Fresh Pico de Gallo

Pico de gallo means 'rooster's beak' in Spanish, though no one quite agrees why. Some say it's the pecking motion of pinching the salsa between thumb and finger. Others claim the serrano's bite resembles a rooster's peck. I prefer not knowing. Some foods deserve their mystery.

This salsa arrived in American kitchens long before most of us were born. It traveled north with Mexican families and planted itself so firmly in our culinary vocabulary that we've forgotten it was ever foreign. Now it sits beside ketchup and mustard at backyard barbecues from Texas to Minnesota. This is American food, whatever the name.

The technique is brutally simple: chop, combine, season, rest. But simplicity demands quality. Your tomatoes must be ripe, your onion crisp, your cilantro fresh enough to perfume the room. There is nowhere to hide mediocre ingredients. This salsa exposes everything.