightforward to make.
You want your salsa to be the perfect balance of flavors: A little salty, a little limey and with enough spice but not so much that it won’t leave you in tears, ensuring the taste of fresh ingredients shines through.
With a simple recipe in mind, it’s important to use quality vegetables, especially when making pico de gallo.
“We have high standards with the products that we use and we make sure they’re fresh as possible to keep the consistency,” Contreras said.
He said you want to see bright colors in your pico de gallo, not dull reds and greens when you mix together your tomatoes, onions and cilantro.
The vegetables you use not only affect the color of the salsa, but the taste and texture too. Using an unripe tomato may result in your salsa looking less vibrant than usual, and leave you with a more bitter and acidic taste. On the other hand, overripe tomatoes may mess with the texture and make it mushy.
With a pico de gallo, you want to find the perfect medium of chunky and crisp. A little crunch is ideal.
For Contreras, a salsa isn’t perfected until it’s got some spice to it. Without the heat, the salsa isn’t complete.
Working with jalapeños can be a luck of the draw. Sometimes you’ll get a spicy one, and other times it’ll have no heat to it. That’s why Contreras suggests adding a serrano pepper or peppers to the mix.
“In my opinion, habañeros tend to be mean while serranos will guarantee a good kick that won’t make you cry.”
If you’re looking for something that has more of a zesty profile, you can try your hand at making salsa verde. To do so, you have to roast tomatillos. Contreras suggests roasting them on a grill so they get a nice char. That way, you get a smoky flavor to the salsa, elevating whatever taco it’s on. He also recommends washing the burn off after taking them off the grill.
For their new and improved red salsa, Contreras said they use chile de arbol, which brings the heat and gives the salsa a rich, deep red color. After buying your roasted chile de arbol — which can be found at local grocery stores — you’ll bring it to a boil along with the other ingredients.
After the prep cooks at El Güero Canelo have boiled the ingredients, they let them cool before blending everything together. Once it’s blended, they have a bowl full of savory, spicy red salsa. Contreras said this red salsa is easy to make and won’t keep you in the kitchen for too long.
With quality ingredients, a bit of spice and some love, you’ll be able to recreate salsas that’ll leave your guests believing you got your pico de gallo straight from El Güero Canelo’s salsa bar.
