Fire Roasted Salsa

Grilled, Broiled or Fire Roasted Salsa

I can honestly say that this Fire Roasted Salsa is amazing and it is, quite possibly, the best salsa I’ve ever tried. It starts with fresh Hot House Tomatoes, Yellow Onions, Green Bell, Anaheim and Jalapeno Peppers, cilantro, lime and a few other key ingredients. Although you can find recipes, similar to this one, all over the web, I seriously considered keeping this one all to my self. But I get too excited when I discover the secrets to authentic recipes. It makes me want to share it with everyone. So that’s what I’m going to do today.

Fire Roasted Salsa Preperation

To get the best results, and be sure that your Fire Roasted Salsa tastes amazing, there’s only one thing you need to do before you take the vegetables to the grill. Cut your onions in half. It isn’t going to matter if you peel them before or after they roast but it is important that those onion layers get exposed to the grill. Salsa gets a lot of great flavor from onions and they have memory, so adding that smoked flavor to the rings will insure that your salsa tastes amazing when you blend them, together, with the other ingredients.

Fire Roasted Salsa Grilling Technique

Whether you choose to grill, broil or roast your vegetables over an open pit, to make this Fire Roasted Salsa, the timing and flipping is simple. I average 25 to 30 minutes of roasting time, over medium heat(350 Fahrenheit), and I rotate and flip everything about every 5 minutes. Look for some good color on the under side and flip. It’s that easy. I tend to check the peppers first because they burn quicker than the tomatoes and onions. The onions I worry about the least. The tomatoes just need to be pulled off the grill before they pop and loose their juice to the grill. You should pay attention to where the hot spots are and rotate everything accordingly. Then remove them from the heat and let them rest for a half an hour or so, until they are cool enough to touch and handle with your hands. Remove the stems, peel the onions and add the other ingredients.

Fire Roasted Salsa Formula

I have a basic formula that you might find useful when you’re making Fire Roasted Salsa. For every large Tomato, I add 1 medium sized Onion, 1 Bell Pepper, 1 Anaheim Pepper, 1 Jalapeno and a few cloves of Garlic. It’s pointless making salsa on that small of a scale and that’s why I double that amount in the ingredients below. If you want it spicier, add more peppers, different kinds or use less tomato. It’s really not that difficult to trick up. But that should give you a better understanding of how to approach your own homemade salsa in the future.

How to Spice Up Fire Roasted Salsa

If the Peppers aren’t providing enough heat and flavor for your tastes, there are a few other ingredients you can add to your Fire Roasted Salsa and I’ve included them in this recipe. Cumin, Smoked Paprika and Mexican Oregano are definitely among my favorites. You can even add some Cayenne if you’re feeling froggy. Just be sure that you stay true to your tastes and be considerate of the pallets and less tolerant individuals, like children you may be serving, if they can’t handle spice.

Fire Roasted Salsa Ingredients:

2 Hot House Tomatoes, large
2 Onions,
1 Bell Pepper
1 Anaheim Pepper
1 Jalapeno
5 Garlic Cloves
1 lime, squeezed
1 bunch Cilantro
1 tbsp Oregano
1 tbsp Cumin
1 tbsp Smoked Paprika
1 tbsp Chicken Bouilion, Caldo con Sabor de Pollo(Knorr)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Pork Rinds

The Best Pork Rinds

Truthfully, making Pork Rinds isn’t all that difficult to do but it is quite a time consuming process and one that you might rather avoid if you don’t mind buying a bag of fried pig skins or cracklings, instead. I say that, mostly, because you don’t save any money, doing it yourself, and cooking these fresh doesn’t seem to improve the taste or flavor, in my opinion. I like to eat Pork Rinds as much as anyone, so don’t take my thoughts the wrong way. Just know that I’d rather just buy a premade bag instead of making them myself, next time(unless I have skin I don’t want to go to waste). So if nothing else, you can at least learn how it’s done and hopefully enjoy this post, recipe and the work I put in to making the Pork Rinds video.

