Salsa Negra Sinaloense para Mariscos

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •8-inch cast iron comal or heavy skillet
• •Metal spatula or tongs for pressing the chiles
• •High-powered blender
• •Clean glass jar with a lid for storage

Instructions

1. 1

   Char the garlic

   Set a dry cast iron comal over medium-high heat. Lay the unpeeled garlic cloves directly on the hot surface and char them, turning every couple of minutes, until the skins are blackened in patches and the cloves are soft underneath. About eight minutes. The smell should be sharp and a little sweet. Pull them off, let them cool, then slip the cloves out of the burned skins. The blackened bits are the point. Do not wipe them away.

2. 2

   Burn the chiles

   This is not toasting. This is burning. On the same hot comal, work the chile de arbol and morita in batches. Press them down with a spatula and let them go past golden, past mahogany, into smoke and black. Thirty to forty-five seconds a side. The kitchen will smell aggressive. Open a window. The chiles should be brittle, blistered, and dark all the way through. No me vengas con atajos. A timid toast gives you a red salsa. You are making salsa negra.

   Do not soak these chiles after burning. Soaking pulls out the smoke you just built. They go straight into the blender dry.

   Morita carries more flesh than arbol, so it needs the press of a spatula to make full contact with the comal. The arbor is thin and will go fast. Watch them both, they finish at different times.
3. 3

   Build the salsa in the blender

   Drop the burned chiles into the blender jar. Add the charred garlic, the white vinegar, the soy sauce, the lime juice, the oil, the salt, and the oregano. Blend on high for two to three minutes. Stop, scrape down, blend again. You want a thick, almost paste-like consistency, dark as a wet riverbed at night. If the blender struggles, add neutral oil one tablespoon at a time. Not water. Water dilutes the smoke. Oil carries it.

4. 4

   Taste and adjust

   Spoon a little onto a saltine and taste. It should hit smoky first, then salty, then sour, then heat that builds and stays. If it is flat, more salt. If it is harsh, another half tablespoon of vinegar to round it. If it tastes raw, the chiles were not burned enough and there is nothing you can do now except make it again next time. Asi se hace y punto.

5. 5

   Rest and finish

   Transfer to a clean glass jar. Stir in the sesame seeds if using. Let the salsa rest at room temperature for at least one hour before serving. The smoke needs time to settle into the vinegar. Spoon directly onto raw oysters, fresh-shucked clams, butterflied shrimp aguachile, or a tostada de marlin ahumado. A small spoon is enough. This salsa does not negotiate.

Chef Tips

• •Buy your chiles whole and pliable, not pre-broken and dusty. Chile de arbol should bend without snapping. Morita should smell like a smoked plum, not a cardboard box. A poor chile cannot be rescued by burning it.
• •If your smoke alarm is sensitive, open every window before you start. This is not a salsa you can make quietly. The burn is the recipe, not a sign you have ruined dinner.
• •Salsa negra keeps in a sealed glass jar in the refrigerator for two weeks and gets better in the first three days. Do not freeze it. The texture turns grainy and the smoke flattens.
• •If you cannot find morita, chile chipotle meco will work. Not chipotle in adobo. The dried chile. It is a compromise, not an upgrade, and the salsa will lean more leather than smoke.

Advance Preparation

• •Salsa negra benefits from a day of rest. Make it the day before a mariscada and the smoke and vinegar will marry overnight.
• •Stored in a clean glass jar with a tight lid, it holds in the refrigerator for two weeks. Bring to room temperature before serving so the oil loosens and the salsa pours.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 23g)