[BevReview Steve]

Was at a Mexican restaurant the other night... had "salsa" with my meal, but it was just cut-up tomatos or corn or anything that wasn't liquid. I'm not a huge Mexican enthusiast, but I found this odd. Could someone explain why this was the case?

[coolJ]

It was probably homemade, not that stuff in the jar. I go to a local mexican restaurant almost every sunday after church, and they have a salsa bar filled with fresh salsa's made that morning, and none of them are liquid.

[nutcakes]

Salsa Cruda is not liquid.

[elakin]

salsa just means "sauce" in spanish. so, basically, you can have like 100 kinds of salsa.

if you make it with tomatoes, onions, chiles, cilantro, and lime juice, and puree it smooth, it's liquid. if you just roughly chop all that stuff and mix it together, it's not liquid. usually they call this "pico de gallo" or "salsa cruda." cruda, incidentally, means "raw," implying that other salsas are cooked, which they usually are not, confusing the issue even more.

check out mark millers salsa book or rick bayless' salsa's that cook. both are great books and will give you a good understanding of how diverse the world of salsa can be.

but....if your only experience with "salsa" is like old el paso or taco bell brand jarred sauces, then this is new.

next week we'll explain why some things are called "mustard" but they are brown and not vibrant yellow and have little specks in them and don't come in squeeze bottles.

[layjo]

Yeah "salsa" translates to "sauce" like stated above. So when we say in the kitchen "Necesito una tilapia sin salsa y una croqeta sin salsa tambien" We are refering to the "salsas" that they are sauced with. Tilapia=Orange-Ginger sauce, and crabcakes(croquetas)=spicy tomato salsa. Or if we need a grilled chicken brest with the herbed chicken glaze.........un pollo a la parilla con la "salsa" de yerbas. So salsa can be used to identify purees, sauce with chunky textures, and relishes that dress or compliment an item

[ 02-16-2001: Message edited by: layjo ]

[BevReview Steve]

Thanks for the explaination everyone!

[nutcakes]

There was just one item here that was incorrect, in that someone said salsa's are not cooked, but this is not true. Many, many are cooked, or made from roasted ingredients. The cruda are raw.

[nutcakes]

I did not mean to address salsa products in the US, that are available commercially. Rather, I intended to mean the Mexican salsa, the Southwestern salsa and the other salsa that are made now in the US and cooked at home. Or not, if tomatoes are in season.
These have less shelf life than mentioned.

I really feel the need to point out here that internet searches for info, are not appropriate here, where there is experience. If someone does not know, then let it be--just don't answer the question.

Some people here are not careful to distinguish between personal experience and internet reading. The whole reason that this site is interesting is that it is different, in that questions are from personal experience rather than from the internet.

[ 02-18-2001: Message edited by: Nicko ]