Purchasing Skins for Pork Rinds

As you can see, in the photo above, I purchased my Skins, to make Pork Rinds, from my local Asian Market. Skins usually come from the Belly side of the pig, where the the bacon is removed. So there’s generally a ton of fat associated with the cuts. I paid $2 dollars a pound, for this package, so I didn’t really save any money vs. buying a premade bag of Pork Rinds. But, because the fat was already removed I didn’t get charged for all the extra weight. Though, I’m sure if it were still attached, the price would’ve been altered accordingly. Regardless, you should be able to purchase pig skin from any butcher that sells pork.

Making Pork Rinds

As I mentioned before, making Pork Rinds is time consuming and quite tedious. Even though the majority of the fat content was removed from the skins, the skin needs to be boiled and scraped to ensure that all of the fat is gone. And it’s best to boil the skins whole, before cutting and slicing them into portions. This way you can do it in large sheets instead of individual 1 inch pieces. Removing the fat, completely, helps to aerate the skin when it bakes and helps the Rinds fluff up more when they’re frying. In the video, I Boil the Pork Rinds for 30 minutes, strain and then baked them, on low, for approximately 4 hours before frying. Then once they are removed from the oven, they can be dropped in a deep fryer set at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, for 2 minutes.

Fried Pork Rinds

A few things you need to consider, when making Pork Rinds, is that there are several different ways you can screw these up. If you’ve ever bitten into a pork rind that just about broke your tooth or was just too hard to chew, then you need to pay attention to a few things. First, cut off tough and discolored edges that seem dried out and pleathery. Second, again, be sure to scrape out the fat. And third, be sure to remove all of the pieces that that didn’t puff up in the fryer. You follow those three easy steps and all of your teeth will stay intact.

As far as seasonings go, anything with onion and garlic powder in them is generally a good way to go but you can use ranch powder, adobo, pico de gallo or just plain old salt and pepper.

Pork Rinds Ingredients:

2 lbs Pig Skin
2 Quarts Water
1/4 cup Salt
Oil for Frying
You’re Favorite Seasoning

Be sure to remove all of the fat from the skin, boil the skin for 30 minutes, bake the skins on low for 2 to 4 hours and
deep fry the skins at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 2 minutes. Place the Pork Rinds on paper towels and
season with your favorite seasoning or salt.

Pico De Gallo

Simple Pico De Gallo

This Pico De Gallo recipe is not only simple, it is easily adjusted to your specific tastes and spice preference. Wiki will tell you that the Spanish translation actually means, “Beak of Rooster” but if you want a history lesson, that’s what they’re there for. Today, I’m just going to show you how to make it. Just know that this is also known as Salsa Fresca or Salsa Cruda and it can be applied to just about anything you want to freshen and spice up; steaks, tacos, burritos, chili rellenos, potatoes, chili, hamburgers or just plain old chips and salsa. The truth is, I only filmed and posted this recipe because I needed it for my up and coming, “Crispy Fish Tacos” recipe. So keep an eye out for that because it’s up next.

Pico De Gallo Seasoning

Most of the flavor, in Pico De Gallo, comes from the fresh vegetables in this recipe and everyone of them are equally important. It’s usually only seasoned with salt and pepper. In the video tutorial, I introduce Pico De Gallo seasoning and it really has nothing to do with this particular recipe. The seasoning is usually applied to other fruits and vegetables to enhance their flavor. But it has chili powder, salt and citric acid which, much like the lime, brighten the flavor and it’s a fun addition to the mix, if you want to try adding it instead of just salt and pepper.

Another recipe that you should look into is Chimichurri. It’s very different yet very similar because it still brings the fresh spicy flavor Pico De Gallo brings. The difference is that one recipe was developed in Mexico and the other in Argentina. I personally like the Chimichurri better but they’re both so unique and genre specific, you really can’t compare the two. But, I would highly recommend giving them both a try.

Pico De Gallo Ingredients:

2 Garlic Cloves, chopped
1/2 Onion, chopped
1-2 Serrano Peppers, diced with or without seeds
2 Roma Tomatoes, de-seeded and diced
1 bunch Fresh Cilantro, chopped
1/2 Lemon, squeezed
Salt and Pepper to taste and/or Pico De Gallo Seasoning