Hey, what’s the deal? I just got a newsletter from you.
Give me a break here……..

I always get a lot of response from you guys and I love it. However, this time you all wasted no time letting me know, in no uncertain terms, that you don’t want no damned canned enchilada salsa – you want the ril-dil (real deal). Okay, I guess you deserve it, so here it is. There are probably as many enchilada salsas as there are enchiladas so I’m going to tell you how to make the red salsa like they serve in most Mexican restaurants. You know, the one we associate with Tex-Mex cooking. It’s certainly one of my all time favorites, but strangely enough I have never made it at the restaurant and I can’t remember why not. Probably just trying to be fancy and separate myself from all the others. Stupid, huh? Right now I’m serving enchiladas with a Ranchero salsa, enchiladas with a Veracruzana salsa. I am also serving enchiladas with a red Oaxacan mole salsa and enchiladas with a green pumpkin seed salsa and enchiladas with a tomatillo/avocado salsa. In addition I’m working on some lobster enchiladas with a lobster/chipotle cream salsa – which I haven’t quite perfected. Hell, it sounds like I’m turning into one of those pretentious morons on TV. Maybe the next time you’re down here I will have returned to basics and have a good old fashioned red salsa enchilada on the menu. Please read the recipe all the way through before starting

Parts list

3 or 4 large dried red chiles…………..what kind doesn’t really matter, any large dried red Mexican chile will do…….Ancho, Pasilla, Mulato, or Guajillo will all work. I use the guajillos because they have a beautiful red color. Watch out for chiles called New Mexico Reds because they are bred to be hot. Also chipotles and moritas are probably too hot as well

a white or yellow onion……..peeled and cut into chunks

garlic…………………a couple of peeled cloves (or more- you know how much garlic you like)

cumin………………….. a quarter to a half teaspoon. Regular ground cumin will do ,but it’s a lot better if you can find whole cumin and toast it yourself

here’s how you do it

If you’re using Mexican chiles, they were probably dried in the sun – just lying on the ground and they might be dusty. Remove the stems and wipe the chiles with a damp cloth or the tail of your t-shirt or something. Cut or tear the chiles into pieces the size of a quarter – or thereabouts. If you tear them, make sure you wash your hands before you rub your eyes or go to the bathroom or start fooling around with your sweet potootie. Put the chiles with the seeds in a frying pan with no oil over medium heat. If you have whole cumin, toss it in to toast with the chiles. You don’t want to burn the chiles - just nicely toasted. If they start to smoke or to show some color they are done.

Put the garlic, the half onion and the toasted chiles in a blender with enough water to cover them (if you’re feeling especially high-tone chicken stock is real good in place of water. Now you have to fry the salsa in lard. I know it sounds strange - sorta like frying soup, but it really works. And that’s how you make the real deal. Melt a table- spoon or so of lard in a pan and add the liquid from the blender and cook for a few minutes. Now’s the time to add the cumin if you didn’t toast it with the chiles That’s almost all there is to it. It’s done and it’s good, but it’s probably too thin and watery. I like a thicker salsa and have never figured out how Mexicans thicken their salsa. So in another pan I cook about a teaspoon of flour in a teaspoon of butter - stirring it around until it’s a nice golden brown then I slowly add the salsa, stirring and adding until it’s the thickness I like. Now it’s really done --- unless you are real picky and want an extra smooth, shiny sauce. If that’s how you are, just run it through a kitchen strainer and it’s really done this time.

Spencer

PS It’s okay to throw a couple of ripe tomatoes in the blender too and lots of Mexicans add some oregano.