chile_de_arbol_sauce.md

Salsa de chile de árbol

This is a go-to taco sauce in western Mexico and probably elsewhere. You can mix and match the techniques in the two variants presented here, and substituting or adding chiles is a ramp onto the combinatorial superhighway of Mexican food and can demystify the salsa bar at the local taquería.

Red

• dried whole chiles de árbol
• tomatoes
• onion
• optionally, garlic

Take between .3 and 1 chiles per tomato, remove the stems and put them in a saucepan with a tablespoon or two of oil (olive, soy, etc.) The pan and oil should be very hot and the chiles should seem to be at risk of burning. Rotate the chiles around and let them get dark brown to black without actually burning them — this can happen quickly, which is good because your eyes, nose, and lungs may reach their maximum vaporized chile tolerance during this step.

Add a bunch of chopped onion and garlic and lower the heat. Cut the tomatoes in half and throw them in with salt to taste. Cook until the tomatoes look stewed. If you have one of those blender wands that you can put directly in a saucepan, you can blend everything now (you may end up making this sauce frequently enough to justify the purchase of a blender wand.) Otherwise wait until the mixture is not hot and blend it in a standard blender.

Green

• dried whole chiles de árbol
• green tomatillos
• onion
• cilantro

Take between .1 and .5 chiles per tomatillo, remove the stems and put them in a bare, hot saucepan. Toast the chiles without oil until they are dark. Add halved or quartered tomatillos, salt, and a tablespoon or two of water to prevent burning the chiles before the tomatillos release their juices. When the mixture has cooked for as long as you can stand to wait, remove the heat and let it cool. Blend and place in a little salsa bowl and heap with finely chopped onion and cilantro.

One non-obvious little point is that skipping the oil in the chile roasting-toasting step seems to increase the spiciness of the final product.