Salsa Naranja Estilo San José
Chapter 1 — Salsas & Sauces: The Foundational Layer
If you've ever stumbled out of a Mission District dive at 2:00 AM or pulled off a Texas highway for a trompo spinning in the window, you know this sauce. Blindingly orange, shockingly creamy, and completely dairy-free, it relies on an aggressive comal char and a high-speed oil emulsion to achieve its legendary texture. It is designed to cut straight through the fatty perfection of a half-pound of carnitas cooked in pure manteca. Make a massive squeeze bottle of this on Sunday, and you're armed to build a masterpiece every night of the week.
Before you start
Recreate the true taqueria experience at the counter.
When you are ready to eat, heat your comal and double-warm your tortillas with a splash of water for steam followed by direct heat for char. Pile on hot meat, like the Carne Asada on page X sliced paper-thin across the grain, and hit it with a heavy, zigzagging drizzle of cold Salsa Naranja straight from the squeeze bottle.
Ingredients
- Roma tomatoes3 med
- white onion1/2 large
- garlic6 large cloves
- dried chiles de árbol1/2 cup
- dried chiles guajillo2 med
- neutral vegetable oil1 tbsp
- hot water1/2 cup
- apple cider vinegar1/3 cup
- kosher salt1 tbsp
- neutral vegetable oil1 cup
Method
- 01
Char the base vegetables on a smoking comal.
Heat a dry comal or heavy cast-iron pan over medium-high heat until smoking. Place the tomatoes cut-side down, the thick onion slabs, and unpeeled garlic directly onto the dry metal, letting them sit undisturbed until deep black, blistered spots appear. Pull the garlic after 5 minutes to cool and peel, letting the tomatoes and onions go for 10 to 12 minutes until soft and aggressively charred before transferring to a blender.
- 02
Toast the dried chiles briefly in hot oil.
Drop the heat under your skillet to medium-low, add 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil, and toss in all the dried chiles. Stir them constantly for 45 to 60 seconds until they become fragrant and slightly puffed, ensuring they do not turn black and bitter. Immediately transfer the hot chiles and any residual oil into the blender with the charred vegetables.
- 03
Hydrate the chiles and pulverize the mixture.
Add the hot water, apple cider vinegar, and salt to the blender and let it sit undisturbed for 10 minutes so the hot liquid and acid can soften the leathery chile skins. Though I will beg you elsewhere in this book to use a heavy basalt molcajete for your salsas, this is the one exception; run the blender on high and completely pulverize the mixture for a full minute until it is as smooth as possible.
- 04
Slowly stream in the oil to create a vibrant emulsion.
Drop the blender speed to medium-low and remove the center lid insert. With the blades running, pour the remaining 1 cup of vegetable oil into the vortex in a very slow, incredibly thin, unbroken stream. As the oil hits the spinning liquid, it shears into microscopic droplets, transforming the dark red puree into a thick, vibrant, glowing orange emulsion.
- 05
Transfer to a squeeze bottle and rest overnight.
Pour the salsa into a diner-style squeeze bottle, let it cool to room temperature, and place it in the fridge overnight. The raw heat of the árbol will mellow as the acid marries with the fat, yielding a condiment that will keep for up to a month.
Notes
Ferment the vegetables for an authentic taquero hack.
If you are a purist chasing the exact, unreplicable funk of the most famous San José taquerias, skip the apple cider vinegar. Instead, submerge your raw tomatoes, raw onions, and 2 halved fresh jalapeños in a 2.5 percent saltwater brine to lacto-ferment at room temperature for exactly 10 days. Roast your garlic and dry chiles as instructed, and use 1/3 cup of the fermented brine water in place of the vinegar.